Preparation and clear boundaries make a road trip with your babies, toddlers and school-age kids easier to handle and much more fun for everyone.
If you dread the idea of piling your kids into the car and traveling, think of the poor mothers trapped in their covered wagons for ten months on the Oregon Trail.
Planning and foresight can make travel not just endurable but enriching.
Here are some kid-tested ways to keep peace in your wagons while you travel with kids.
Just Say No
-
NO sugar allowed before or during the drive. This means:
— No candy
— No gum
— No snack foods with sugar in them
— No sodas
— No Lifesavers
-
NO caffeine allowed:
— No Coke, Pepsi, frappes
— No iced tea
— No chocolate
10 More Sanity-Savers When No is Not Enough
1. Even though sugar may temporarily pacify a whining child, in 90 minutes or less it will plunge this same child into a blood-sugar crisis resulting in crying, hitting, whining or worse.
2. Prepare them with a map, and an idea of how long the journey really is, marking off milestones so they get a feeling of progress. This will cut down on "How much longer?" and "Are we there yet?"
3. Give each child a "travel pack" into which all treasures must fit. If objects are found on the floor of the car, or under the seat, or stuck to the dog (or another sibling), they go into the trash. Call it a "keeping bag." Make sure your child's name, address, phone, and destination information is inside the keeping bag in case it accidentally grows legs.
4. Assign window seats using a chart so you can accurately recall who did and did not get a seat by the window. There should be a rule that you cannot have more children than you have windows. If you make the assignment of windows a boring and tedious task, worthy of a nitpicking award, your children may eventually lose all interest in who gets a window just to avoid listening to your litany of who already HAD a window seat.
5. Take special precautions for the carsick-prone child. Seasick bands really do work, as do dermal patches that release chemicals to counteract motion sickness. Teach your kids some sort of easy signal to tell you they are REALLY going to throw up and that you REALLY need to stop the car or pass the barf bag NOW. It will save a lot of grief and chain-reaction sickness in the vehicle. Restricting fluids sometimes helps, since the ailment is related to fluid in the ears. Antihistamines help, too.
6. Take your pit-stops as seriously as the Unsers do. Every two hours, whether it's raining, sleeting, snowing, or the end of the world–stop the car. Get out. If there's a gas station, empty the kids and fill the tank. If there's nothing out there but "nothing," let them use the car door as a privacy screen. Always carry toilet paper and wipes in the car.
7. Stop to eat and stretch and get at least 20 feet away from each other at least every four hours. You'll like each other a whole lot more at the end of the day.
8. Zero tolerance of name-calling or bad manners.
9. Let each child choose snacks themselves. Encourage sharing. Reward good behavior constantly. Do not tolerate bad behavior.
10. Each child should have a Discman/MP3 Player/iPod with headphones, and lots of batteries. How about listening to "Harry Potter" during the journey? Many libraries lend books-on-tape/CDs for free. It's a great way to read away the miles.
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Great information. I love travelling and the winter holidays are best to go out with family and friends. there are many places in India for the best winter holiday. here is the list 5 Best Winter Holiday Destinations In India
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Hi,
Great article. The lists were amazing. I would also recommend visiting few Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras. Honduras has some best family stay accommodations and its way cheaper to learn Spanish while you are travelling. Check our website to know how one can study Spanish while travelling around the country ixbalanquespanish.com/important-learn-spanish-honduras
As per my opinion Mountains are the real beauty of any country but not only a particular country is the the natural beauty of World….. It gives feeling like we are in heaven.
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Hi, thanks for the huge list of good ideas! I reconnected with an old childhood memory of travelling on house boats.
Wow, that’s a great list. The Free Tours By Foot sounds amazing and such a great way to explore a city. Have you guys ever tried indoor skydiving? It’s not cheap, but it’s a great activity for the whole family. Some of the centers even offer a Virtual Reality experience. With more and more tunnels popping up it’s become quite easy to find a spot nearby. For those interested check out dropzone.com/indoor/ . They’ve got a nifty tunnel finder.
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Hi There,
Thank you for putting together a list for Fall vacation. It is so informative and exciting. We love the nature! We should be planning a trip to Aspen Mountain, Colorado soon. The infographic on emergency is so well done and very handy for travelers.
visiting california is always enjoyable. thanks for sharing your feelings about california. Have traveled any other countries? I’ve been travelling for last 2 years and I would like to share some of my great experinces with you. do you accept guest post?
Everything in this blog is nice. Fabolous infographic and presentation also. I also want to go there for these types of rides which are shown in this blog.
First of all, you need to find out what type of vacation each member of your family prefers. At lunch, dinner, or watching your favorite TV show in the evening, try discussing your upcoming vacation together. Listen to suggestions from everyone, remember where you have already visited and, taking into account the interests of the child, try to choose the right direction. It should be borne in mind all the details: the possibility of excess spending, the size of the vacation budget, the presence of health problems, interests, hobbies and hobbies. If you are organizing a trip with your child, you will have a wonderful joint vacation!
NYC is a great place to celebrate Halloween, and good opportunities for celebrity sightings too!
Please meet the winners of the 2019 FTF Teen Travel Writing Scholarship at this post: https://myfamilytravels.com/family-travel-forum-announces-winners-of-2019-teen-travel-writing-scholarship/
Hi, just wondering who won, every time I click the link it just takes me back to the homepage
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Hello Charles,
Thanks for your note. As stated in the post above, it has been sponsored by You Fly, We Drive, who has paid to market their services to readers of our website and forums. We hope you and other readers find their car transport service useful.
The terms and use clearly states… ” that no post on this forum should advertise or engage in promotion”. So how do you explain this article that was at the end of a link in your forum?
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The moon landing marked the culmination of America’s Cold War human spaceflight program and positioned itself as a global leader in science and technology. Apollo 11, the mission Armstrong and Aldrin flew with colleague Michael Collins, represented the U.S. accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal on a seemingly impossible timeline. Fifty years later, the world is remembering the historic mission and its impact on society and science, thanks to all these 50 COSMIC WAYS TO CELEBRATE SPACE.
I am also a collector of space memorabilia and I run a website dedicated to Space Exploration memorabilia https://www.space-collectibles.com . In fact, I leave in Paris, France. (Yes, that does mean I drink too much wine and eat too much cheese) . Since the age of 21, I became a big fan of Space Exploration as I studied in Cap Canaveral Florida, and worked with the engineers that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. So, this is perhaps the reason why I became a pasionate Space Collectioner of photos from the space race in the 60’s from Nasa and Soviet programs. I whish I could be in all these 50 COSMIC WAYS TO CELEBRATE SPACE
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Hey thanks for such a nice article, there is nothing better than getting away with the fam or group of mates into the wilderness and just relaxing while staring into those embers. I go camping regularly and I know you stated unplugged but if you dont play an instrument I highly recommend bringing along a nice loud Bluetooth speaker to jam away with all of you friends into the late night. That and beer ofcourse.
Thanks again and keep up the good work
Hershey is such a fun town to visit with so many family-friendly activities. We loved driving up to spend the weekend when we lived in Maryland.
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Doing so saves money on your shipping costs. Most travelers are charged for gas as they are free. Tourists save money on car rentals and pay for their travels.