How To Survive A Road Trip With Small Children

Do you remember how in my last post I was rambling on about how we planned on only partaking in "staycations" while my kids are young? Reality came knocking.

While we are still adamant that we will not be boarding an airplane (or going to Disneyland) for at least another two years, we do partake in the occasional road trip. My husband's family (and a lot of mine) live in the suburbs of Vancouver. We're in the Okanagan, which is a mere three to four hour drive, depending on how close we want to get to the belly of the beast (Downtown).

We usually head down at Christmas, as well as a few other times during the year. We stop in Merritt (aka the armpit of BC) to stretch our legs, make a pee stop and get some snacks, and then finish the rest of our drive.

Last week there was a bit of an anomaly in our lives. My StepMom came to visit and then took all three of our kids back to the Sunshine Coast with her. This has never happened to us before. My husband and I were left floundering, feeling all out of sorts in a big house with no kids. We made the best of it, however. Dinner out every night! We'd have hung out sans clothing but my brother lives with us, so...

Anyway.

After four nights at Grandma's it was time for me to retrieve my children. My husband was running a basketball camp, which meant that I was making a solo trip. The drive down to get them was uneventful (I kept my tantrums to a minimum) and the ride back was...TOTALLY FINE.

(Please don't hate me.)

Here are a few things I have learned over the years (this is not my first solo trip):

-Make frequent stops. I know that it would be so much faster to drive for hours on end but the kids (and their little tushies) can't handle it. We stopped on the ferry (obviously), in Abbotsford, in Merritt (where we had the ice cream in the above photo) and then drove home. We've found that 1 1/2 to 2 hours is about all the kids can handle. On a good day? 2 1/2 hours.

-Pack snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. They can't scream when their mouths are full.

-Buy a few dollar store toys. I try to make a solo trip to the dollar store before we leave and then whip out a colouring book/toy cars/Princess getup when the air in the van gets a little tense.

-Use a DVD player. People who travel without one are braver (or crazier) than I am. We usually time our purchase of the most recent cartoon release to coincide with a trip. If the whole family is traveling together I will crawl in the back and watch it as well. It's either that or have the standard conversation with my husband. Me: "What are you thinking about?" Him: "I'm thinking about driving."

Most of all, remember that they are little and can't pull the long hauls that you can (unless you have a (non-existent) bladder like I do. Just remember the song, "have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry..."

But don't sing it to your husband unless you want to receive the Evil Eye.

Original Canada Moms Blog Post. Angella Dykstra also writes at her personal site Dutch Blitz when she is not spewing her words elsewhere on the Internet (See also: Twitter).