Travel with Screaming 22 month old--HELP!

[jacobsmom]

Ok so my oldest is 9 and a piece of cake. This boys been traveling forever. Now I'm a foster mommy and have a 22 month old who screams and throws things when we are in the van. We plan on driving down to Florida from Wisconsin in August and I'm freaking out. Any advice on how to teach this little guy on a practice trip to Nashville next month how to behave in the car?? I would love ideas for travel toys etc. as well as advice....

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

I don't have any ideas (well, maybe a portable DVD?) but I wanted to say thanks for including your foster child in your trip.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I second the DVD player; it makes my kids zone out, a good thing imho.; earplugs for the other passengers, and drive at night whenever you can. We leave our house in TX around 4pm, p/u dinner, and get to WDW at early lunchtime the next day. The kids end up sleeping 10-11 hours of the trip that way.

 

[Disnewbie76]

little bit of nyquil outta do the trick!! LOL...just teasing. I second the driving at night when they will sleep.

 

[veraletta]

We play children song all the way to disney from Ohio, when my grandson was this young. He enjoy the songs and didn't cry at all.

 

[kevschickee]

DVD player, small toys, hit the party store and pick up some goody bag toys like the mini slinkies, not all pedis recomend this but mine said it would be ok if you have to give a little benedryl. My girls take benedryl for cold (it dries them up) so they are used to it (I have never had to use it while traveling yet). Take lots of stops so the baby can run. Good luck you are gonna need it lol

 

[brymolmom]

One thing that always worked for me - SNACKS. That should work for an hour or two here or there at least. Make sure to start driving right before a meal and even though I would stop for stretching breaks I would actually eat the meals in the van. Because you can give him pieces of the meal - VERY SLOWLY, one at a time (think 50 goldfish, given in some sort of a game, 1 every minute for 50 minutes) - and when he's eating - he likely won't be screaming.

The only other advice would be to get him in the car, EVERY DAY, as MUCH as possible between now and when you leave. He might just get 'used' to being in that carseat. OR, another idea - get a new, different type carseat - maybe with characters on it or something. Maybe you could 'talk up' this new carseat and say how special it is, etc. so that it is something different about the whole experience (maybe put it in a different spot in the car to make it new and different). This might not work - but hey - it's worth a shot.

 

[lucigo]

My 4th child was my screamer. We had to take a trip from FL to ME when he was a baby and it was the longest trip of my life. By 22 months at least there are some tools at your disposal. You have to find what works for him and pack your aresenol. If possible maybe an adult could sit in the back and help entertain him? For us a long car trip was a great opportunity for social skills time with our little boy with autism, we would read together, do flash cards, and sing wiggles songs.

Good luck!!

 

[HGD24]

You could buy some sippy tethers and only give him things to play with that clip onto it. We use one called Sippy Pal and clip it to the strap of DD's car seat. DD isn't a thrower, but she tends to put her sippy over the side of the carseat and then want a drink a few minutes later. She's learned that she can just pull the tether and get her sippy back. When she doesn't have a sippy in it, we use it to clip toys to. It's also great for the stroller!

 

[katied]

We drive from Minneapolis to Chicago all the time with DS (now 25 months). Key things for us...

#1 - drive at night mostly. We generally start on the drive around 8 - 9 pm, and he sleeps through most of it. I understand, not ideal for all, but DH is a night owl and OK with driving thru the night.

#2 - snacks. A snack trap filled with cereal, or snack size bags with goldfish, minicrackers, snack size sun chips, snack size raisens. The key for us really is the small snack size bag or box, so part of the time is spent by DS just trying to get the food out. Plus he's really happy being able to do it himself.

#3 - toys/books. DS is happy to hold/"read" picture books himself. This may be because he's been exposed to books since he was very small, so may not work for all. Other small toys, esp. ones that sing or make some sounds, can help for a bit.

#4 - songs/counting/games - We will sing over and over things like Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row your Boat, the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Ring around the Rosy, etc. We will also play our own little "I'm looking game..." where we look and take turns calling out what we see - e.g., Big Truck, Water, Green Tree, etc.

Good luck!

 

[IDoDis]

You can buy notepads that have hundreds of stickers in them at Target (in the party section). Bring along a roll of wax paper. He'll have fun placing the stickers all over the wax paper. He can take them off and move them around. When he's done, you can recycle the stickers again for later use.

 

[Leajess99]

You can buy notepads that have hundreds of stickers in them at Target (in the party section). Bring along a roll of wax paper. He'll have fun placing the stickers all over the wax paper. He can take them off and move them around. When he's done, you can recycle the stickers again for later use.

