Road Trips With Children 15 tips that may help you stay safe and sane Children’s initial excitement over family vacations can quickly turn to restlessness once the car ride begins. Vicky Lansky, author of “Practical Parenting Tips,” advises careful packing and creative planning to make traveling more fun and less stressful for both you and your kids. “Traveling with kids just takes longer,” Lansky says, “so incorporate that into your travel schedule.” Here are 15 helpful hints from the revised and updated edition of “Practical Parenting Tips” to keep kids entertained and Stop the car and pull over when fighting begins, and don’t go again until it ends. well behaved on the road.
Restlessness Change seating arrangements
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back seat for all or half of a trip usually makes for a pleasant journey. Stop periodically to run and play 2 with your kids. The break will be good for everybody. Pack a bottle of bubbles or a package of balloons in the glove compartment. Stash a Frisbee, ball or jump rope under a seat. Announce a treat for the end of 3 the day so everybody will have something to look forward to (a swim in the pool, dinner at a favorite restaurant, and so on).
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account for each hour without an incident; deduct the same amount for bickering. Settle up each day.
Food 7 1 plates or coffee filters with little Carry a supply of small paper
Back Seat Bickering
slits in the center. Put the sticks of Popsicles or ice cream bars through the slits, and there will be less mess on car seats and fingers. Cut sandwiches in different shapes 8 for easy identification: triangles for those with mustard, rectangles for those with mayonnaise, and so on. Avoid taking very salty foods in 9 the car; they inspire lots of drinking—and lots of rest stops.
4 Stop the car and pull over when 4 fighting begins, and don’t go again
Beverages
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until it ends. Get out of the car, if necessary, until your kids have quieted down. Let kids know that fighting endan5 gers everyone in the car. Consider deducting something from their allowance or withholding privileges. Use money as an incentive for 6 kids old enough to be swayed by cash. Add an amount (a quarter or whatever) to each child’s spending
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Put liquids in well-washed plastic 10 lemon or lime juice dispensers. (Remove the inserts with a sharp pointed object, replace after filling, and screw the caps back on.) If you freeze them before you leave, the drinks will stay cool as they melt. Satisfy both hunger and thirst 11 with grapes. Older kids may prefer frozen grapes. (Always cut them in
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half for toddlers.) Oranges serve the same purpose, but they’re messier. Keep flexible straws in your 12 purse. They make it easier for children to drink from cups in a restaurant or car seat.
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Activities Draw faces on your child’s fingers
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washable markers. Enjoy puppet “conversations” or stories. Store colored pencils, markers 14 and coloring books in a metal cake pan with a sliding cover. (Crayons melt in the summer heat.) The closed top provides a work surface. Buy postcards at your favorite 15 places while traveling. Write down the day’s activities on the back of the cards. Put them in a scrapbook you’ve brought along, or mail them to your home address.
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Vicki Lansky’s “Practical Parenting Tips” (Meadowbrook Press, $9, www.meadow brookpress.com) has sold over 700,000 copies. The recently revised and updated edition contains more than 1,500 helpful hints to save parents time, trouble and money. Carolina Country APRIL 2006 21