Long car drives are rarely fun and are often the worst bit about going away somewhere. The only thing that can make them even more difficult has small kids with you – the kids usually don’t understand why they are traveling and can get super impatient and anxious when in the car. This can make it stressful for parents, particularly the driver. You need to try and prepare as much as possible so that you can survive the long road trip tips for your small kids, and if all goes smoothly, they may even enjoy the drive.
4 Long Road Trip Tips
Get a Good Car Seat for Your Child
Safety is something that should always come first when on a car ride and it is important that you make sure your kids are completely safely strapped in with a good car seat. Not only is it the law for smaller kids to use car seats, but it is essential for looking after their safety. If you haven’t bought a car seat yet, then you’ll definitely want to pick one up before commencing on your trip. Clutch has a really good post on the best infant car seats that’s worth reviewing.
Bring Enough Food and Water With You
Bringing enough water and food with you is a necessity, especially when you are driving with young kids. Bring some substantial food that they can eat as a meal and that will fill them up, but also bring a few treats: if they can eat something exciting like candy or chocolate, this will probably fill them with so much excitement that they will forget about the boring car journey they are on. You can also use this as a reward for their good behaviour and it will act as motivation for your kids. Remember to pack enough food for the driver too, so that they can have a snack when they pull over.
Stop Semi-Regularly or When Needed
You should try and organise your journey so that there are suitable places to stop along the route. This is essential both for the kids and for the drivers. Kids often need the toilet randomly on a car ride, so you want to be able to pull over easily at a gas station if this is the case. Likewise, if you are driving for a long time, you can get a bit tired, so it is really important for all of your safety that you can pull over and get a coffee. Remember, if you are feeling really tired as a driver, it is advised that you should take a break until you are feeling revitalised to avoid any accidents happening.
Have Some Funny Audiobooks on Hand
One of the best ways to make a long drive go faster is to have some sort of entertainment. If you are staring at the road aimlessly with nothing going on in the background, not only will it be incredibly boring for the driver, but it will also be dull for the kids. You want to find some entertainment that won’t distract the driver but will keep the kids happy and entertained.
What are a Few Long Road Trip Tips?
One great idea is to find some funny audiobooks to listen to – the kids will hopefully be so focused on the audiobook and what the narrator is saying that they won’t even think about the fact that they’re on a drive. Either the kids will be entertained and find the audiobook funny, which is great, or it might send them to sleep. Either way, this would be ideal for you as parents as it will stop them complaining and will give you a bit of time to relax. Bring a few different forms of entertainment with you to switch between – kids tend to have pretty short attention spans, so they won’t be satisfied with just playing with or listening to one thing for the whole ride.