20hr drive with toddler?

[Tohru]

We are heading out to the Redwoods and the California beach, however it is a 20-22 hour drive. I'm concerned about the long trip with my 3yo daughter. My husband and I could drive straight through 20 hours, but it seems like it would be so hard on her.

 

Originally we were thinking to drive from 6pm until 2am and get a hotel in Salt Lake City, hang out there until noon, drive for another 2-3 hours, take a few hour break and do the last stretch from about 6pm until we arrive. The idea was that she'd be sleeping at night and noon is her nap.

 

Unfortunately if we follow that schedule, there would be nothing to do in the places we would have to stop....between Salt Lake City, UT and Battle Mountain, NV.

 

Does any one have any suggestions to make the trip easier? We'd get a DVD player, but she gets bored watching movies and that only takes up a few hours. Or maybe there are things we could do that I haven't thought of? It's such a long stretch of nothingness :(

[EppieJ]

Travel Treats!

 

Does she know that McD's (if you eat fast food) Happy Meals come with toys? Ds was 4 before he figured it out. We would take the toy out of the bag and put it in a "secret stash" of collected items. I'd wrap them in colored tissue paper and periodically hand ds one on those long road trips. It helped to keep him entertained.

 

Magnets were also a fun diversion for ds. You can buy magnet sets or make your own by adhering stickers to magnet sheets (can be purchased online). That's a little more effort due to the cutting involved, but it cuts easily and you get custom-tailored magnets.

 

Ds also really enjoyed stickers so I'd collect a bunch for him and put together a little booklet for him to place them in.

 

Something else you might check into are those colorform sets (at least that's what they used to be called - the vinyl sticker/playmat sets).

 

Maybe an etch-a-sketch or some such thing would be good.

 

Hopefully you'll get some more ideas pretty soon. It might not hurt to go ahead and get the dvd player. It would only add to your options - especially if you had several short shows rather than a couple long ones (for the attention span).

 

Good luck!

[ChrisB]

About once a year we take a 15 hour drive to visit family. We stop for a quick sit-down meal and a potty break. We allow an additional hour for each meal stop so that the kids can run around a little outside too. So total time from start to finish is 18 hours, roughly.

 

We tried driving overnight, but our kids are horrible car sleepers and no one sleeps well at all. We've learned that for us it is better to leave early morning, like 4ish and drive straight through. The kids get a few really good hours of sleep in their own bed before leaving. We drive for 4 hours and stop for breakfast at 8ish. We don't turn on the DVD player until after the breakfast stop so that the kids can sleep if they can or just have quiet time.

 

They usually fall asleep at night a few hours before we get to our destination. Once we get there, it is straight to bed and they are able to sleep fine once they are in a bed for the night.

 

For our family, stopping for the night just prolongs travel time when we aren't stopping for something specific. We just want to get there with the least amount of fussing.

 

ETA: We LOVE our DVD player for long trips. It has been worth every penny we've spent on it. Also, I sometimes give the kids a roll of scotch tape and let them do whatever they want with it. They love that and it is easy to clean up and throw away!! And, SNACKS.

Edited April 25, 2011 by ChrisB

[Cortana]

We just did that trip to the same area last month except we came from Eastern WA and our dd is 2 and a half.

 

I agree with ChrisB, the DVD player was essential for all the kids but especially the 2yo. We stopped at a Walmart for a break a few hours into our trip and they had a video of Spongebob episodes on sale cheap, that thing saved our sanity!!! :D We found that for future trips, she needs to have some of her favorite shows to watch along with the movies, just like EppieJ suggested.

 

Stop as often as you can, even if it's just to let your toddler run around. Most of dd's fussing was because she was tired of being strapped into her carseat and having to sit still for so long. We packed our food with us to save money, but we stopped every time we ate so the kids could get out and run around. We planned extra time into our drive just so they kids could get out as often as possible and run around until they were ready to get going again.

