Traveling with small kids

[kozzy]

Well..I need some tips. This year we have 2 new additions to the family and we are planning a road trip to Florida with our new prime time to visit the in laws. Traveling that long with kids in car seats will be all new for us. Any tips or tricks that will help the kids be comfortable while maintaining some sort of good driving schedule ? Please share..thanks

[Smokyroo]

We have 3 kids and one of them has been disabled since birth. if you can do it travel at night and it is easy peasy lemon squeezy. With that said, your kids will somewhat dictate the schedule. Before kids we would fly through our drives and going through drive throughs now we stop and eat, sometimes taking our time and eating at a Ruby Tuesday. Kids need to get out of those ooh soo comfy car seats (lol)...I remeber only one bad bad trip when our daughter was teething and we were coming back from the Monongahelia National Forest in West Virginia head to Florida (home then). At about Charlotte she started to cry. We stopped and could not figure out what was wrong. The trip had to go on and she cried, no joke from Charlotte, NC to the SC/Ga border on 1-95 and we were in Honda Civic hatch back.

My gut is you guys will be stopping at about 2 to 3 hour intervals and it is what it is. Perhaps the hardest part of starting our traveling long distances is how we as parents manage our own wants and needs and expectations and the changes the kids bring rather the kids themselves. All my kids travel well. Have fun and enjoy the ride of being a parent.

[kozzy]

Thanks for the response. Did your kids sleep all night in their car seats? Just wondering i guess if that was comfortable enough to sleep without being in a crib. My kids will be 18 months in April when we take the trip. And they have no problem sleeping all night but this will all be new for them. If I only bought a fifth wheel they could sleep in the camper with the wife haha

[Smokyroo]

Yes they would then and do now too. My kids are now 15,13 and 10. They are easy to travel with now lol. The motion of the car and music too will often calm the savage beast within.

[h20ski]

We just took our 31/2 year old and 18 mo old grand kids with us for a long weekend trip about 6 hours one way. Grandma sit in the back with them and they had snacks and watched cartoons and movies the whole way. I was for one very suprised at how well the traveled. We also took plenty of breaks and let them get out and run around a little bit.

[kozzy]

Well I'm def going to try and do most of the driving at night. I'd love to put my wife in the backseat with them but 2 car seats in the back of a pickup would be tight.

[RoadDog66]

Sounds like your kids are very young. When mine were under 2-yrs it was a little harder to keep them content, but lots of bottles, light music, rattles and toys, and plenty of stops for stretching and "mommy time" were key. It's a definite exercise in patience though...and builds character

Now that they are a little older (under 8-yrs) a portable DVD player and movies is a must. Also my daughter is now old enough and has a Nintendo DSi which keeps her occupied too.

At both age ranges we traveled cross country by SUV/Truck quite a bit (FL, IL, OH, PA, VA, NY). Typical Grammy/Poppy trip is 4-hrs and been doing that for years.

Good luck and safe travels.

[kozzy]

Yeah this is a grandma grandpa trip ny to fl. Should be fun...I think my strategy will be drive at night and hopefully they will sleep....

[PilgrimSoul]

With my oldest (now 2) we travelled cross country with her just after she turned 6 months, Virginia to California, and then back again. It was pretty easy at that age because the truck vibration kept her asleep mist of the time. We were able to get about 12 hrs of driving time in each day with short stops about every 4 hrs before she'd let us know she'd had enough. It was easy. Just after the birth of our son we had to do a 16 hour trip and that was a bit rough. Our oldest was teething & baby two was a week old. Not fun but not miserable. After that trip we decided to try doing all long distance driving at might and it's been WONDERFUL. The kids sleep, hubby and I get some quiet time together, traffic is lighter (except around Washington dc, ugh) and we cover more distance without stops.

[sherdep]

If you decide to travel at night - just make sure you are awake and at any point you start to feel tired - get to a rest area - traveling at night isnt as easy as we like to think unless you are a night owl.

My daughter slept alot at night in her car seat.

I have a 5 year old daughter and we traveled from Florida to Virginia numerous times - Most were easy trips especially when she was in Diapers - every rest area I would check the Diaper and if needed replace it so she didnt get a "red" butt.

She was a good traveler and still is -

make sure you have snacks and drinks in the car with you and if they have some sort of a favorite stuffed animal and or favorite blanket make sure they have that with them as well.

