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When I saw the headline, I though you were going to ask "Which one should drive?" It has brought to mind a wonderful story I heard way back around 1960. It seems the cop saw this car going by with a tot's hear peering over the steering wheel, so he pulled the car over. The cop asked the kid where he thought he was going and the kid pointed to the passenger seat and said "I'm taking my little sister for a ride".
COP: Oh, no, you're not driving anywhere. We'll have to phone your mother and have her come and take you home
KID: She can't.
COP: Why not?
KID: I've got the car.
We used to sing "sign songs." Mom would pick a popular tune (like the Skater's waltz) and we'd place the words to road signs, bumper stickers, and license plates that formed words into the melody. So our song would be something like:
Ste-ven-son Road
Two Miles A-head
My kid - is - an -
Ho-nor student.
Peace - No U-turn
Slip-pery when wet
B.I.R.D. Seven, Route Six
I-ninety-one.
We also made up new lyrics to known songs - like Simon & Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair:
Are you going to eat a pear?
Superman wears lace underwear.
Remember me when I was a chicken.
Batman was a good friend of mine.
Wonder woman and Plastic Man
went a'sailing o'er the sea.
If you drive a Ford or a Chevy
at the stop sign re-member me.
Honest to goodness Anon...this type of activity set the whole mood for our road trips. My hubby and I both sang silly songs to and with my kids. We now do this with my grandson and it's so adorable watching him try to sing them with us. LOL We always had good relationships with our kids (usually)lol, but road trips and power outages have always been such incredibly fun and memorable times for us. It's sad to see how traumatic some of these things are for some families...because they can be the best times of their lives. Also, being a non-snack food family...whoa, what a treat! Individually packaged granola bars, pop tarts, Rice Krispy treats, trail mixes, coolers full of juice bottles and boxes....Oh man, mine LOVED road trips...and fun, no distracted parents with "something to do"...heaven on earth!
I have to admit that when I saw the thread title I thought, "WT...?" We certainly did plenty of trips of roughly that length, going to the mountains and such, w/o a second thought. The kids will likely sleep at least part of the trip, and can listen to songs, etc the rest of the time. Snacks help, too.
I have to admit that when I saw the thread title I thought, "WT...?" We certainly did plenty of trips of roughly that length, going to the mountains and such, w/o a second thought. The kids will likely sleep at least part of the trip, and can listen to songs, etc the rest of the time. Snacks help, too.
It seems to be a much bigger deal now. And I'm not sure why. You're right. A three hour trip up to the mountains when I was a kid was nothing. Maybe we had more of the "hearty pioneer spirit"? My parents would put us in the car and drive 100 miles just for a date shake.
(Darn. Going to Sears was an hour one-way. Nothing was close so you just did it. I think that's why we never hesitated to load up the kids and take off for parts unknown. Seemed natural.)
We've done numerous road trips (cross country) with little ones. Ours were 18 mo and 3 yo for the one from san diego to miliwaukee. I drove myself with both kids ages 4 and just turned 6 from san diego to virginia the last time.
The tips I can offer are simply being prepared. Try color wonder markers/coloring book. I have these "trays" that can fit over the kids' laps (at least the 4 yo) with side pockets to hold food, straw water bottle, markers, toys etc. That way they can draw, eat etc. I have had small ziploc bags of snacks prepped so I can grab and toss in the back seat to them. That worked really well. I had a small box in the front seat holding small new "token" type toys. Get em anywhere...small toys like matchbox cars, new small book, look at the target $1 spot and grab some new things up, wrap them and occassionally hand them back to the 4 yo. Of course others have mentioned dvd player, or a portable video game console. I had v tech at first and now my boys have a psp. Just drove 800+ miles one way from virginia to green bay wisconsin and back within a 5 day period. Not bad at all. You just do it. You stop for gas, grab a bite-go into a restaurant--find a mcdonald's with a playland and allow them to run around a little. I did this when the boys were younger, only for 20 min and then we'd get back on the road.
3 hrs is totally doable for you. Just bring the stuff you need and take it as it comes. You'll be surprised how great it can be. I actually prefer road trips now. 2 summers ago we actually put 5000 miles on our car doing road trips. Just be prepared and go with the flow. Make it fun, be patient. Have some kid music if you need to. I had a backyardigans CD that I think we listened to 1000 miles and back once. I'll never forget those words.
Just curious.... who's birthday is it? if hers, why would you be bringing the children? Seems as if you won't have much time to catch up....
