The holiday season seems to be the time to travel, and if you have kids it may not be something that you look forward to doing. Kids can be a challenge on a rainy day locked up inside a large home. Trap them in a car for hours on end and you could end up pulling your hair out. If you’ll take some time to plan ahead, not only will the travel be easier but it may be so much fun that you want to do it more often.

1. Make it a team effort. Let the kids help you plan, prepare, and pack for the trip. This gives them some ownership in what ends up in the car so they are less likely to complain when you pull out pretzels for a snack instead of candy.
2. Pack some easy snacks. Things like chocolate or cupcakes will make a mess, plus all that artificial sugar will pump up your little ones at a time you don’t want the energy. Stick to more nutritious snacks. Keep it to pretzels, apple slices, and things of that nature. Keep the drinks small unless you want to be stopping every thirty minutes or listen to the whine of “I got to go” all the way to your destination.
3. Map out the adventure. Plan at least one stop for every two hours on the road. This will give everyone a chance to stretch out and go to the bathroom (a requirement in our home is that if the car stops everyone gives it a try ). Pick some places – rest stops, community parks, fast food restaurants – that have play grounds for the kids to expend some of their energy.
4. Keep them engaged. It’s okay to bring along DVD’s or MP3 players to keep the kids distracted, but eventually they will lose interest in these. Play some travel games to help them lose track of time. It’s even more fun if you play some of them as a family team instead of competing against each other.
5. Pack a set of clothes for everyone – you never know what might come up. Make sure you put it in the car some place that is easy to access. Buried under all the other luggage will NOT be convenient.
6. Travel when the kids are napping or asleep (this is especially good for kids that are still locked into car seats). If you have a sound sleeper, then you can move them into a hotel room if the driver needs a break. Other wise, you might tag team an all night drive and arrive at your destination without the kids even knowing you went any where (this is how we do our drive to the beach).

The most important thing to remember when taking a road trip with kids is to be flexible. Plan a few extra hours into your travel time so that you don’t feel rushed if you end up stopping more than you wanted. Make the trip TO the destination as enjoyable as the destination itself.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 12:14 am and is filed under Family Travel, Travel Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.