 

We listened to Adventures in Odyssey a lot, that was a nice break from the movies for everyone. ;)

 

Something else we found out quick; her brothers (11 and 9) played their DS video games a lot and she wanted her own, dh found a Disney Princess handheld game at Toys R Us. She had no idea how to play the game, but it kept her occupied as she pretended too.

 

We let all the kids kick off their shoes and socks whenever they wanted and brought them each a blanket. The more comfortable they could get the less they all fought and fussed.

 

Good luck on your trip and enjoy it, I hope others can give you some more ideas!!!

[nono]

We drive to FL a couple times a year, about a 16-18 hr. trip. My kids now LOVE the trip and beg to "spend the day in the car" v. doing the overnight haul.

 

Now, we break it into 2 days, leaving in the afternoon and getting to a hotel in time for dinner, which is about the first 7 hrs. of our trip.

 

Second day, we get up before dawn and get on our way. The kids will sleep for 2-3 hrs.

 

Then, we have breakfast in the car. I bring some books with great illustrations and we talk about them and pass them around the car. Potty and gas break is next, and will include some running around and other "moves" to get the blood flowing.

 

When we get back in the car, it's time for audiobooks on our MP3 player. Usually, that lasts about an hour, then we stop. We play a version of "I Spy" which is color combinations -- so, "I spy green and white" and the rest of us search until we see something green and white and shout it out. The we play, "What's his/her story?" We'll see a driver go by, and pick him/her out and make up a story about the person. With my crew, it can go on-and-on. And usually involves the Island of Sodor (Thomas and Friends) somehow! :tongue_smilie:

 

We'll stop again for a 10 min. run-around, then more audiobook time. We'll get out for lunch, then after lunch we ride along just talking. Sometimes the kids will doze. Around 2 p.m., we'll break out the DVD player, and I usually have 1 new disc for them to enjoy, along with some old favorites. And, voila, we're there before we know it.

 

Also, we do usually have some bags of pipe cleaners along for the ride. We've made some killer sculptures with them while en route.

 

Have fun, and be flexible. Oh, and the best advice I ever received is to put one of your smaller travel bags or a cooler on the floor in front of where your child sits so there's a footrest for her. It'll keep her back more comfortable, and her less irritable. :)

[NanceXToo]

We've made the drive from PA to FL with kids a couple of times and it's always (fortunately) gone so much better than I could ever have thought. We bring toys, treats, movie DVD's, and music CD's and we chat and we make the best of it.

 

Anytime we stop for gas, meal or bathroom, we find a place where the kids can run back and forth a few times and stretch their legs and exercise, and then we keep driving.

 

We stop at the end of the day at a cheap hotel and sleep over, then continue on the next day and there's another day of driving and by that evening sometime, we're there.

 

I thought it would be tough with kids (my son was 15 months the first time we did it, 4 the second time we did it, and 5 the most recent time, just a few months ago) and it always went so much more smoothly than I'd have thought it would.

[FlyingMOm]

The last time we drive to NY we did it two ways-

 

On the way up- we left very early (6am) and drove all day & got there around 9pm.It was horrible. The stretch from 6am until lunch seemed never ending. It was just awful. Kids were cranky, tired & achy from car seats. Not a fun trip.

 

On the home- we slept in until our normal time (around 7am). Got up & had a leisurely breakfast, got dressed, puttered around packing the car while the kids ran around outside playing for a couple hours. Left at 10am. We drove 3 hours & stopped for lunch. Drove another few hours & stopped at 4pm at a Highway rest stop. We took everyone to the bathroom & washed their hands & faces. Went out to the picnic area, took off their shoes & ran around barefoot. Had a snack of cold water, bananas & crackers. Back in the car at 4:30 and drove for several more hours. Stopped for a late dinner at 7pm (this was ok b/c they had such a good snack at 4pm). After dinner we took them all into the bathroom, washed hands & faces again, brushed teeth, put their pajamas on. They slept the last 4 or 5 hours until home. It was a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better trip. We'll do it this way from now on. It was just so much easier on the kids. Also, because they ran around & played for several hours in the morning & then watched a 2 hour movie in the car- after lunch they were ready for a nap and they did actually sleep. (I am also not opposed to very rarely giving them so benadryl to help them sleep in these type of situations)

[Impish]

Something else you might check into are those colorform sets (at least that's what they used to be called - the vinyl sticker/playmat sets).

