Advice Please

So, I posted about this on my Our Happy Happenings blog a few days ago but I didn’t get much any response.  Next week we are going to be visiting my brothers and my sister-in-law.  The longest Hailey has ever ridden the car has been about 3 hours.  And it is not usually pleasant.  Not one little bit.  The trip next week is going to take at least 8 hours, assuming there is no construction or traffic.  HA!  What are the chances? 

Anyhoo- any advice or ideas for the car ride with a 21 month old would be appreciated very much!  Please and thank you.

 

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11 comments on “Advice Please

  1. Comedy Plus on said:

    Well, you can’t hold her as that’s against the law. Singing if she likes that. Make sure she isn’t overdressed. That makes them cranky. Time some stops somewhere along the way and make sure she gets out of the car too. Don’t feed her too much it will make her tummy upset. You’ve got the DVD’s from your TT list. Yikes, this is a tough one. I so remember and I had tons of stuff for my little one to do, but usually it didn’t really work very well. If she isn’t used to riding in the car then you should make that something you do more often. Eventually she will get used to the car. Good luck. :)

  2. I hate long car rides with the kids. I would try songs, toys, snacks, watch a movie. Plan to stop and take breaks – if you know there is a playground or something along the way- plan to stop for a little to let her get out and run around. Stop to eat if possible. Don’t pull everything out at once- give her one things at a time. When that item has reached its limit you can pull out the next one.

    this site might help some too:
    http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-ultimate-road-trip-activity-bag_1453142.bc

    Hope that helps some!

  3. Jjenlo on said:

    No. Naps. Before. You. Leave.
    Find a McDonald’s playland to stop for lunch.
    Plan to make a stop every couple of hours.
    Bring along some new toys, color wonder, etc.
    Ride in the back seat with her.

  4. Marni on said:

    All of the above looks great.

    I didn’t link your other blog because I figured I already had this one and it was a domain, so mostly your primary?

    Anyways… My kids usually nap, fruit snacks seem to be a REAL treat to mine, not the greatest, but if you give her one at a time slowly, it makes it last.

    Buy some kid CD’s. Or ask a friend to burn some copies. We have like 20. :)

  5. Andrea on said:

    Yeah…I have some of the same ideas as the people above…NEW toys (even if it’s just some from the dollar store!!), snacks…but feed it to them really slowly. My son likes it if he has an extra little dish or container or lid or something and you put the piece of snack on there and then he eats the ONE piece and holds it out for another piece…haha. This seems to draw the snack out as long as possible!

  6. Memoirs of a Mommy on said:

    Alright… so I tried to comment earlier from my phone but alas, it didn’t work.

    What I do is buy inexpensive (and maybe one or two really cool) new toys and use them as rewards for good behavior. They also provide a MUCH needed distraction through out the drive as they play with their new toys.

    One thing I also never travel without is our portable DVD player. You can get them really cheap these days and they strap onto the back of the headrests. You can also get a double monitor one that only works in the car for $100 from Best Buy.

    I’ve already got my DVD player ready and the toys bought for our two day trip to Cali next week.

    Good Luck!!

  7. Jayme on said:

    Hey MEl, We have tried a couple of things. Always leave the car to eat. McDonalds works great! Let her get out when you have to stop for gas and “shop/look” at the stuff in the store. Portable DVD player for movies. And what worked great for my girls was every hour or half hour they got a little package to open that had $1 surprises in it and since it only cost $1 who cares if they lost parts or broke it. Our girls liked writing stuff, dolls, tea sets, plastic animals ect.. Then you could always do what my Mom did, she told us we were carsick and that we had to take Dramamine that would make us sleep for 3 hours haha, no seriously she did that. Love ya

  8. regina on said:

    On our trip from NY to TX I was surprised but Danayja did extremely well! We (Brittney) had all manner of food/snacks, we took regular stops and let Nayja get out run around for a few minutes, she had a few toys, a few books, coloring books and crayons, and plain paper for her to write on (since she is into trying to write now), we got her one of those lap trays and lastly Brittney had a little inexpensive mp3 player loaded with all of Nayja’s favorite songs (Backyardigans, dora songs, wonder pets, etc!) and some headphones so all in all it went very well!

  9. regina on said:

    Oh Brittney just reminded me that I forgot to mention the portable DVD player with the dora, and backyardigans DVDs.

  10. Spice on said:

    One thing I used to do is use a small cookie sheet and get some magnets they can play with and make scenes with, etc. Good luck!!!! You can try here too for ideas: http://www.momsminivan.com/

  11. Lesley on said:

    I think you may find that she will do better than you think. I remember when my son (who is now 22) was three and we took an 8-hour drive to South Carolina. I thought it was going to be horrible, and he actually did fine. I think sometimes we parents stress about things more than the kids do, and sometimes they can sense that, and then it causes them to be stressful. So please relax about it.

    Lesley
    www.pillowcasetalk.blogspot.com

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