5 Tips for Road Tripping with Kids
With most of our family living in Windsor, we've put in thousands of clicks going back and forth on the 401. Pre-kids, SO easy! Grab a few things, hit the road, have fun - done. After our first trip down with Elijah we quickly learned travelling would be a liiiiitle bit different from now on. Here are some
of my tips for road tripping with littles!
Pack in advance! Don't leave your packing to the day before. It never fails that your littles will be extra clingy or have terrible naps etc. the day you want to do your packing. So, try and accomplish that monster over a few days.
Leave extra time! Plan as you might to depart at just the right time within your little's schedule, things happen. Diaper blowouts, traffic jams, emergency potty stops, baby needs to nurse...anything! Allow extra time to arrive at your destination. It will help everyone to be less stressed when these delays occur. Not to mention how happy you'll be if none of the above happen and you arrive early!
Technology is your friend! Know your kid though and use it wisely. Elijah really enjoys watching his couple shows but not for super long. So we keep this trick in our back pockets for when the trip is getting close to the end. If your kiddo can watch for hours and be happy then go nuts! Road trips are SO not the time to be anti-screen time.
Special Toys! We keep a tote bag of toys aside that only come out for long car rides. There is a mix of books, interactive toys that light up and make noise (we limit these because, parent sanity!), cars and trucks. Your little will be so excited to see something they don't play with every day!
Snacks on Snacks! It's inevitable that you're going to have to stop at some point when you have little ones in the car. And you'll probably load up on some fast food. But who doesn't love some good road trip snackage! Plus if they're sorta healthy snacks you'll feel less guilty about the fast food. Some of our favourites are Aunt Annie's cheddar bunnies, berries, cheese cubes and hummus with cucumbers. We also always bring our own water bottles so we can skip the pop. It takes a little effort to get some snacks ready but it's worth it!
Don't get me wrong; these are not fool proof. Littles are unpredictable and a bad day is gonna be a bad day whether you're on the road or hanging out at home. But these tips have gotten our famjam through countless road trips with our little guy perfectly content and I dare say even having fun!
Have a tip that isn't mentioned in this post? I would love to hear it! Comment below so I can add it to my bag of tricks for our next road trip. Happy travels!
It's an extraordinary, ordinary life!
T