 

 

Apparently, I need more caffeine. I read that twice before realizing that it wasn't 'chloroform sets'. :001_huh::lol: Thought, yeah, that's one way of traveling in quiet...:lol:

[Ellie]

We drove from San Diego to Virginia with a 2½yo. :-) And we camped each night all the way out. She did fine. Of course, she was an easy child, praise God :001_smile: but we stopped every couple of hours for a potty break, and for meals. We also stopped fairly early (this was in October--shorter days) to set up camp, and we were all in bed probably no later than 7 or 8.

[blondeviolin]

My older kids have been to half of the US via driving. My parents live 16 hours away, his parents 12 hours... My oldest sister, 12 hours, my brother 18, etc. We have done a LOT of long trips.

 

We get the car packed the day before, then we wake up at like 3 or 4 and start driving. That really gets us a good few hours for us with them asleep. When we stop for meals, we make sure it either has a playplace and let them run around there, or a rest stop with a nice strip of grass for them to chase each other.

 

As for entertainment in the car, a DVD player FOR SURE. My son (3) doesn't watch TV great at home, but when there is NOTHING ELSE to do in the car, he will watch the DVDs. And a lot of the DVDs they watch aren't movies, but a few episodes of a TV show they like. We have the capability to plug our ipods into the DVD player so we stock up on tv shows and the like that they haven't seen before we go. My kids also have Tag Readers and Leapsters they like to play with. Though, those are controlled items that we have to take turns with.

 

Snack-wise, my kids love taking long trips in the car because they go from only getting water in their cups, to lemonade (via those little packets). Apparently that is super cool. And when you do snacks, go for something that will crumble over things that are sticky. Don't ask me how I know. :P

[IlluminatedAttic]

We are veterans of many extra long car trips. :auto: We do not have a dvd player. We sing a lot of songs, use finger puppets to tell stories, play games like Eye Spy and many "word tennis" games as well (choose a category and then take turns around the car naming something from that category without repeating what someone else said). I have made a number of travel packs with things like crayons or markers and a notepad, colorful bandaids and paper (the little ones unwrapping, pealing and sticking them creates a huge mess but its great fine motor work), colored lengths of yarn and a sandpaper base for "drawing" a picture, geoboards, I Spy bottles, magnet scenes, lacing beads or boards, matching cards (I make them with index cards cut in half and stickers, then I give one set to the child and hold up one card at a time from my set. They have to sift through theirs to find the match.) etc. We even made a "snowstorm" with a dollar store box of kleenex one time. This book has a lot of easy to make and take ideas. I always have a stash of new books ready for a road trip and of course lots of snacks. I also bring a disc and bubbles for rest area stops. Now that my son is older I will give him a very limited amount of time on the iPad during long trips, usually 30 to 40 minutes while his little sister is napping. I also use it to play 'audiobooks' that I recorded on my home computer - Mama needs a break too sometimes!

 

I agree that you may want to reconsider your driving times. Are you both nightowls and usually awake until 2am? If not you may find yourselves very tired of the driving much earlier than you expected which can be dangerous and leave you needing to find accommodations in an area you hadn't planned for. Like PPs, we have found that leaving at dawn or earlier works better for us and even with stops we can still log 12 - 14 hours a day driving time if need be. If you only have one child and can arrange her carseat so that you have room in the back to join her that can make a huge difference. If you are comfortable with your driving plan but need something to do in an area that you can't seem to find any listed attractions for online, find a yahoo mom's group for that area or go on the tribal areas on the mothering.com forums and post for suggestions. We have learned about some wonderful parks, playgrounds and local museums this way.

