Should the subtitle for the post be, “…and other horrors from the devil himself?”
Just kidding. But I mean, kind of not. Road trips with little kids are a special kind of hell when they’re going poorly. Since we’ve got family in Alabama, Jordan and I have made regular road trips that are 5+ hours since Mac was born. Over time, we’ve worked out some kinks and have weathered our share of disasters, including but not limited to: no naps, carsickness, and (my personal favorite) a stomach bug that ripped through our car while we were in the most treacherous, windy part of the mountain drive back home with no shoulder to pull over onto.
I’ll let your mind run wild with how we handled that one.
I’m not going to lie to you, I treat road trips like a military mission. I try to anticipate every need. Is this a borderline-unhealthy level of preparation? Yes. Could you take even two of these things and be absolutely fine? Also yes. It’s hard to live in my brain, but hopefully you’ll benefit from this high level of Type A, Oldest Daughter mania.
A quick disclaimer: I usually don’t do these kinds of things, but since this one took a lot of research, if you click the links and purchase an item from this post, I’ll receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting this freelancer!
ENTERTAINMENT ON THE ROAD
Mac and his chocolate-stained shirt enjoys a little doodle tablet time!
Keeping boredom at bay is the #1 task of any parent on the road. I’m proud to say I’ve now completed long road trips both as a co-pilot (Jordan is really motion sick, so I never drive if he’s with us) and as a captain, alone with both kids. Here’s what we do.
Before we leave, I pack a large backpack full of all kinds of stuff: some familiar (to make it feel like home), some new (to keep them entertained and excited). My go-to’s here are Melissa and Doug Water Wows, this erasable doodle tablet, popper toys, no-mess markers that color only on the page, pipe cleaners (of all things!), etc. I parcel them out throughout the trip, and I alone am in charge of when they are handed out. Give a kid a backpack of activities and he’ll go through it in the first 20 minutes – then you’re really up a creek.
Screen time. Listen, I know we all have feelings about screen time, but my position is that we’re light on it at home so that we can absolutely dive in head-first on trips like the crackheads we are. There are a couple of ways you can go about this.
Version one: Each kid gets their own device. In our family, we have two iPads (a smaller, much older, junkier one and a newer, larger one). Use volume-controlled headphones for everybody who’s age-eligible. PRO TIP: Make sure you look at your cables! Headphone jacks are usually different from Apple device jacks (so dumb), so get an adapter ahead of time.
I allow Mac to use the smaller iPad with headphones. I sometimes use my personal hotspot so he can play (pre-approved) videos on YouTube, or to use the phonics app Homer. PRO TIP: Use the “Guided Access” feature on your Apple devices to ensure that your kids aren’t able to access anything outside of the app you’ve approved for them.
The other, larger iPad is put in a seat-back pocket organizer that hangs from the center headrest in the back seat. This iPad gets front-loaded with all the Disney+ content I know my kids love (musicals are key here to capture kids’ attention). Since Rosie has been a backward-facing baby for the last few years, this is how she’s watched her movies. I route the sound through the bluetooth speakers on the car and send it to the backseat.
Version two: You get a set of TV’s that play the same thing for easy viewing. My friend Betsy uses those linked headrest TV’s (her kids are both forward-facing age) and she swears by this system.
MEDICATION AND ILLNESS
Not the time to be caught out. Let’s talk supplies.
I’ve watched enough Grey’s Anatomy know that lives are sometimes saved because someone had a first aid kid in their car. So, because of Shonda, I bought a first aid kit. Highly recommend. This is for the big stuff (mine has an ice pack, a flare, large bandages, etc.). We’ve had enough near-or-real emergencies with our kids to over-prepare in this regard.
Mac got Jordan’s genes and is a motion sick little guy. Because of that, we got a prescription for chewable Zofran and give him a children’s dose each time we depart for a road trip. Makes WORLDS of difference.
We always have Tylenol, Benadryl, and Zyrtec in liquid form and have two syringes (you know, the kind that comes with infant’s liquid Tylenol). Syringes make giving meds 10000x easier, and you aren’t having to convince someone to tip a cup into their mouth/there are no spills/need I say more?
Vomit bags. These incredible diaper pail bags from Munchkin serve as both my car garbage AND an amazing puke bag that is SEALABLE (yes!!!).
