Make Road Trips Fun - Part 2

As promised Momsters are back with the second part of our Road Trips posts. While part - I dealt with basics, the second part of the post is full of practical tips. 

When you take a road-trip with alone with your baby, you will have to multitask. Driving and entertaining can be quite a task. If you are lucky to have another adult traveling with you, one of you can act as the child entertainer, while the other drives. If both of you can drive, try switching the duties, this will give the both of you a much needed break. 

If you talk about food, it is an extremely important part of any road trip. If you do not want to stop at a road side food joint or Dhaaba, you will have to carry food to keep everyone in the car well-fed.
Try to avoid messy fruits, yogurts, juice, etc.
Choose sandwiches, bananas, apples, home-made snacks like chilla, paratha, boiled eggs, etc.

Some Food tips if you are with:
A Baby:

Feed the baby when s/he is wide awake, if you doubt you would find a baby-friendly food joint, avoid outside food for the baby. If you plan to breastfeed, go ahead. If you intend on giving formula milk, carry pre-measured formula in containers designed for traveling. You can carry warm water in a thermos. 

A Toddler/Older Kids:

If you get off at an eatery/restaurant, try choose one where you have ample space for the toddler to run around. If you are doubtful about your child having outside food do carry extra sandwich for the kid. Please do not try to force feed them.  

Momsters Suggest:

Make a “Surprise” bag:

Now who doesn't like surprises  Mix Nuts, Gems/M&Ms, granola bar, crackers, etc. in a bag for them to search for stuff. The more different things you have the better.  They will be able to scoop a fist full of the mix and they will have different items each time.  

Water Trick:

My daughter goes berserk if she sees her sipper and has nothing else to do, she just wants to keep drinking water. Don't make them drink gallons of water on the trip. I give Zoe blocks of different colors and if she picks her favorite color (which keeps changing) without seeing the blocks, she is allowed a sip. For Pre-schoolers, give them a box of magnetic alphabets and tell them to pick a letter without seeing and only if they pick their alphabet they can drink some water/juice.

Another huge biggest challenge that you will face on a road trip with kids, is keeping your child engaged and entertained. For my little girl, Books, Books and some more books work. If you have:

A Baby:

Your baby should ideally be seated in a rear-facing carseat. Young kids cannot see outside from the car window, so they will sure get bored. You can choose toys which can be attached to the carseat. These have to be bright colorful toys with mirrors, to keep the baby entertained. Board books and picture books are great if your baby has started taking interest in books. Nursery rhymes work wonders, do carry a CD along. 

A Toddler:

Carry a bag full of blocks/light weight books/crayons and paper to keep them entertained. Try singing songs with actions, you can also burn a CD of the songs your toddler is fond of. Try sticker books, doodle pro, etc. If your toddler is an gadget freak already, carrying your tab or smart phone will be a good option. Padmini A Bailur, mum of 21 months old Toddler says, "I carry a lot of books, but mostly she sleeps and wakes up the moment we halt. Don't know why parents worry so much about road-trips. Our experience has been totally hassle free".  

A bigger kid:

You need to keep your child's interest in mind when thinking of entertaining your little one. If your child has a stuff toy, she does not want to part with, make sure that is the 1st thing you carry. 

Some Road Trip Games & Activities:

Cheap Entertainment:

Buy a couple of inexpensive stuff like body stamps, finger puppets, stickers, trinkets, a magnifying glass, bubbles, etc. Wrap these up individually and hand them to the kids one by one.

Map my Trip:

If you have older kids with you, take the printout of your road map and highlight some points on the map, tell your kids to find each point and they get a special treat for every point. You can try Google Maps for taking the print outs. 

My Small White Board:

Take a white board or a chalk board, it would keep all the kids involved.

Doctor on Call:

For slightly older kids, carry a kit with Band-aids and an alcohol pad.  Let them get involved in some pretend play by acting like a “Dr”.  Preschoolers love this activity and enjoy the way evaporation feels on their skin!  kids can also use it to sanitize their car-seats and toys. 

Hide & Seek Jar:

Fill a jar with thermocol balls and keep tiny 'treasures' as well like paper clips, hairpins, candy, button, crayon, etc. (keep enough space in the jar for things to move). Glue the jar lid so that the kids cannot open the jar. And call out the names of the hidden treasures, for children to find it. 

Bubble Fun:

Ask your kids to blow out bubbles from the car windows or blow it yourself at the kids. Avoid doing this too often as things in the car might get a little messy. 

Play-Dough Fun:

Carry some child friendly play-dough with you. Children will keep themselves busy creating snakes, circles, houses, etc. 

Handling 2 kids:

If there are 2 kids, try to avoid sibling arguments. Keep them engaged with lots of games, and pitch in before an argument crops up. Pragya Ahluwalia, mom of a 6 year old boy and a 2 year old girl says "I keep a 'goodie bag' full of small things children love, it is a surprise for them. In the car this keeps kids engaged and ensures they do not get bored. In the goodie bag, I have a snack and a small toy, some colors  Whenever I sense the kids might get a little out of hand I just give them the bags." Here is one smart mom I must admit.

Momsters advise:

Try sitting besides your child at the back along with a car-seat  You can keep your child company and avoid meltdowns.

Handle Road-trips well and the experience would be one you'd love!

Do share your tips/advice/suggestions with Momsters