Am I nuts?? (Road trip with a Toddler)

[Jenn Lynn]

Well, I just made plan for DD and I to drive from Eastern Nebraska to South Eastern Idaho with my parents in 2 days! That does not include the 5 1/2 hour trip to Des Moines, IA from WI and then the 3 hour drive from Des Moines to NE, where we will be staying for 2 days before heading to Idaho. Then we are taking 3 days total to drive home, meeting my DH a little over half way, in North Dakota.

I have not driven more than 3 1/2 hours with Avery in over a year. She has been doing much better on the drives, but we have never gone this far away! I am excited about it, but a little nervous at the same time.

Any advice or tips? I am going to look into a portable tv/vcr combo for the drives. And recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[Melora]

I heartily recommend something for her to watch while driving! We have a DVD in our van and when we drive the 5 hours to Vegas to see the inlaws nothing keeps the 3 year old busy like hours and hours of Spongebob!

I don't have suggestions for which brand to buy, just that I encourage you to buy it!!! and don't forget the snacks too!!

Good Luck!!

 

[CEDmom]

Having your parents with you should make things a lot easier. If they can help with the driving that will allow you to rotate who sits next to your DD. That alone should provide some entertainment. I've done trips alone with DD - the longest was about 5 hours. The biggest problem for me was not being able to get at something she wanted. Having extra adults in the car will resolve that problem. Target has a portable DVD player on sale this week. I'd also bring along Crayola Color Wonder products, a Magnadoodle, stickers and lots of snacks. Have a safe trip.

 

[padams]

ITA with the above suggestions.

Buy some inexpensive little toys (dollar store type stuff), wrap them in wrapping paper or newspaper (i.e. Sunday comics), keep them in the front seat with you and promise her a present every 30 minutes (or whatever time frame works for you) if she is good. The process of unwrapping plus the new toy will keep her busy.

Also, if you have a cassette or CD player in your car, bring music and/or stories on tape.

 

[MosMom]

Most of what we are doing has already been suggested. We are driving to Orlando in a few days and I'm a little nervous. I bought some small surprises for him to keep him busy (as well as my 6 year old), we have a TV/VCR with plenty of tapes, lots of music, books (my son loves to look through books and they keep him interested for a long time, snacks!!!!, and we're planning lots of stops. When my daughter was a toddler we often stopped at McDonalds Playplaces so she could run off steam. They are always around and easier to find than a park (although when we did find a nice park we stopped there too for fresh air).

We love road trips and our daughter was always a GREAT traveller but our son is a bit more active so I'm hoping this trip goes well. Good luck on yours as well!

 

[MosMom]

Double post

 

[Mishetta]

We did it & I still have hair on my head!! But by the time we returned home, our van felt like the size of a grain of salt!

We had the DVD player, a CD player (which the ear phones kept slipping off his ears & then he'd scream because he was unable to put them back on). The best thing we had for him was our own CD player & we'd put on some Jazz CD's that he hears a lot & he enjoys them. We'd put those on blasting & he'd be rocking back & forth with a big smile on his cute little face. I had one of those sports bags (a new one of course), stuffed with all types of different snacks/treats & his Buzz Lightyear doll. We drove all the way from MI to Atlanta, GA the first day in 14 hours. (Usually takes 12 hours but we stopped frequently & let him run for about 10 minutes each stop & we stopped for a leisurely breakfast.)

My 8 y/o DS was in the back with our 2 y/o DS & he was (somewhat) of a help when something he was playing with fell out of his hands, my 8 y/o was able to retrieve it for him.

The following day it was an 8 hour drive from Atlanta to Orlando (which my DH made in about 7) & that also included many stops. After a week at WDW then we had to face the car ride home. I first said "I would never do this again" but thinking back, we do remember the good times over the bad so they must have outweighed the bad times! Good luck!

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Thanks for the tips!

My DH told me he is glad he is not driving all that way with us!

 

[kasar]

All these suggestions are great! I think that it's great for children to get out there and experience the world. I loved taking my kids on trips now and when they were really little. Having Grandma and Grandpa along makes it even better.

Will it be tough? Yup. But....get them out in the world, take chances, create memories. You'll be so thankful you did.

 

[BethanyF]

my DS has been on several long car trips, granted all of them with both dh and me. I also grew up taking annual 16 hour road trips to my grandparents' house.
When he was 2-3 he was easily entertained by any kind of magazine or mail order catalog. He was in a paper ripping stage at the same time. I would stock pile all my catalogs and magazines and use them in the car. I could tell when he got bored with one because he started ripping it. I would take that one away and wait a while before giving him the next one. Whenever we stopped I just tossed the damaged magazines and would pick up a new stash of stuff (travel brochures from the rest stops). We also make sure to stop every couple hours, even if for only 5 minutes or so, to sretch our legs and let Sam run off some steam.
We are leaving for WDW in 2 weeks. This will be the longest trip he has been on (the rest have been about 16 hours). He doesnt know it, but we bought a portable DVD player for the car. He will also bring his Leap Pad and other little things. I dont want him to get too used to the DVD player, so we are hoping to hold off several hours before letting him know he has it.
Oh, he also spotted car bingo cards when we were at a store last week. He asked is we could get them "Mommy, we could play this in the car going to Disney"
I guess my advice is to stockpile whatever you can think of to entertain her, and keep the options rotating. If she is getting bored with something, rotate it with something new. I have seen Fisher Price car toy bags that might be a good idea. It hooks to the car seat and keeps everything handy.
Most importantly, just be careful and have fun.

 

[HLFDZN]

I am sorry but the only memories of us taking road trips are miserable ones. The $1300 in airfare was small change compared to the loss of sanity when we try to drive anywhere with all 6 kids. I do have one special needs teen..He is bipolar and hard to handle sometimes. One trip when my twins were 5 mos....we tried to drive straight thru. At the top of Mississippi they both started to scream....butts numb? not sure.... they just were not happy. Now at this point we did not want to stop. We were going to visit my Mom and had no money for a hotel. TO stop just made the trip that much longer, so we drove with them BOTH SCREAMING for 6 hours!!!! You would have thought that they would get tired and stop..nope not my guys!!!! I had a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old and a 5 yr old in the car too.....I am sure glad I was young, cuz I do not have the patience for that anymore. This has not deterrred us however. We made the trip to see my Mom every year for about 10 years and drove to Florida twice, and last yr it was South Dakota. We camp so you have to drive to bring the camper with. One time the Florida trip home was with the rest of the coastal population fleeing from Hurricane Floyd. The best investment we ever got was the TV/VCR that hooked into the cigarrette lighter. Most of my kids suffer from motion sickness when they try to read or play game boy in the car. I also used to make treat bags to keep them busy and frequent stops were a must. With less kids it is easier, but don't fool yourself, it can be stressfull. This trip, the plane ride is a surprise for the kids..we are going to tell them we are flying when the limo pulls up. I know they will be relieved we are not spending 20 hours in the van. I now I am!!!! Melissa