 

Good luck and have a wonderful trip!

[Parrothead]

Honestly I wouldn't drive it straight through. 20 hours is just too long. I wouldn't take that chance with my dd. People get tired or bored after so many hours. That tiredness and boredom can lead to a nasty accident.

 

Personally, I'd leave early morning of day 1 driving for 2.5 hours. Then find a rest area, stop, get everyone out of the vehicle for at least 10 minutes then let dh drive for the next 2.5 hours. Then stop and get out again for lunch. After lunch I'd have another turn at the driving and stop for the night after a 10 hour drive. Then the next day I'd do the same. I'd still get there by 6p on the 2nd day, but everyone would be fairly fresh.

 

P.S. If it gives my advice any weight, I drove from Charleston, SC to Yuma, AZ with a newly turned 3-year old. Just the two of us, 2.5 hours short of coast-to-coast.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Parrothead

[Starr]

I find that traveling needs to be planned around the sleep schedule of the drivers. You do not need over tired drivers. Morning people can get up a little earlier but if you don't go to sleep till midnight leaving with 4 hours of sleep isn't a good plan. Everyone gets tired the same time of day they always do so leaving as early as possible works best for us on long trips. We are slow getting going. :) For a long day I pack at least one meal and stop for short stops frequently. The kids need to run! Stopping for a real dinner helps me too. Real food and getting out of the car for a longer rest is good for me by evening. When the match box cars come flying into the front seat its time for a break! lol When the dc were little it was a lot of I Spy and 20 questions...

[Mejane]

We did it a few times when our kids were small. We didn't even have movies. They played and sang, and I read to them. We let them out every few hours to run around in the rest areas. They actually slept quite a bit. (There's always chloroform as Impish suggested. ;))

[Impish]

We did it a few times when our kids were small. We didn't even have movies. They played and sang, and I read to them. We let them out every few hours to run around in the rest areas. They actually slept quite a bit. (There's always chloroform as Impish suggested. ;))

Hey, I didn't *suggest* it. I misread it and thought someone else did. :lol:

 

Wolf's convinced that if you could figure out a partition and a gas delivery system, that many families would take longer trips. :lol:

[Tohru]

:lol: Right, I'll get chloroform as backup.

 

Okay, thanks so much for the suggestions. Those are a ton of fantastic ideas that I wouldn't have thought of. :)

 

Dh is generally a night owl, so that's why we were thinking of going until 2am, that's generally when he goes to bed. After reading the replies, it does seem that it will be easier to leave in the morning, or even late morning and take a day or two of the drive.

 

And whoa, Parrothead! That is impressive!

[EppieJ]

Apparently, I need more caffeine. I read that twice before realizing that it wasn't 'chloroform sets'. :001_huh::lol: Thought, yeah, that's one way of traveling in quiet...:lol:

 

:lol: That brought tears to my eyes! Funny thing is I nearly typed "chloroform" when I posted! That would be a quiet trip for sure! :D

[Mandi in Ohio]

When we drove from Ohio to Washington State on a 3 weeks family vacation/husband's work trip, we had a 6, 4, 2, and 5 month old. A big thing we did is we had a chip reward game. The kids did certian good behavior things and earned poker chips along the ride. Our 2 year old played but it was a bit harder for her to delay gratification. Through out the day they could cash in their chips for things like: dessert at dinner on the road, choosing form a prize bag filled with candy, lots of cheap toys/stickers/pencils/crayons/and such from the dollar tree, getting to watch a movie or listen to a kids cd, etc. The older kids loved this and our 2 year old played along with them. They also were able to lose chips for bad behaviour such as fighting with a sisiter, not sharing, being too loud while driving, not listening to parents, etc.

