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How do you keep a toddler and a 4yr old happy on a road trip?

We are traveling to south Florida this weekend and it will take up about 11 hours on the road. I have never traveled this far with our kids before. Infact, we have only been on one family vacation and they both were really little and slept the whole way and it was only about 6 hours. This trip is twice as long and they tend to fight really bad in the car. How do you keep them occupied. My little portable TV is broken too. Help I dont want to knock them out the whole time because they will not sleep the night we get there and my hubby and i will be really tird.

Public Comments

1. Benadryl works wonders.
2. well ....i would borrow or buy a portable dvd player you get one for less than a 100 dollars at walmart but if not bring lots to do including tapes/cds books to read them food and many other small toys. get things out slowly and surprise them with them. also plan on several stops to restaurants with play areas or rest stops so they can run around a lot. plan on staying focused on them for much of the trip reading to them singing with them playing games. also try to leave as early as possible so maybe they will sleep. good luck ps also wait until they are bored to start you may not need anythign for the first hour. or once you have read to them a while they may be satisfied to play alone for a while or just ride.
3. Wow good luck on that. If you let the 4 year old pack a travelling bag he/she will have things to amuse themselves that they picked out. Bring snacks to munch in the vehicle. Don't be afraid to stop to let them run around. Trade places with the 4 year old. Let them ride in the front once in a while. Gravol works to put them to sleep also. Or maybe travel at night when the roads are clear this way the kids will sleep most of the trip.
4. when i was younger we traveled a lot by car because my father was in the military and my mom found a lot of ways to keep us occupied she tool coloring books and toys and also a portable cd player with some children songs you can find some at target or if you have an ipod i tunes has some great songs also for the toddler take a lot of snacks and little toys to play with like barbies or trucks also there are many more ideas at www.familyfun.com good luck... :)
5. Check out your library. They've got scads of books that kids love. The Berenstein Bears, Clifford, Arthur, and Franklin books are all really popular. Curious George is a good bet, and so are the Laura Numeroff books. Officer Buckle and Gloria is a good one, too. The Little House beginner books are really nice, with lots of great pictures. Check the Juvenile Non-fiction section for simple books on subjects that interest your children. You might also try some fun poetry books, such as Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up, all by Shel Silverstein, or Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex. All are really fun books that you are bound to enjoy as much as your kids will.
6. I would invest in a movie player with the two screens, one for the back of each seat in the front. We bought one for our grandchildren to take on long trips, and it worked wonders. Even for trips that only take 1hr......it keeps them occupied...... Good luck.
7. First off- you have a toddler and a four year old- you know you won't be able to keep them 'happy' the whole timeTravelling is one of the difficult times all parents taljk about. Put some energy into techniques to relax while babys cry/whine. I don't know if your kids are spoiled or not but they will try to train you- I know that. A little whining and crying will be perfectly natural and should be expected. When my sisters dvd batteries wore out she got a book on tape with the head phones for the kid and it was great. Yeah so instead of buying trinkets for the kids how about a meditation/relax book for mommy and daddy?- Get something with good 'mind over matter' content like anything by Dan Millman. Or you could completely ignore them "No contact" and make them insanely jealous and make them think your completely over them like you did your ex-boyfriend. Holly I saw your answer on another question and tried to email you but your blocked. My ex did this to me and Oh my God it worked- in fact it was the worst thing I've ever gone through. Someone completely ignoring you after true mutual love is shared makes you feel such an intense pain it's inhumane. Keep in mind I didn't cheat or physically abuse her- that would be different. I was immature and naive about certain things and also lied about something important because of some stupid pride. I wanted to pick your brain to understand this girl I'm still getting over after 16 months. By the way I'm doing 1000 times better today and today realize it was her charactor defects not mine that caused her to do that. This doesn't minimize in any way my valid skrew ups. I am very grateful I recognize them and am also grateful my next love will benefit from that. Email me
8. First of all, you leave in the middle of the night (like 3 am) so that they sleep for the first five or six hours, which cuts the awake travel time in half. If possible, seat the kids with a space between them. At the first problem, PULL THE CAR TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD and come to a COMPLETE STOP. Turn and face them both. Tell them that this is a family vacation, and there will be no fighting, arguing, hitting, or name-calling. Then just LOOK at them. After the moment of silence, ask them if they both understand. Then ask them each by name (Brian? Susie?). Then go on with your trip. Secondly, YOU control the activities. I suggest three absolute have-tos: A sing along tape, a ball (or related outdoor item), and a couple of story tapes. When they first wake up, make a stop for toileting, washing up, and dressing. That is also a stretch break. When back in the car, see if you can play the license plate game (see how many different state plates you can spot -- not competitively, but all together see if you, as a family, can come up with 50 states -- you will need paper and pencil). If the littlest can't do that, he/she can say the colors of tags. Then have 20 minutes of quiet time. That can be reading, looking at picture books, coloring, etc. Then try a counting game if they get bored. One counts red cars, one counts blue, for instance. See who comes up with the most in 15 minutes. At lunch time, get out of the car to eat (no drive-thru's). Pick a place where they can run, toss the ball you brought. Take chalk so you can draw hopscotch if there is tarmack. They need to stretch, run, and wear themselves out a little before you get back in the car. When you are in the car again, stick with quiet or conversation for as long as you can. Then play the first story tape. If you must fill every minute, replay the song tape before playing the second story tape. NEVER, NEVER, tolerate the fighting. It doesn't matter WHO started it, YOU stop it. Also, NEVER give your kids meds just to knock them out so things will be easier for you.
9. Rent or borrow a DVD player, let them watch for a half hour then have them count sheep or blue cars or whatever, then let them watch another movie. Stop every 3 hours whether you need to or not - let them get out and use the facilities, get a treat from the vending machine, then repeat the above routine. You won't avoid them sleeping on an 11 hour trip so try to manage their sleep time by trying to get them to nap from hours 5 - 8, then pick them back up with a snack treat and games. As long as we stocked lots of books, toys, movies, snacks, drinks, and patience, we found that time flew for the kids - but not so for us!