Summer is nearly here. With summer comes the end of the school year, warmer weather and vacations. For those of you planning on driving to your vacation destination, author John Taylor provides us with a several tips to make the journey more tolerable and can I dare say fun for both the kids and adults.
How To Keep Your Sanity When Driving With Children
A long drive is daunting enough but if you have children to transport, the prospect can leave you with a sense of sheer dread! Children and cars do not mix – there is nothing more stressful than trying to drive with children crying, moaning, fighting and whinging. When plotting a long journey it’s probably best to throw all the normal rules out of the window and do whatever you need to, to make sure they are happy and content. There are several things that you can do to keep them as happy as possible; it just takes a little planning. Here are our top tips on how to keep a car full of happy little passengers!
Food and Drink
Food and drink are your best weapons in the search for a peaceful life on the road! Spend some time before you set off on your journey packing up picnics – make a separate one for each child so there is no fighting. Make sure there is juice for everyone and something savoury like a sandwich. Then throw in some fruit – raisins and apples are good as they don’t make too much mess. Our top tip is not to put any sweets in the picnic – they’ll fill themselves up on the sweeties and leave no room for any good food.
However sweets can still be useful! Have a separate bag in the front with you as a tactical store for the sweets. They can be passed back and used as bribery and a reward for good behaviour. By having the bag in your possession you can control the amount they eat. It’s amazing how a bag of sweets can make children behave!
Toys and Books
Make sure every child has a bag packed with their favourite toys and books. Distraction and entertainment work very well in a car. Get them to swap when they are done with them so there is always a new toy to play with. Only give them toys that won’t make a mess – and avoid ones that make a noise like the plague! Musical toys combined with screaming children create the sort of atmosphere that could drive one to despair!
Encourage Sleep
Make their seats as comfortable as possible so they are more likely to nod off if they are tired. Give each child a pillow and a blanket and their favorite cuddly toy. A journey is a lot easier to handle with loads of snoozing kids in the back, trust us!
That’s Entertainment
CDs, DVDs and the radio can all help. Choose music that everybody likes to sing along to and give each child a turn at choosing their favourite songs. Audio books are a great idea for long journeys too – they’ll be so caught up in the story they will forget they are in the car at all!
Don’t suffer the stress of transporting a car full of stroppy kids – it’s just not worth it and it’ll drive you mad. A peaceful journey can be yours if you just take the time to plan and prepare beforehand!
The author, John Taylor, works for Top-10-List.org which is well known for the fascinating world facts that they provide. During his free time, he likes to keep updated with new cars that hit the market.