 

Other trips with toddlers we've filled a bag with dollar tree toys and snacks (individulaly bagged in portion sizes) and pulled them out one at a time through out the tip. This way they don't get them all at once and get bored quickly with them. Here are some thigns I filled the bag with:

matchbox cars, small pens with small notebook, silly putty, stretchy animals, stickers, sewing cards, notecards with once color of marker colored on it and then clothes pins that have a little strip of that same color of marker on it (clip the correct color of clothes pin on the correct card), paperclips to make a chain, magnadoodles, aquadoodle travel size (Target), dried fruit, peanuts, goldfish, gummies, etc. Check out the dollar tree, target dollar spot, and walmart's cheap toy section for ideas.

 

Hope this helps some! Best of luck!!

[scrapbookbuzz]

She'll be fine! Just have thing available for her here and there. Occasionally, point out the window to "Nature's DVD" aka the scenery outside.

[Wabi Sabi]

We do long trips like that a couple times a year and for us there's only one way for us to make it work: take two days. Driving nights always just makes us tired and miserable, plus I start to worry about safety and driver fatigue. But, split into two days of about ten hours each you can leave in the morning and have plenty of time to stop frequently for opportunities to eat, run around, bathroom breaks, etc.

[HeidiKC]

The best advice I can give is not to stop to eat! Eat in the car (cause that will fill some time in the car with something to do). Then an hour or so later - that's when you stop! You'd have to stop anyway for potty break, and you don't want to stop to eat, then stop again an hour later.

 

So when you stop for potty break, take 20 minutes to get out and RUN around, chase her, etc. I know people think that stopping to eat is a break from the car, but you're just doing more sitting. So sitting in the car to eat makes more sense, and then actually getting out to run around an hour later. Find a playground in a small town, etc.

 

Also, you mentioned there would be nothing to do in the place where you were thinking on stopping. This does not matter to a 3-year-old. She'll be thrilled to find a fun playground or to play chase with mom and dad. Maybe buy a kite and bring it along. That'd be lots of fun!

 

Another thing we did that was great was to get stories on CD. Ones she might like: Peter Rabbit, Dr. Seuss (has famous people reading the stories - it's great!), Just So Stories, various fairy tales.

[vonfirmath]

When we travel with our little one, we stop at places to eat that have play areas. We let DS play/do whatever he wants. And DH and I eat while he plays. Then we feed him in the car (make sure to get a meal for him that this works). If he's hungry, he takes a few bites while we are eating. But he would MUCH rather play.

[abreakfromlife]

A big thing we did is we had a chip reward game. The kids did certian good behavior things and earned poker chips along the ride. Our 2 year old played but it was a bit harder for her to delay gratification. Through out the day they could cash in their chips for things like: dessert at dinner on the road, choosing form a prize bag filled with candy, lots of cheap toys/stickers/pencils/crayons/and such from the dollar tree, getting to watch a movie or listen to a kids cd, etc. The older kids loved this and our 2 year old played along with them. They also were able to lose chips for bad behaviour such as fighting with a sisiter, not sharing, being too loud while driving, not listening to parents, etc.

 

That is awesome. We're getting ready to go on vacation and it's going to be 12 hours the first day, and then shorter stretches the rest of the way, and I've been dreading the ornery kids part of the trip. I am so using this!

[KrissiK]

A couple years ago we drove from California to Kansas (and back) with a 4 year old, a 3 year old and a 15 month old. We didn't do the DVD thing, but I think the thing that helped the most was taking breaks every 2 hours or so. They didn't need to be long - 15-20 minutes or so, sometimes a little longer. The kids got to stretch their legs, go potty and just do whatever. We did have plenty of snacks and toys that got rotated on an hourly basis, but it was the breaks that really helped. Oh, and get a bottle of Pepto-bismol. Somehow the kids' systems got a little out of wack and we had to stop at every single outhouse and port-a-potty on Hwy 50 through Colorado. What a nightmare.

