Are you gearing up for your next grand road trip with children?
Families across America are filling up their suitcases and taking to the highways, likely in greater numbers than they have in years past.
In my modest view, family road trips are an essential aspect of childhood, and if your kids are off from school, it’s quite likely that you’ve got at least one car journey scheduled soon.
This doesn’t mean that a family road trip is effortless.
Actually, certain family car trips have ranked right alongside dental appointments and tax season for unpleasantness, yet we still set out on these journeys time after time. This experience mirrors childbirth; when the ordeal ends, what stays with us are only those special memories, making us eager to repeat the process.
In any case, family road trips can become much more enjoyable if you’re open to doing some planning beforehand, even just a little.
If the stress of a family road trip is creeping up on you like an early morning mist, there’s no need to worry.
With some preparation, not only will you endure the family car journey this summer, but you can also turn it into an enjoyable and unforgettable adventure for all involved.
Following over two decades of summer road trips across the entire United States with our children, we aim to pass along our top recommendations for organizing, carrying out, and savoring your upcoming family car journey.
1. Choosing the Correct Foods Can Make or Ruin Your Family’s Road Trip
Hunger makes children irritable, and the same likely applies to parents as well.
In a typical American road trip, you’ll likely come across underwhelming options from vending machines or fast-food joints, which won’t enhance the adventure much. However, this doesn’t mean you must stick solely with healthy choices like carrot sticks and green juices. Striking a nice equilibrium between nutritional value and flavor can keep your children content both physically and emotionally throughout the journey.
Essential indulgences are key to making your road trip successful, yet it doesn’t have to consist solely of unhealthy snacks throughout.
Essentials for our family road trips always include hard-boiled eggs,
granola bars
, mixed nuts, fresh fruits, and yogurt, and we always carry a compact cooler and a picnic hamper to replenish our supplies from grocery stores as needed during our journey.
Some of our go-to snack picks from the grocery store consist of string cheese, grapes, and smoothies; however, we aren’t saints. We do have our weak spots, like potato chips, and the kids can never get enough of beef jerky.
If your household is managing specific dietary needs or coping with food allergies and sensitivities, you have an even greater motivation to bring your own meals.
Restaurants and grocery stores are improving their offerings for various dietary needs, but it’s not advisable to adopt a wait-and-see attitude when adhering to a specific diet is essential during travel.
Next Up: Family-Friendly Meals for Car Journeys and Trekking Adventures
2. Organize Several Unexpected Treats for In-Car Long-Distance Trips
Surprising twists can work wonders for healing hurt feelings and placating irritable children during your family journey, provided you strategize ahead of time when planning your car adventure with kids.
Before setting off on any lengthy road trip, I make an effort to purchase or rent some new toys and games to keep my children entertained during what would otherwise be a tedious and drawn-out drive.
A couple of years back, we got an amazing travel game kit, basically a shoebox packed with various games and activities designed for children. It also came with a personalized scoring booklet (big thanks to Aunt Kristin!).
From time to time, we switch around what’s inside the game box, and since this happens only during our family car trips, it feels somewhat like reconnecting with an old buddy.
Our game box isn’t just designed for lengthy car journeys; it’s perfect for camping excursions and stays at hotels as well. It’s an excellent present option for families who enjoy traveling!
The items inside the game box may vary over time; however, throughout the years, we have added:
- Playing cards—we adore cribbage!
- Coloring books and crayons
- Mad Libs
- Dice
- Uno
- Bananagrams
- drawing pads
- Bingo
- Stickers
- Travel versions of our beloved games – Connect Four, Battleship, Scrabble, Checkers, etc.
3. Mix Up the seating configuration during your road trip
Parents frequently overlook this fact, but riding up front offers superior vistas, more plush seats, and control over the music.
If your children are of an appropriate age, let them alternate riding in the front seat. Spending a brief time upfront during the family’s road trip should help improve the mood of even the most irritable kid.
As an extra perk, the front-seat passenger can chat with the driver, allowing Mom or Dad to catch some sleep in the backseat.
We likewise assign the front-seat passenger the crucial role of serving as the family navigator.
This mattered much more when we began utilizing GPS systems, but we continue to rely on a paper map for the visual representation of our route.
As we sit upfront, our children are searching for parks and historical sites, spots where we can make our next stop.
roadside picnic
, and important landmarks.
Insider tip:
Our top choice for a U.S. atlas is the
National Geographic Road Atlas
Since it encompasses numerous natural spaces, campgrounds, and picturesque drives. We continue to utilize our GPS to guide us to particular locations.
4.
Find Time for Physical Activity During Extended Car Journeys
A crucial yet frequently neglected aspect of the family road trip involves regularly taking breaks that enable everybody to stretch their legs and move around.