BATHROOM BREAKS
Obviously everyone’s going to stop for gas station bathroom breaks, but having been in the situation where we had a poop EMERGENCY and were nowhere near a gas station, I’m telling you that you will NEVER BE SORRY that you have this travel potty in the car. We’ve always taken this with us on trips so that our kids have a potty in their rooms and don’t have to wander through a strange house to find a toilet, but when it came in handy road-side that one time, it paid for itself 100x over.
Flushable wipes are also clutch. They come in so handy as napkins to wipe up spills, dirty hands and faces, and obviously for any less-savory messes.
SNACKS AND MEALS
I’ve gotten less insane about this than I used to be – I was once a “stop as little as possible” parent so we could just GET THERE ALREADY. In my old age, I’ve softened to realize that sometimes a restaurant experience is actually a really nice break for all involved – including the adults in the car! If you’re comfortable inside a restaurant, I highly recommend stretching your legs. Even better: use Google Maps to find a restaurant or a fast food place’s mobile app to order ahead, pick it up, and head somewhere grassy for a quick picnic.
Each kid has a Camelbak water bottle that our family loves. These are really spill-proof (don’t fill them too full and don’t let your kids chew on the straws to bust holes in them) and are large enough that they don’t get lost very easily.
I always bring our soft cooler loaded with extra waters, La Croix, and tonnnnns of snacks. I follow the same rule as screen time: we eat relatively healthy at home so that we can BALL OUT on trips. They get all the chips, all the crackers. I still limit sugar for my own sanity and include lots of fruit (apples, bananas, clementines). When they’re done, they pass me their trash and I put it in the Munchkin garbage bag I mentioned above and seal it shut. Those bags are game-changers.
I try to dole out about half the snacks on the way down and half for the way back, but I also always make myself the promise that if we need to re-stock once we arrive wherever we’re going, we can. In that case, I restock with slightly different versions of the snacks to make it fun. For example, if we had bags of Goldfish on the way down, I get Cheez-Its on the way home.
SLEEPING IN THE CAR
One of the best possible scenarios about car travel with young kids is that they conk out at some point on the drive. One of the worst things? When they sleep too long and then their wake times are screwy and they’re whacked out of their minds all day. Here’s my advice for keeping things casual but regulated.
Don’t be a nut. Travel = unpredictability, and a kid getting lulled to sleep in the car outside of their “normal” nap time is kind of an inevitability. If you’re big into sleep training and your child falls asleep outside their normal nap window, CHILL. Let them take a nap! Any nap less than 20 minutes doesn’t really “count” anyway. That said, if it’s late afternoon and you’re trying to keep everyone up until bedtime, use music and car games to keep the whole car active and involved.
To facilitate the best possible car nap, you need two things: darkness and white noise (just like at home). I recommend these shades that you slide over your back windows (bonus effect: if you’ve got a kid so fair skinned she practically glows in the dark, like I do, it keeps sunburns through the car window at bay!). (Speaking of shades, I always travel with painter’s tape and a roll of contractor bags – not garbage bags, which are thinner and let light through). You will always find me prepping whatever rooms my kids are sleeping in by standing precariously on the arm of a chair, taping contractor bags over the windows.)
You can certainly just take a travel sound machine with you, but I’ve found the most effective way to mimic the white noise they’re used to is to break out the big guns and run it through the car speakers. When it’s time for Rosie’s afternoon nap, we set Mac up with his headphones and iPad, Jordan and I use AirPods, and we route my iPad’s sound through the Bluetooth on the car speakers. Pro tip: MAKE SURE your iPad is on “Do Not Disturb.” The last thing you want is to be blasting white noise and suddenly get that notification sound because a new podcast has uploaded. Also, disconnect all other devices from your car’s Bluetooth so that when you stick an AirPod in, you don’t accidentally pick up the white noise and interrupt the sound.
Bring creature comforts from home, but hold them back until nap time. For example, Rosie has to have her little green blanket and two Jellycat lambs. I wait until it’s time for her to nap, then I pass these back for her and that signals to her that we’ve shifted into snuggly nap time.
Remove the mirrors from the headrest if you’ve got one for nap time. Nothing keeps a toddler awake more than being able to stare at themselves.
Be patient. Naptime in a car is going to take a minute. I have spent more time squished in between two car seats replacing stuffed animals that have been tossed out, replacing pacifiers, and generally re-setting the vibe than I’d like to admit. After all that, if a nap is still not going to happen, roll with it. Move bedtime earlier that night and call it a day.
Okay – I think that’s it! Told you I was nuts. :)
I hope something in this list is going to make your life easier as you’re gearing up to travel this summer! Lots of love to you and yours, and happy trails!