Road Trippin'

For me, one of the best things about living in the city is leaving it behind for a few days. Luckily, I married a Toronto transplant whose family is far enough away to feel like we’re going on an actual mini-break when we hit the highway, but no so far away that the kids really have a chance to go apeshit in the backseat out of boredom and frustration en route.

That said, I am wont to being particularly over-prepared for our road trips in order to keep the ‘Are we there yets’ to a minimum, and to keep Mummy from ditching the kids at the rest stop and driving into a silent, delicious oblivion all by herself. Oh, and we like to leave at 6am to increase the chance that they’ll sleep at least half of the way there. Heh heh.

Of course, when the kids do finally wake up, all of the strategically stashed handi-wipes and back roads maps in the world are not going to get you to your destination with sanity intact if you have overlooked the basics – fun and food.

With that in mind, I offer you my Intrepid Family’s Travellin’ with Toddlers Sanity Saver Kit. The key is to have lots of little things on hand that they’ve never seen before, and lots of innocuous (maybe even healthy!) food presented in a fun, looks-like-a-treat kind of way. There’s not an in-car DVD in sight (gasp!), but don’t be afraid – the next 6 hours are going to be a breeze. Let’s hit the road.

The Intrepid Family’s Travellin’ with Toddlers Sanity Saver Kit

Prep Time: A day or two
Fun Time: At least 4-8 hours, if you can squeeze a nap and a rest stop in there

From the Dollar Store:
- Many packages of stickers
- Mini-notebooks, preferably with a fun and/or shiny cover because your toddler is unreasonable and will think that a black notebook sucks but a silver one is phenomenal.
- A few new crayons, washable markers or pens.
- Basic activity books, preferably with stickers.
- A fun, colourful gift back or large loot-bag

From the Library:
- A few new kids’ CDs
- Books on CD/picturebook combos
- Never-before-seen books, small/light enough for your child to handle on their own

From the bulk-food/grocery store:
(I like things that take a while to eat but have little sugar – no fair to give a kid something sugary when they’re going to be strapped in for the next 4 hours)

- Several different kinds of cereal
- Goldfish crackers
- Raisins/yogurt covered raisins
- Alphabet pretzels
- Sunflower seeds (if old enough)
- Cashew pieces (if old enough)
(shake the above all together for a fun toddler trail-mix)

- Rice cakes
- Grapes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber slices
- Cheese strings/cubes
- Melba toast rounds
- Graham crackers
- Water (no juice – too sugary)

Stash all that fun stuff in the gift bag, and get going. I like to hold onto the bag for as long as possible, doling out one thing at a time. When things get really rough (like when you’re back in city traffic on the way home and everybody is inevitably tired, hot and cranky), throw the whole thing back there and let them rip apart what’s left.

*SoundBITE*

Eating a meal on the road can be a big challenge; often the only stops on the way are major fast food chains or greasy spoons of dubious quality. Make your choices based on the fact that you and your midgets will soon be forced back in your tin can for a good chunk of time. In other words, try to avoid the greasiest, sweetest items, unless you’re into backseat banshees and needing to stop to pee every 1/2 an hour. Didn’t think so.

Comments

[nomotherearth]

You are brave! We haven't done a long trip yet - with either one OR two. My brother lives in NJ, though, so these tips will come in handy.

[Lisa b]

Sage advice as always. I'm particularly fond of the last ditch chuck the whole bag in the back move. I'll be using that next time.

[Marla]

My favourite new tip? Robert Munsch has his stories (read by himself!) available to download from his website, and we loaded them onto the Ipod. They were driving the adults crazy - until we remembered that a carefully adjusted ear bud can be your best friend in a situation like this.