Are you gearing up for your next grand road trip with children?
Families across America throughout the nation are filling up their suitcases and taking to the highways, likely in greater numbers than they have in decades past.
From my point of view, experiencing family road trips is an essential aspect of childhood, and when your kids are off from school, it’s highly likely that you’ve scheduled at least one car journey for the upcoming days.
This doesn’t mean that a family road trip with children is effortless.
Actually, certain family car journeys have ranked alongside dental appointments and tax season for discomfort, yet we still set out on these adventures. Similar to childbirth, after enduring the hardship, what stays in memory are only those enchanting instances, prompting us to eagerly repeat the experience.
In any case, family road trips can become much more enjoyable if you’re ready to do 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, don’t worry.
You not only have the chance to endure the family journey this season, but with some preparation, you can turn it into an enjoyable and unforgettable adventure for all involved.
Following over two decades of summer road trips across the entire U.S. with our children, we’re excited to pass along our top suggestions for organizing, carrying out, and savoring your upcoming family journey by car.
1. Choosing the Correct Foods Can Either Enhance or Ruin Your Family’s Journey in the Car
Hunger makes children irritable, and the same likely applies to parents as well.
In a typical American road trip, you’ll likely come across uninspiring choices from vending machines or fast-food joints, doing little to enhance the adventure. While you don’t need to stick strictly to healthy options like baby carrots and green juices, striking a balance between what’s nutritious and delicious can keep your children happily entertained both during and after mealtime.
Key indulgences are essential for a successful road trip, yet it doesn’t need to consist solely of unhealthy snacks throughout.
Essentials for our family road trips always include hard-boiled eggs,
granola bars
, mixed nuts, fresh fruit, and yogurt, and we always carry a compact cooler and a picnic hamper to replenish our supplies from grocery stores as needed during the journey.
Our top picks for grocery store snacks consist of string cheese, grapes, and smoothies, yet we aren’t saints. We have our flaws, particularly when it comes to potato chips, and the kids can’t 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 reason to bring your own meals.
Restaurants and grocery stores are improving their options for various dietary needs, yet 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 do wonders for healing hurt feelings and calming 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 tiresome voyage.
A couple of years back, we got an amazing road trip kit housed in what was basically a decorated shoebox, packed with various games and activities designed for children. Included was also a personalized scorebook (many thanks to Aunt Kristin for that!).
From time to time, we switch around what’s inside the game box, and since this happens just for our family trips on the road, it feels somewhat like meeting an old buddy again.
Our game box isn’t just handy for lengthy car journeys; it’s perfect for camping excursions and stays in hotels as well. It’s an excellent present idea for families who love 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 Positions During Your Road Trip
Parents usually overlook this fact, but sitting upfront offers the finest vistas, plush seats, and easy control of the music station.
If your children are mature enough, let them alternate riding in the front seat. Spending a brief time upfront during the family drive can quickly improve a child’s mood.
As a bonus, the front-seat passenger can keep the driver company while Mom or Dad takes a snooze in the backseat.
We also assign the front-seat passenger the crucial role of serving as the family guide.
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, locations where we can make our next stop.
roadside picnic
, and important landmarks.
Insider tip:
Our top pick for the best USA atlas is the
National Geographic Road Atlas
Since it features numerous natural spaces, campgrounds, and picturesque routes. We continue to rely on 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.
How often you do this depends on your kids, but we tend to stop every two hours for at least 20 minutes. Keep a Frisbee or ball in the car for break time, stop at a playground, or play a game of tag. Everyone should get in on the action, even parents. Especially parents. We stiffen up so much quicker than the kids do.
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 feels more mundane than cruising at 65 miles per hour day after day—past endless billboards, rest stops, and truck stops. While I understand that traveling via interstates might be unavoidable at times, if you’ve got the time, consider taking some back roads for part of your journey instead.
While driving on lesser-known routes, you might stumble upon charming places perfect for picnics and photoshoots, ensuring your children will cherish memories of this adventurous journey along novel and thrilling stretches of road.
Allow your children to alternate capturing pictures as you stroll through various parts of the country. The landscapes are incredibly picturesque!
6.
Tune into Your Preferred Audiobooks
Nothing helps time fly during a lengthy car journey quite like an engaging tale, and
audiobooks
are accessible for virtually every tale you can imagine.
On your upcoming family road trip, choose either something fresh or a beloved classic for everyone to enjoy together through your vehicle’s sound system.
The audiobooks we love most for lengthy car trips encompass all of them.
Harry Potter books
,
Anne of Green Gables
,
The Small Home on the Open Land
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 noted earlier, allowing your children to guide your journey can help occupy their time and develop their map-reading skills. Additionally, they’ll experience a great sense of achievement if you assign them the task of selecting a location for lunch or planning an afternoon walk.
Although my children often pick different locations than I would have chosen, it has been quite fascinating to observe where we end up when they take the lead.
Interestingly, they nearly always attempt to locate a spot where everyone will have fun.
A few of our most cherished pitstops during road trips were picked out by our little co-pilots. Among them was an airfield, a charming garden filled with various plants alongside the road, and a fantastically cool wolf refuge.
Explore Further: Top 10 Essential Apps to Install Before Your Camping RoadTrip
8.
Enjoy Family Car Journey Games
Games during road trips can be great diversions when you’re driving for long periods on the highway.
Here’s one we really love:
Instruct an individual to discreetly pick an object outside the vehicle to keep track of. This item might range from mailboxes and stop signs to emergency vehicles—pretty much anything works.
Every time that individual spots the selected object, they announce it verbally. The remaining members of the household must attempt to deduce what is being counted. The first one to guess right earns the chance to do the counting next.
The aim is to challenge your relatives by tallying up something they won’t be able to solve.
Looking for additional road trip games? Fun-Loving Families offers some suggestions for activities.
family car journey checklist game
That should keep the kids occupied for the entire journey. Alternatively, you could play some of these.
road trip games
from Family Vacation Critic.
9. Excel at the Delicate Skill of Parenting Calmness
I’ll always remember an unforgettable car journey when my children were 13 and 11 years old. As we drove along a desolate section of highway, the boys kept arguing incessantly. This went on for hours, and both they and I reached our limit.
I’m embarrassed to admit that we stopped the car, made him get out, and instructed our eldest child to walk home. It shocks me now thinking about what we did, and this incident frequently arises whenever we reminisce about our more notable journeys together (Rowan, I deeply apologize!).
Each parent will encounter times when they consider taking extreme actions, however, based on my personal experiences, these often end up having adverse effects.
Embarking on a journey with your family including children might turn into an exciting escapade, or alternatively, it could become a wearisome battle. Always remember that during these trips, your children step out of their usual habits and frameworks they have at home.
At times they might misbehave. Even though you may feel like scolding, yelling, or tearing your hair out, try to stay composed as this can help soothe 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.
If your children are old enough, they ought to have a space where they can get away from both you and their brothers or sisters. For those who are younger, consider splitting up as adults so the little ones can enjoy some alone time. Remember to breathe deeply. This challenging moment will also 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; however, 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 surely 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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