The frequency can vary based on your children, but generally, we find it best to take breaks every two hours for at least 20 minutes. Keep a frisbee or ball in the car for these stops; alternatively, look for a playground or engage in a quick game of tag during rest times. It’s important that everyone participates, particularly the adults. Parents tend to become less flexible more quickly compared to kids, so staying active helps keep us limber.
We aim to locate parks rather than using rest areas or truck stops during our breaks, but this isn’t always feasible, hence we manage with what we can find.
5.
Join as a Back Road Rambler
Nothing can be more tedious than cruising at 65 miles per hour continuously for days—past endless billboards, rest areas, and truck stops. While I understand that traveling via interstates might occasionally be unavoidable, if you’ve got the time, consider taking some scenic back roads during part of your journey instead.
On back roads, you will likely come across some interesting picnic spots and photo ops, and your kids will remember your road trip for the new and exciting roads you’ve chosen to take.
Let your kids take turns taking photos as you meander around the country. There are so many beautiful places to discover!
6.
Listen to Your Favorite Audio Books
Nothing makes the hours melt away on a long car ride like a good story, and
audiobooks
can be found for virtually every tale imaginable.
On your upcoming family road trip, choose either something fresh or a beloved classic for everyone to enjoy together through your vehicle’s audio system.
The best audiobooks for lengthy car trips encompass all of the following:
Harry Potter books
,
Anne of Green Gables
,
The Small Home on the Frontier
series, along with the Narnia books.
We always have several quality audiobooks downloaded before leaving home.
Audible
It is genuinely something we always carry with us, and our children start exploring ideas as soon as they hear about an upcoming trip.
7.
Allow the Children to Pick Stops During Your Road Trip
Looking to steer clear of the annoying, “Are we there yet?”
As previously stated, allowing your children to guide your journey can help occupy their time and develop their map-reading skills. Additionally, they’ll experience great satisfaction when you inform them that selecting a location for lunch or planning an afternoon trek falls under their responsibility.
Although my children often pick different locations than I would have chosen, it has been quite intriguing to observe where we end up when they’re the ones making decisions.
Interestingly, they nearly always attempt to locate a spot where everyone will have fun.
A few of our cherished pit stops during road trips were picked out by our little co-pilots. They’ve consisted of places like an airfield, a charming botanical garden alongside the road, and a fantastically cool wolf sanctuary.
Explore Further: Top 10 Essential Apps to Install Before Your Camping Adventure Trip
8.
Enjoy Family Car Journey Games
Games during road trips can be great diversions when you’re driving through endless miles of open road.
Here’s one we really love:
Instruct an individual to discreetly pick an object outside the vehicle to keep track of. This could range from items like mailboxes and traffic signals to emergency vehicles such as police cars—pretty much any type will do.
Every time that individual spots the selected object, they announce it loudly. The remainder of the household must attempt to determine what is being counted. The first one to guess right earns the chance to do the counting next.
The aim is to baffle your relatives by tallying up something they can’t unravel.
Looking for additional road trip games? Fun-Loving Families offers some suggestions for activities.
family car journey checklist game
That should keep the children occupied for the entire journey. Alternatively, you could play some of these.
road trip games
from Family Vacation Critic.
9. Perfect the Skill of Parental Calmness
I’ll always remember an unforgettable car journey when my children were 13 and 11 years old. We were traveling along a desolate section of road, and the boys wouldn’t stop arguing. This went on for hours, and we reached our limit.
I’m embarrassed to admit that we stopped the car, removed our eldest child from it, and instructed him to walk home. It shocks me even now that we took such an action, and whenever we reminisce about our most notable journeys, this incident frequently arises (Rowan, I deeply apologize!).
Each parent will encounter times when they consider taking extreme actions, however, based on my personal experience, these often end up failing.
Embarking on a journey with your family including children might turn into an exciting escapade, or alternatively, it could become quite draining. Remember that during these trips, they step out of their usual habits and frameworks set at home.
At times they might behave disruptively. Even though you may feel like scolding them loudly or getting extremely frustrated, try to remain composed as staying calm can be calming for everyone in your household.
If you feel like tossing one of your children out of the car, stop at the side of the road. Rather than excluding anyone, have everybody exit the vehicle.
When your children are of an appropriate age, encourage them to seek out spaces where they can be away from both you and their brothers or sisters. For younger ones, consider having the adults separate so the little ones get some individual time as well. Remember to take a moment to breathe deeply. Keep in mind that this phase will eventually come to an end.
10.
Be Flexible
Feel free to step away from your family road trip itinerary.
At this moment, you might find it difficult to convince yourself that the journey holds greater importance than reaching your destination, yet this is true!
Your family will recall impromptu detours for much longer than they would spend sitting in the back seat for hours. Having raised our children into young adulthood now, I can attest to this based on personal experience.
They recall both the pleasant times and the difficult ones, but they certainly have no desire to reminisce about the countless hours spent in vehicles.
Are you prepared to embark on a journey with your family? What are some of your top suggestions for managing lengthy drives with children?
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