I would say the hardest part will come when you travel when they are potty training - if I could that part all over again I would avoid traveling then cause it seems she wanted to stop every 5 minutes cause she felt the "urge" and had a porta potty that didnt have a top and it got knocked over - lets just say it wasnt fun trying to hurry up and clean it before it made a mess.

[PapaSmurf]

My daughter lives in DC we live in Nashville, the in-laws live near Davenport Iowa. The grandkids have spent there lives trapped in car seats for long trips. They travel well. She stops every couple of hours for drinks, snacks, and spotty breaks. She feeds them on their normal schedule, and lets them watch their favorite DVD's. She has never called crying because the kids were driving her nuts, seems to work well.

[ittle dew]

Originally Posted by kozzy

Well..I need some tips. This year we have 2 new additions to the family and we are planning a road trip to Florida with our new prime time to visit the in laws. Traveling that long with kids in car seats will be all new for us. Any tips or tricks that will help the kids be comfortable while maintaining some sort of good driving schedule ? Please share..thanks

We have been traveling with the kids from the start. My son was 6 months old on his first trip to Canada from Ct. He is now 14 and his sister is 4. The more you travel with them the better they get at it. It takes work and time in the saddle but both are great at traveling. Both have been from Ct. To Canada and Florida and everywhere in between.

It won't take long to work out communication for when they need a break, either diaper or a break from the seat. Little bodies are more sensitive to pressure points from the seat or the seatbelt.

Traveling at night is a big help because if they are asleep they aren't hungry, bored, or messing their diaper ( which is the biggest dictator of stopping I have found, you can feed them or entertain them in the seat but diaper changes
need stops ).

[kozzy]

THanks for all the tips. They sound great....before we had kids I would still drive at night just because it was easier and less traffic. So it looks like I just need to add snacks and stops to the plan..my kids usually sleep all night so this should work out nicely...we are not in a rush either so if we have to stop for rest no big deal...

On another note...driving through the DC belt is so much easier at 2 am on I95...

[Kaytee1206]

My kids are just over 3 and 22 months. Last summer they maxed out around 2.5 hours before needing a break. That was before the oldest was potty trained though, so who knows how that is going to go this year. We just bring lots of DVD's and snacks.

[crazn]

Tip for misbehav'n: We instituted a timeout procedure whereby the perpetrator(s) would be placed in the proverbial "time-out". If someone was in "time-out" they lost certain privileges that included not receiving ice cream if the vehicle stopped at an ice cream parlor. Well of course my wife and I would stop a the first possible location and slurp and "ooh" and "ah" - very effective.

[sherdep]

Originally Posted by crazn

Tip for misbehav'n: We instituted a timeout procedure whereby the perpetrator(s) would be placed in the proverbial "time-out". If someone was in "time-out" they lost certain privileges that included not receiving ice cream if the vehicle stopped at an ice cream parlor. Well of course my wife and I would stop a the first possible location and slurp and "ooh" and "ah" - very effective.

I love this one - I got a chuckle out of this one and it being very simple but yet I bet it is very effective

[Rod Johnson]

hmmmm, benadryl.

[Rugged Brown]

Originally Posted by crazn

Tip for misbehav'n: We instituted a timeout procedure whereby the perpetrator(s) would be placed in the proverbial "time-out". If someone was in "time-out" they lost certain privileges that included not receiving ice cream if the vehicle stopped at an ice cream parlor. Well of course my wife and I would stop a the first possible location and slurp and "ooh" and "ah" - very effective.

I think that's downright cruel. Who disciplines the adults when they misbehave. Children will be children and should not be punished in that manner, especially when on vacation. To deny some of the perks of vacationing, like ice cream times is torture to a child. I was once at a campground where I saw 3 children "time out" for 6 hours. I felt like smacking the parents up the side of the head. I took my children out, kept them busy by visiting interesting things, playing games, swimming. I totally disagree with the "time out" method. Be active with your childrens lives. My blood is boiling, I can go on,,,,, geeze b'y.

[Rod Johnson]

Times sure are changing. I got butt whoopins for misbehaving, and you're upset over some time-out? To each his own I suppose.

[Rugged Brown]

Originally Posted by Rod Johnson

Times sure are changing. I got butt whoopins for misbehaving, and you're upset over some time-out? To each his own I suppose.

Man with gun and biceps,,, whatever you say.