HOW TO ROAD TRIP WITH LITTLES
Taking a long road trip with small children can be daunting. However, if you plan and prep well it can be a really enjoyable experience. We drive to Texas 1-2 times a year to visit family, which is about a 15 hours drive from our house. I’m going to share a few things that we do to make the trip fun for the kids (and the parents)!
If your trip is longer than 8-10 hours, I highly recommend stopping halfway and staying in a hotel. When people are well rested, everyone benefits. The driver is able to be more rested and therefore more alert, the person caring for everyone in the car has more patience and kids won’t be as cranky or meltdown as much because they got a good night sleep in a bed instead of a car seat.
2. Plan out your stops. We try to plan stops every 3-4 hours, when possible, and typically around a meal time. I research places to eat in the area that we plan to stop ahead of time and usually try to find a place that has some type of play area for kids so that the boys can get some energy out.
If you have young children that are potty trained, they will need to stop every few hours so they don’t have an accident. If you have children in diapers, breastfeeding, bottle feeding or don’t have the dexterity for a snack bowl, you will need to stop to accommodate those things.
Planning your stops in advance and having clear communication with the person driving, there won’t be the added stress of “oh no, I have to go to the bathroom!” However, if there is an emergency and someone needs to use the potty before the scheduled break or when there' aren’t a lot of options for stopping, we always carry a portable toilet with us. You can place an open diaper in the bottom of the portable toilet for your kiddo to relieve themselves in and then fold it up and place it in a ziploc until you reach somewhere that it can be thrown away.
We use this one. I actually keep it in the car, even when we aren’t on road trips. It comes in very handy when we’re at the park!
3. Come prepared with snacks! Fed kids are happy kids. My boys rarely sleep in the car, never have, so making sure we try to avoid the grumpies at all cost is my #1 goal on a road trip. I use these 4 compartment snack bowls and fill several up before leaving. Bentgo boxes are also a great option for snack containers. I also bring ziploc bags of snacks that I can use to refill bowls at stops or at night at the hotel.
4. I keep a bag of “activities” for the kid’s to do throughout the trip and give them a new one every few hours. I usually grab things from the Dollar Store or Target’s Dollar Spot, like new coloring books, stickers, cars, Colorforms, Magic Ink Coloring, etc. The kids usually bring a few toys or activities in their backpacks that they picked out and I reserve the “surprise bag” for when I see they are getting antsy.
Both boys have a travel tray that straps behind the car seat. These are AMAZING for eating, coloring, playing with action figures, puzzles and books.
5. Technology! One of things I did on our last road trip was check out a bunch of DVDs from the library that the kids haven’t seen before. We use the DVD player in the car for the kid’s to watch shows throughout the trip and I love that they have built in head phones. For us, we don’t set alot of time limits on technology on road trips. My goal on road trips is sanity for all!
I’m linking all of our favorite road trip items below for you!
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