Road Trips

We've been away, for 4 or 5 days , visiting my Grandparents. We had a blast. It was exactly what we needed! My husband's work load finally lightened up and we had time to get away. Now he starts traveling for work trips. We had to squeeze in a little family fun before that begins. We are home now!

Many people say you can tell the health of your family relationships by taking road trips. We recently met some friends with 5 older kids and they were telling us about their 16 hour road trips. They told us how they use a movie as the last resort. They talk, read, enjoy one another and then during the last few hours they all watch a video together. Wow! I want my kids to love each other like that. I want a road trip to be an adventure.

So how is our family's relationship? My husband and I came home feeling we were super healthy. I must admit, in the past, we have had a few yucky trips. This one was different. Maybe we both needed the break and the 'Grands' were just that - a refreshing break! Or, maybe we both hit the road with a bigger goal in mind and we did what we teach our kids to do, WE used self-control when we were frustrated. We really didn't feel frustrated at all on this trip!

So videos in the van. Ok, on our trip to Houston I tried to delay video time but that didn't work at all. We had a 10 hour drive and a 3.5 year old and a 2 year old. They are used to videos straight away when we pack up the van. Long trips = videos! So, 30 minutes later we had a video on and they watched videos most of the trip. I failed! On the ride home, they went 1.5 hours with talking and playing together (in their carseats) and they didn't ask for a video. Unfortunately, my son began to whine and aggravate his sister and so I buckled trying to keep the peace. Pretty good huh? They went an hour longer than the first time. Still not what I wanted but I didn't have many distracting toys or ideas to keep them from fighting. In fact, the distracting toys I brought caused whining. What is up with that? I brought a small Aqua Doodle for my son to use and dry erase markers for my daughter to practice her ABC's. Two activities that involve writing but my son immediately began crying for the markers and my daughter wanted the Aqua Doodle. My son doesn't fully understand the markers must remain on the book. I felt overwhelmed. They were completely uninterested in the other toys I brought.

What toys or activities do you plan for road trips? My kids are too young for finding ABC's on the road. We keep books in the van and so a book isn't a treat. They always have books. We have a basket of toys for each of them. Are they too young to do anything other than watch videos? We have another road trip coming soon. We are going with my husband on a work trip and I could use a few ideas! I want to use videos as a last resort but I don't have any other ideas. Help a Mommy out! Do you have any ideas or tricks?

We only do DVD's via a portable player on trips over 3 hours away. This is a special treat.