It is road trip season and that means so many of us have planned amazing road trips to enjoy this Summer, but what we have to consider is we will have kids trapped in a vehicle for a long period of time. A long enough period of time that anything could go wrong or drive you nuts so us here at Modern Mama wanted to help you with our “how to survive a long road trip with your kids” tutorial. So we hope that our suffering and experience helps your survive the many road trips you might have planned this Summer.
Prepare For Upset Stomachs
You might not have a child who gets motion sickness on a regular basis but after a long drive even your most car worthy kid can start to look a little green. That is why I am a huge supporter of being fully prepared for a big blow out. Thankfully Summer time is also ice cream season so keep those great ice cream tubs and wash them out just for this occasion. For each child I will pack a bucket with a roll of toilet paper, extra kids gravol, plastic bag, extra change of clothes and some wet naps. Keeping these things at easy access for each kid is key if you want to minimize messes along the way, sometimes pulling over isn’t an option so make sure to have as many clean up options as possible for a worst case scenario. It is always better safe than sorry so you hopefully avoid having to get your car detailed along the way.
Activities Are Sanity Savers
There is only so long your kids can watch movies or play apps on their tablets for before they start to get stir crazy. It is usually an hour before your next scheduled stop so you need to be ready to keep those kids entertained to help you stay on time the best you can. Making sure you have a full arsenal of games you can play with your kids and your kids can play on their own is going to be one of you biggest sanity savers. There is nothing worse than bored kids trapped in a car on a road trip. If they’re not asleep they better be entertained of your are going to be in for a stressful long road trip with your kids.
Scheduling In Stops With Activity Spaces
Your highly anticipated long road trip with your kids took a lot of planning and hopefully within that planning you have taken into consideration your stops along the way. One of the best ways to keep my kids going on these long trips was me focusing our stops around, not just food, but play as well. I did my research to make sure there was also a great place for my boys to take a moment to play, stretch their legs and get active for a bit. Keeping this in mind for our last road trip made all the difference from past years – it made it almost, dare I say it, easy. They wouldn’t be upset about getting back into the car, looked forward to their next stop and would usually have a decent nap once we would get going. It made a big difference and adds to the fun of your trip.
Unscheduled Potty Breaks Are Inevitable
With young kids it is inevitable that you will have to make an unscheduled pit stop at one point, and accepting that fact will make the unwanted stop a lot less stressful. Just breathe and accept its okay to have unscheduled accidental stops along the way, don’t let it stress you out. To make sure you are making the best stop you can in those moments there are a bunch of little helpers. In fact there is an app for that, as avid road trippers have taken the time to give us the run down on bathroom breaks all over! This app will give you the best and cleanest options for you and your family to answer natures call whenever you need it most.
Being prepared and taking the right steps for your family is key to a successful and stress limited road trip. After all trips should be about enjoying each other not stressing out.