Road Trip Survival Tips

Aren’t road trips the best? For weeks before a vacation, I envision the fun of packing up the family vehicle, everyone smiling, as we drive down the road, leaving our cares behind us for the next several days. We have our route planned out, we’ve remembered to pack everything, and it’s pretty much picture-perfect right down to the cute luggage and my perfectly-polished toes.

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But, 200 miles, 4 fighting kids, and 2 spilled slushies later, and I’ve been known to look more like this…

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I know, scary, right?

Whatever it takes, don’t let your family road trip transform you into Momzilla.

I’ve pulled together a few resources that will help you keep your cool for your family road trip this summer and keep your husband and kids from asking “Who is that crazy woman?”.

First up are my Kid Clips for Road Trips I first posted about last year. Of all my hundreds of projects and posts, this is one of the top ten that people pin to Pinterest or e-mail me about the most. And that just tells me that parents are desperately searching for ways to keep the peace. Read all about how to make and use these by clicking here.

As far as entertainment for the kids, my favorite is the TV. I know—totally original, and a big parenting faux pas. But, I personally think that the person who invented a way to put TV’s in vehicles that kids can use with headphones deserves to have a day named in their honor. I love this person, whomever they are. And I’m not a fan of TV watching at home all day. I’m that mom that limits the TV time to only certain times of day. But, when kids are trapped in a car anyway, the TV becomes one of the best inventions known to moms.

So, my tip is: if you don’t have a vehicle with a TV/DVD player, you may want to consider renting or borrowing one for your trip. And if you do have one, collect movies your kids haven’t yet seen to save for the trip. You might want to trade some with a friend or borrow from the library the week before your trip so you’re armed and ready. God bless you, Mr.(or Mrs.) Inventor of the TV in the Car.

Another game I like to play with my younger kids is what I call “Magazine I Spy”. This is great for waiting rooms as well. Save up a few of your older catalogs or magazines and give one to each child. Then, call out a random object and see who can find it first in their magazine. You can play this with many variations, such as finding objects that begin with a certain letter, or even finding as many of one special object as you can.

We also like to use Pandora in the car to play “Name that Tune”. We love to do this with the Disney Children’s station and we make it a contest to see who can name the movie that the song came from first. This is a great game for the entire family and my kids beg to play it.

These are just a few of our own fun things we do on trips, but I’ve complied a list of great websites full of more ideas for activities and games that will help you (and your kids) survive your road trip and have happy travels. Click on the links to visit the sites:

Great Family Travel Games

Mom’s Minivan

Classic Road Trip Games

Real Simple’s Road Trip Games for Kids

Travelhacker

10 Noise-Free Road Trip Games for Kids

Most importantly:

Be safe.

Have fun.

Make memories.

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