[RahRah]

We are heading out to the Redwoods and the California beach, however it is a 20-22 hour drive. I'm concerned about the long trip with my 3yo daughter. My husband and I could drive straight through 20 hours, but it seems like it would be so hard on her.

 

Originally we were thinking to drive from 6pm until 2am and get a hotel in Salt Lake City, hang out there until noon, drive for another 2-3 hours, take a few hour break and do the last stretch from about 6pm until we arrive. The idea was that she'd be sleeping at night and noon is her nap.

 

Unfortunately if we follow that schedule, there would be nothing to do in the places we would have to stop....between Salt Lake City, UT and Battle Mountain, NV.

 

Does any one have any suggestions to make the trip easier? We'd get a DVD player, but she gets bored watching movies and that only takes up a few hours. Or maybe there are things we could do that I haven't thought of? It's such a long stretch of nothingness :(

 

I've done long road trips with DS (now 6) dozens of times.

 

Going SLC to Redwoods, I'd look to wake up in Salt Lake City, head to the children's museum - Discovery Gateway - after breakfast (ake 8:00, breakfast 9:00, museum 10:00-noon)....wear her out at the museum, have lunch and hit the road. So, pretend you leave around 12:30 PM.

 

I'd drive to Elko (I-80 West) rather than Battle Mountain since Elko has the Railroad Park you can have some fun at for an hour or so - if you left SLC at 12:30, you'd arrive Elko around 4:00. Elko also has, if you prefer, a gold mine tour, a folklife center or recreation areas. Have dinner around 6:00, then hit the road again by 7:00 - your daughter should be tuckered out again!

 

From 7:00 to midnight I'd push to go to Carson City (south of Reno). Sleep, have breakfast and start the day with the children's museum there (can you tell I like CM's when I travel? if you do this - get yourself a membership somewhere you can do reciprocal admission - so you pay only for the membership and not admission every time you stop at one!) Anyway, in Carson City there is the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada....play there, have lunch and hit the road by 12:30 again.

 

12:30 head out and you should be to Redwoods by dinner!

 

For a three year old, in the car, games that don't require anything mroe than imagination can include:

 

Find the color car or truck - make it a game where you're all looking and taking turns to pick the next color to find first

 

Singing songs, making up silly songs

 

I-Spy with all playing with her

 

Things to have on hand include:

 

Colorforms

Magnetic White Board with markers, magnets (no choking hazaard ones)

iPad with age appropriate games, books (it reads to her) and movies - or a DVD player or other device to watch something for the longer haul areas

Lap desk with lip along outside and small toys she likes to play with

Crayons and paper, coloring books, etc.

 

One of the things I used to do when traveling with DS was to have small little gifts for along the way --- something new, that he'd never played with, wrapped up and just pulled out as needed ---- would keep his attention for a lot longer than something he played with a lot!

[Mandi in Ohio]

That is awesome. We're getting ready to go on vacation and it's going to be 12 hours the first day, and then shorter stretches the rest of the way, and I've been dreading the ornery kids part of the trip. I am so using this!

 

Each of our kids had their own little baggie by their seats to collect their chips in. Before we left we explained the "game" as well as showed them a chart of the prizes they could earn and how many chips each prize was worth. Since we were traveling over a few weeks, some other prizes they spent chips on where picking what seat they were sitting in in the van and choosing where they wanted to sleep at the hotel that night since once child was on the floor in a sleeping bag each night. They also could cash in chips for real money to use at a tourist shop along the way.

 

We actually adapted this to use at home where they can earn having a friend spend the night, tv time, chuckie cheese, one on one time with mom or dad, etc.

[Tammyla]

We've done them. Flexibility, little presents, snacks,a car dvd player and bubbles for rest stops were our best tricks. If they slept; we drove.