travel ideas for my 10 year old daughter....

[ProudGrandma]

who gets car sick (even when she takes Dramine) if she does anything that requires her to read. We are taking a vacation this summer and we will be in the car alot...and I have a few things for her to do, but even reading directions on how to make pipe cleaner critters, makes her sick. (something I thought might work last summer...and I was SOOO wrong). We already do the DVD/CD stuff. But looking for other ideas. Thanks.

[Heather in AL]

My ds is like this (age 15 now) and the only thing he can do other than watch videos/play playstation games is to stare out of the windows periodically (which can cause motion sickness, too!), or sleep. Seriously. If he even looks down to pick something up off the floor of the van, his head will ache for hours.

 

We travel yearly to visit my parents, and one way, it's a two day trip--- day one is 15 hours, and day two is 7-8 hours. I feel sad that he is bored to tears those days.

 

I hope someone else has ideas!

 

:grouphug: to your daughter. It's not fun.

[nd293]

Audio books are great. My dd9 does not need to be "doing" anything if she has engaging audiobooks. We buy from www.audible.com.

 

What about knitting? If she had some practice before, it would not require really intense scrutiny (not sure if looking at stitches would make her ill!), provided you were prepared to step in and deal with lost stitches / counting stitches etc.

[helena]

One of my daughters gets very car sick. We always have a "vomit kit" (or 2) ready to go on a long trip.

We've found eating ginger to help a little. We buy the candied kind at traders.

[ProudGrandma]

Audio books are great. My dd9 does not need to be "doing" anything if she has engaging audiobooks. We buy from www.audible.com.

 

What about knitting? If she had some practice before, it would not require really intense scrutiny (not sure if looking at stitches would make her ill!), provided you were prepared to step in and deal with lost stitches / counting stitches etc.

 

thanks for the link and the knitting idea....both very helpful

[melissel]

My 16-year-old cousin gets desperately ill if she has to spend more than 20 minutes or so in the car, even if she's just sitting there. Even prescription meds and patches didn't really help her. She started taking Bonine and has had no problems since (as long as she takes it about a 1/2 hour before she gets in the car). You might look into that as well.

[OrganicAnn]

We were always told not to read in the car. We used to travel from L.A. to Washington D.C. in the summer. We have a car bingo game. We played 20 questions. Of course these days cars can have all kinds of things to make long car rides more pleasant, such as dvd, cd, air conditioning.

[MamaT]

My 11yo son gets very car sick even for short distances. Other than giving him Dramamine and hoping he goes to sleep, we play games like finding the car tag from the most distant states, playing "tweeter" (calling tweeter when you see a yellow car), etc. Mostly, I always just hope he goes to sleep. :001_smile: Carsickness is also a trigger for his migraines.

 

Good luck on your trip!

[elegantlion]

I get extreme motion sickness. Even on dramamine I can not even look down at a map. I either listen to music or let my mind wander when we travel.

 

It's frustrating sometimes, but it beats the alternative.

[JFSinIL]

I am the same way. Glancing at a map turns me green. Audio books and music are the way to go. Also - staring out the window and using ones imagination! Daydreaming is not to be ignored - nothing wring with just sitting in a car for a few hours and letting the mind wander.

[Parrothead]

We sing, not well, but we sing. 20 questions was mentioned. Sleeping is always good. Audio books. I Spy.

 

Dd will play her DS even though it makes her sick. She plays then sleeps off the headache.

 

Great conversations can occur. Maybe have some topics of discussion and none of them serious or very deep, i.e. Why does Tinker Bell wear a green dress? or What would the world be like if pigs could actually fly?

[kym]

My 10yo dd also gets car sick very easily. We play all kinds of games to keep her looking out the window:

-Make up phrases for the letters in a license plate on a car that passes you. For instance, SLP could be Slow, Lazy Puppies.

 

-Alphabet game: find the letters of the alphabet, in order, on signs or cars. Anything outside our car.

 

-Another alphabet game: My name is Annie, I'm going to Albuquerque to buy some Artichokes, etc.

 

-Fortunately, Unfortunately. First person starts the story: There once was a magical dog named Pongo. He could talk and even fly.

Second person: Fortunately, he was a good flyer.

Third person: Unfortunately, a bird in the sky wasn't paying attention, and flew into Pongo.

First person: Fortunately..... (you get the idea)

 

-20 Questions, of course.

 

-Cows and graveyards. Count cows out YOUR window. One point per cow. You can set a time limit, or whatever. If you pass a graveyard on YOUR side, you lose all your cow-count. We also made up other rules, depending on where we were traveling. A deer would add 10 points, etc.

 

Hope these help! I understand the misery of carsickness!!:auto:

[ProudGrandma]

she can do somethings IN the car...like play with magnetex...so I was really hoping for some more ideas along that line...things that I can get her to play with in the car...we do those games mentioned...except a few new ones mentioned...thanks.

[Starr]

My ds gets car sick and we drive over the mountains a lot. Dramamine helps him feel better but he can't read or do anything. We listen to stories. I think we've heard most books in the library. He will now, at 14, also listen to music on his i-pod. As for me, the greatest thing about being a grown up is that I get to ride in the front and drive when I want. It cuts down on the motion sickness. The sea bands might also help.

[cat in black]

I can knit without looking at my hands, but I can't do it in a car. I take Bonine and chew ginger gum plus wear Seabands on my wrists. If I look straight ahead and ride in the front seat, I don't get carsick. I second the audiobooks suggestion.

If I drive, I'm okay. Maybe I'm a hypochondriac and it is all in my head :-)

[Mothersweets]

My youngest gets extremely carsick so I feel for your dd!

 

Bonine works much much better than Dramamine, ime.

 

We just started to try and use the Seabands and I'm not sure if they have helped much or not as dd will usually take them off soon after we start driving. sigh

 

One thing that usually works very well is to stop at our local coffee shop at the beginning of our trip, get an ice cream cone, and put a movie on for her. My other kids really like this option, too. lol