Yesterday we had a fairly long drive, 500 miles, as we came home to visit my parents. People are always so alarmed when we tell them that we are driving to far-away places (anything over 3 hours, apparently). "Four boys in the car for 10 hours!" they exclaim. "How do you stay sane?" Well, the fact is, 500 miles isn't that far. We've done over 750 miles in one day before. And gotten up the next 2 days and driven more. And therein lies the key to surviving long car trips with kids--you have to do a lot of them so they get used to it. Our older boys are champion travelers now because in a military family, you usually have to travel far away to visit family. Caleb is coming along, and we're working on Jonathan's "car manners" right now. Driving after dinner is the hardest time for him; that's when he is the most fussy. We just stick out the crying until he falls asleep. We don't have a DVD player or anything in our car, just a whole ton of books, games, and car toys. Nathan and Luke have the back seat of the minivan, and they play together or read. It's so great when they can read to themselves. My brother and I used to pass many long car trip hours doing that very thing. I feel like my role during our travels is a mix of stewardress/deejay/navigator. For the older boys, I fix up a baggie of snack selections before we leave. Then when I say it's time for a snack, they get to pick something out of their bags. That way I don't have to pass things back all the time, and they can look forward to the choice. For really long cross-country trips, I buy a few new books and toys before the trip and dole them out at appropriate intervals. We have a lot of different types of music choices in the car too, and I try to alternate those as well (the "deejay" part of my title). Long trips are so tiring, but I love how the boys can see our country up close. We have kids' atlases for Nathan and Luke, and they follow along our route in them. I also love how the forced togetherness fosters a lot of good family discussions. Plenty of time for talking about anything during 10 hours of car time!
1 comment:
This brings back many fun memories! I loved how you put it when you told of working on Jonathan's "car manners!" Many of those discussions will be treasured memories on down the line. Don't forget to write down some of those cute sayings because you will forget some of them. Love you all! AC
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