Cool idea. I will be using this for my older kids.

As for OP, my youngest hated riding in the car for any distance even with toys. We just ended up using a portable DVD player and some toys. I did have the older kids to help when I could not help her reach something. The worst for us was the traffic jam in St Louis which lasted over an hour and no where to stop. I would make practice trips and try to get the child as comfortable with his car seat as possible (which may seriously be the issue). I think it is great that you are including him in the trip as well.

 

[mom2meiko]

i'm curious if the op knows the root of the foster child's issue with being in the car? not all times but often times foster children have gone through a traumatic experience and perhaps that needs to be worked through before embarking on such a long trip. how much of this little ones history do you have? yes, it could just be a hatred of being stuck in a car seat but i'd hate for it to be a symptom of a much larger issue - especially a deeply emotional issue - that isn't being considered.

assuming that there is no historical trauma that anyone is aware of, i would say try working on smaller trips first - trips around town, then the next town over, maybe working up to an hour at a time or something along those lines? let him know you'll be going and let him pick his favorite comfort item or toy to take with him - something that will help make it better. i'd also say talk to him - reassure him that everything is ok, you understand he is upset and you want to help him get through it, etc. i would definitely try lots of small regular doses before embarking on any long term trip.

good luck!

 

[cmusschoot]

If he/she sits in the car near a window, a few window clings can be fun. We always bring them for my kids on plane rides.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We took a kid-proof camera that my parents got DS (2.5) for Christmas. I think most, if not all of the Vtech products have games on them. DS sat and played puzzle games on the drive AND while we were waiting in line. He also looked out at the scenery a lot. We took our portable DVD player and he watched Bolt a lot as well (we drove from central Indiana). It kind of worked in our favor that he was watching Disney movies on the drive down. Not that he was excited enough to go meet Mickey, but I think it also helped him learn a lot of characters. He was comfortable with everyone we met!

 

[dhardawa]

Definitely get a DVD player. I also have a 22 months old and he sits glued to it in the car.

 

[bzzybee13]

I second the DVD player; it makes my kids zone out, a good thing imho.; earplugs for the other passengers, and drive at night whenever you can. We leave our house in TX around 4pm, p/u dinner, and get to WDW at early lunchtime the next day. The kids end up sleeping 10-11 hours of the trip that way.

I second this! Leave a couple of hours before his bedtime, so by the time he would be getting really crabby he will be asleep (hopefully!). We did NY to Maine with my 21 month old who is very feisty as well, and this way worked like a charm.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Does he always scream in the car? If this is specific to the car, it might be an issue with the seat. What kind of car seat is he in, and is he rear or forward facing? I found my ds did better on long trips will be was still rear-facing. It was easier to hold books and games in his lap, color, etc. while he was sitting cross-legged. And an added benefit is he was better able to see me or his older brother, whomever was sitting next to him. He'd be happy to still be rear-facing but, unfortunately, is over 40lbs now. Some seats with very short bases under their thighs can cause dangling feet to get 'pins and needles' quickly. Other seats have better support of the thighs, so if he's forward facing and you can't or won't try to turn him that might be something else to look at.

 

[Going Broke]

DVD player, small toys, hit the party store and pick up some goody bag toys like the mini slinkies, not all pedis recomend this but mine said it would be ok if you have to give a little benedryl. My girls take benedryl for cold (it dries them up) so they are used to it (I have never had to use it while traveling yet). Take lots of stops so the baby can run. Good luck you are gonna need it lol

My pediatrician also recommended this. My kids get car sick and when they were younger they could not take dramamine so their doc told me to give them benedryl...helps them sleep and if they're sleeping they're not getting sick! It worked for us. We also use snacks, snacks, and more snacks. Dvd's work well (although you will be singing the songs for the rest of you life--in our case it was Barney). We found toys only take up room or end up as weapons, as I have taken a couple to the back of the head.

 

[kevschickee]

My pediatrician also recommended this. My kids get car sick and when they were younger they could not take dramamine so their doc told me to give them benedryl...helps them sleep and if they're sleeping they're not getting sick! It worked for us. We also use snacks, snacks, and more snacks. Dvd's work well (although you will be singing the songs for the rest of you life--in our case it was Barney). We found toys only take up room or end up as weapons, as I have taken a couple to the back of the head.

Oh good I was hoping I wasn't going to get flamed for my response. I am glad someone elses pedi recommended this.