Are you excited about your upcoming family vacation yet dreading the long car ride with kids arguing constantly in the back seat? If only family vehicles were designed like limousines, you could just roll up the window and enjoy the ride. But since that’s not the case, these 5 tips might help to make your next family vacation just a little bit more enjoyable for everyone.
1. Keep Them Fed and Hydrated
When kids are hungry or thirsty, they aren’t quite themselves. While traveling, make sure to have healthy snacks that will stave off the hunger and plenty of water to drink.
Since family vacations are often times for food and fun, sometimes the travel snacks have a tendency to get unhealthy. Keep in mind that sugary, unhealthy treats like candy, or caffeinated beverages like soda can actually cause further issues by amping up energy levels with no place to let out that energy. Sticking with healthier snacks that balance protein and carbs (like peanut butter crackers, string cheese, granola bars or animal crackers) gives the family the best chance of having a pleasant car ride.
2. Engage Their Brains
When kids are bored, they will find something to do to achieve the stimulation they desire. This might mean eliciting a scream or a whine from their sibling.
In order to prevent your children from seeking this negative stimulation, find something that will provide more productive stimulation. Examples could include a podcast or audio book to listen to, or a family game to play either related to the trip—such as the license plate game, or “I Spy”—or unrelated to the trip—such as 20 Questions.
3. Pack Plenty of Individual Activities
If kids are expected to just sit in the back seat without anything to do, cue the high-volume conflict in T minus 10 minutes (if even). Children need time without conversation and stimulation from others to relax and calm down. Take a break from listening to podcasts or playing a family game together to allow time for each of your children to do their own activities.
Plan ahead by gathering small, simple activities that are car-friendly like coloring books or word puzzles, fidgets, books, stuffed animals, figurines and other items that are entertaining to your children. Noise dampening headphones may help your child to disconnect from the noise in the car if conversations or other audio input is distracting or over-stimulating and will allow them to find their own individual time away from family even if only inches apart from each other.
4. Minimize Screen Use
This recommendation might seem counterintuitive. In fact, if parents want their children to stay quiet and avoid fighting while in the car, using a screen might be just the way to do it. However, if you’ve tried this before, you probably remember that the quiet bliss of the car ride was short-lived when the transition off of the screens left a lasting negative memory for the trip.
Screen use can distract children from their fighting, but it creates regulation challenges later, which for some children may ruin the first day or maybe even two of the trip while the child works towards regulation following the separation from the screen. If you must use screens, continue to follow the guidance of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for screen time and do so in short bursts. For example, the first hour of the trip can be family games, followed by a podcast, followed by an hour of individual activities, followed by 30 minutes of age-appropriate screen time, followed by a stop for lunch.
5. Plan Scheduled Stops with Breaks
Long car rides can be difficult for adults, but they are especially challenging for children. Plan to stop for meals and stretch breaks every 1-2 hours. If you have a child with high energy needs, try to schedule stops more frequently and in areas where it is safe to run, jump and climb, or near playgrounds. Resist the urge to correct your child’s high-energy behavior at this time and instead offer appropriate locations to engage in these activities, like climbing on or jumping off of safe spaces.
It may also benefit everyone in the car to bring items with you or plan activities that can assist with the child receiving some deep muscle stimulation during breaks, or even when the child needs a break in the car but the car cannot stop. Items or activities could include:
- Exercise bands to go around the feet or pull by hand during travel,
- Heavy items (like food and drinks) in a backpack to carry with them while they stop for breaks,
- Animal walks to go from place to place (frog jumps, kangaroo jumps, crab walk, etc.),
- Bear hugs (from a parent or caregiver),
- Wall pushes,
- Weighted stuffed animals,
- Wall sits, or
- Hand squeezes (done individually, or from a parent or caregiver)
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