The Bagaso's home on wheels!
My husband and I have been traveling with our children since
our youngest was a few months old. She
is now 15 years old. By “travel” I mean
a minimum of a 4000-mile road trip...minimum.
Now we tour the country full-time with my husband's music mission.
By “we” I mean my husband and me, seven children ranging from infancy to 15 years, and a 130-pound dog.
By “we” I mean my husband and me, seven children ranging from infancy to 15 years, and a 130-pound dog.
Experience being the greatest teacher, I have a few tips to
share from our travels.
20 Tips for Keeping Kids
Happy on the Road
1. Make
sure everyone is comfortable with plenty of leg room, a small pillow for
naps, a blanket for personal temperature preferences, a cup holder if possible,
and a small bag of activities.
2. Stop
frequently. Rest stop picnics can be
very refreshing, and running around a bit can prime kids for a nap.
3. If
your children are asleep, keep driving!
I don't care how badly you have to go to the bathroom. Just. Keep.
Driving!
4. Keep
your total daily driving time down to a reasonable amount if possible,
particularly if you have children strapped into car seats which dramatically
limit their mobility.
5. Change
diapers at every stop. Nobody wants
to sit in...that.
6. If
one person has to go, everybody has to go!
Otherwise, five miles down the road, you WILL hear, “I hafta go!”
7. Divide
snacks into small containers so they can be easily passed out and rationed.
Do not give your children sugary snacks. You are asking for trouble. Also avoid choking hazards and foods that
melt.
8. Sit in the back seat. If you have a very young child or several, give up on the co-pilot idea. It isn't exactly comfortable, but you can nurse a baby who is buckled in a rear-facing infant seat.
9. Occasionally stop at a store or
roadside stand and let your children
pick out a treat within your family's treat guidelines. Be sure to try out
regional favorites.
10. Give
children driving games to pass the time.
I like to make a booklet of activities for each child.
11. Keep
a stocked activity bag in the vehicle, suitable for the age of your
children. Pass it around when people
begin to get tired of what they brought along.
12. Relax
your standards a bit regarding the quantity of movies you allow. At home, we have one movie night a week,
but on the road, we are looser. You can
install screens and a small DVD player in your vehicle for a reasonable
price—we shopped around and installed it ourselves. (By “ourselves” I mean “my
hubby.”)
13. Do
not get your children used to having a movie going all the time. Not only
is it inhumane to expose an adult to 15 straight episodes of Dora the Explorer,
but if you keep the screen on constantly, the prospect of a movie loses its
novelty and effect as a distraction for your littles. If your children can't travel two or three
hours without a movie, you've got some work to do.
14. Let
loose and be fun! Sing, play games, nibble little toes, tell jokes and
stories, sing some more, and read fun books.
Be a part of the action.
15. Pull
over to explore something interesting.
Your children will forever remember the detours, like popping out of the
van on the side of the highway in Texas to investigate the massive number of
male tarantulas booking it across the road to find their soulmates...or
webmates.
16. Plan
ahead. Nothing makes a long day
longer than finding all the area hotels or campgrounds booked up.
17. Pull
out a few surprises during the trip, like a dollar for a treat, a new
coloring book, a favorite snack, a new handicraft to work on, or a homemade
slideshow/movie of your children.
18. Give your children maps to follow along on the trip. Mark your day's destination so they know “how much farther” without asking.
19. Books
on tape are great! Look for free
downloadable books at librivox.org for the older set.
20. Be
patient. Something will go
wrong, but if you can make it fun, or at least not flip out, your family will
get through it just fine.
If you are interested in the travels of a “roadschooling”
family of 9, follow our adventures at TheTravelBags.
What are your best tips for
keeping kids happy on the road?
Christy blogs at The Simple Homemaker where she focuses on keeping life simple. She encourages her readers to "clear their life queue" of stress, expectations, over-commitment, and the lies that homemakers tend to believe that make their job so much more difficult than it needs to be.
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3 comments:
MUSIC! We are all into various genres of music, and the key is to let each person (young or old) hear one of "their" songs at least once per hour. Luckily for us, our youngest prefers adult music to preschool tunes! And having the ability to hook an iPod or my iPad to the stereo in our Excursion makes trips much easier. No more "but she just heard one of her songs!" My answer is: Sorry, I just hit shuffle and the iPod does the deciding.
Kasee, That's a great idea! Thanks for sharing. :)
Good idea, Kasee! Before our CD player died in the Bagabus, two family members dominated it. This would definitely solve that problem. Thanks for sharing. :)
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