I used to take my 3 from NC to NEPA (9hrs) with nothing more than Marlo Thomas "Free to be You and Me", blankets, snacks, coloring books, books.....
I've always felt that there is much to be learned by staring out a window.
And just think, your kids are probably both in car seats so its not like they'll be climbing over the front seat like my little sister used to when we were kids.
It's funny that several posters mentioned that this shouldn't be a big deal. When I was little, I didn't have anything either and I loved road trips. Still do. We didn't sing songs (my parents were much older and conservative - in fact, the entertainment would be when my mother would harangue my dad about his driving and grip the dash as I rolled around in the back - it was always a new nail-biter in the car lol!) but I slept and stared out the window. I love train rides too. If I whined more than once, I'd get "the look." And we did play i-Spy.
Now I guess these times are different because my 4-year-old's vocabulary is far more advanced than mine was at that age (or at least I didn't use it on my parents!) where he says "This is taking forever..." "This is soooo boring!" "I want to play a game on your ipod!!!" "Where's your phone???" This is all thanks to his 6-year-old cousin who's got quite a mouth on her. My 18-month-old has gotten cranky since facing forward, which I still can't figure out, so I guess I'm desperate for more options. I wish my son could read already!!! My husband, who is not going, warned me not to pin my hopes on any one thing like a DVD player or new toy or even audiobooks, because then if the kids aren't into it and start screaming, I'll lose my patience. My husband said that our 4-year-old will get upset if the DVD doesn't work, or if he wants it louder, etc. etc., and it's just one more thing for him to get frustrated about. As it is, when my son plays with my iPod for awhile, he starts crying if he swipes something wrong and takes him out of the game. Believe me, my 20-minute ride from Boca to Wellington can be quite stressful with the two of them screeching. My husband said he doesn't even allow the iPod in his car because he doesn't want to deal with the frustration. I started looking at the trip with dread, like is all of this worth it to see my good friend, but you all have reminded me that this is an opportunity to have FUN with my kids, and I have to re-set my perspective. Maybe I shouldn't take anything and just listen to a kid's CD and have my older one bring along his books and some cars, and that's it, instead of the player, the movies, the toys, etc. Nothing for the baby since he'll just throw it on the floor anyway, and there goes his frustration if I can't reach it. I did buy the toy tether so we'll try it out and see if it works. I really want to use it for his sippy cup since he loves drinking water.
To Mary73, it's actually my close friend's niece's birthday. it's a 4-hour birthday party so it will be quite the event, to get there, hang with her, have the boys run around at the park, and then go... We stay in touch on facebook on such but we haven't seen each other in years. When she invited me, I couldn't say no, since she's flying back to NYC that evening.
HeHehe. A few weeks ago we did a road trip that would normally take 6 hours and because of traffic it ended up being around 8hrs with my 3 year old. I left the house, filled the gas tank and as soon as I took the interstate ramp (about 5 minutes into the trip) she asked "are we there yet". LOL. I thought, OH....it's going to be a loooong trip. Thankfully with the help of i-Spy, iPod, stickers, snacks, a few comfort toys, blanket and bathroom breaks it worked out and she fell asleep during the last few hours. She only asked "are we there yet" about another dozen times
Ahhh... Now we ae getting to the root cause of the worries. It's not the three hour car ride. It's the fact that your son is smarting off. Which happens. Especially when there is an older friend or relative that they learn it from. It's not that his vocabulary is especially advanced and causing problems. It's the attitude behind the words that's the problem.
Been there. Done that. My sympathies.
It's a process but please consider correcting your son when he gives you his commentary on how awful it all is to be him. If you don't do it now you will have the teenager smarting off at you and goodness knows (trust me) you do not want that.
A few discussions with the little bloke are in order. Let him know that you are the mom and he is the little boy and he is not going to rule the roost and ruin a car ride by mouthing off. Because that is exactly what he is doing.
You said you got "the look". Do you give him "the look" and does he know that really awful things (in the eyes of a 4-year old awful) happen if he doesn't obey "the look"?
It's called an attitude adjustment. Consider yourself lucky that you caught it early.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 04-04-2011 at 01:07 PM..
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Also, being a non-snack food family...whoa, what a treat! Individually packaged granola bars, pop tarts, Rice Krispy treats, trail mixes, coolers full of juice bottles and boxes....Oh man, mine LOVED road trips...and fun, no distracted parents with "something to do"...heaven on earth!
