LITTLE ROCK — It’s summertime. It’s hot. It’s sticky. And your parents are begging you to bring your 1-year-old for a visit. They haven’t seen the little tyke in ages, they say, and they want to spend some quality time with all of you. The only problem is Grandma and Grandpa live 10 hours away.
The prospect of taking a long car trip with an infant or toddler in tow is a daunting, downright stressful, task for most parents. A plethora of questions and fears spring to mind at the mere thought of hour after hour on the r o a d with baby: What do you pack? What do you leave at home? How many toys, snacks, books
and
games do you take? How often should you stop? And what if, after trying every game, book, snack and toy you can think of, your child is still screaming and unhappy? Is it even worth the headache?
Traveling with young children doesn’t have to be a hassle. The key is preparation. That means mentally preparing yourself for the long haul, choosing the best route and making sure you have just the right tool or toy at hand to quiet a restless tot.
MAPPING YOUR PATH
The first step when preparing for any trip is to select your route and determine how long it will take to get to your destination, a factor that takes on added importance when you’re traveling with children.
“My No. 1 tip for road trips is definitely to do research and not just some sort of map generator,” says Corinne McDermott, creator of Have BabyWillTravel. com. “Definitely research your route and preplan stops because a 1-year-old is not going to be happy sitting in a car seat for a long time.”
McDermott recommends stopping for meals, diaper changes and just to stretch your legs.
“The good thing is that you have so many resources on the Internet these days that there’s no reason you just have to stop at a boring old truck stop on the side of the interstate,” she says. McDermott also recommends AAA’s Trip-Tiks travel planners for finding the best places to stop on road trips.
Parents should also be prepared for unplanned stops. Diapers tend to need changing at inopportune moments.
“You have to factor in that you’re not just going to fly down the highway,” she says. “This trip is not about making the best time or setting any records; you have to make the journey part of the trip and be comfortable with that.”
DAY OR NIGHT?
One of the best ways to make sure your trip goes smoothly is to stick to your routine. Some parenting websites and blogs suggest driving at night while your child is sleeping to cover the most ground on the road, but our experts disagree.
“I don’t like the idea of driving all night long,” says Colleen Lanin, founder of TravelMamas. com. “I think you’re starting your vacation on the wrong foot because you’re starting the vacation off on total sleep deprivation.”
And, as many parents know, a cranky parent usually means a cranky child.
“If you’re cranky and exhausted, they’re going to pick up on that and mirror that back at you,” Lanin says.
And don’t count on Grandma and Grandpa to take the baby while you catch up on your sleep.
“In my experience, grandparents love babies and they miss them,” Lanin says, “but they want them for about half an hour when you get there and then they want to hand them back to you.”
DISTRACTION IS KEY
One of the biggest preparations any parent can make when planning a car trip is to pack plenty of distractions for their children. Parents should have a lot of different toys, games, electronics, books and music to distract their children so that they don’t get fussy or bored, and one parent should be in the back seat with babies and toddlers to help soothe them if they get fussy and play with them if they’re not.
“It helps to have someone who can sit in the back seat with them,” Lanin says. “I like to start with everything nonelectronic first and then, when everyone’s really tired and needs a break, that’s when you get the travel DVD player out and watch a movie.”
It’s important for parents to take a wide array of items to amuse their child.
“You want to think in terms of 15- or 20-minute increments,” says Lela Davidson, a Rogers-based mother and writer. “You want to have enough variety of things for them to do that you can keep switching it out.”
One minute a child might be distracted by a sing-along song. The next, they might want to play with a favorite toy. That means it’s important for parents to be as prepared as they possibly can be, given the limited amount of space in their car.
“You really have to have an arsenal at your disposal within arm’s reach of toys, of snacks, of games,” McDermott says. “Your bag of tricks has to be big, and you’ve got to be ready to reach into it at any time.”
PSYCHING YOURSELF UP
Sometimes psyching yourself up and learning to roll with the punches is the hardest part of preparing for a trip with children.
“I think one of the biggest things you need to do especially when traveling with babies is to prepare yourself mentally,” Lanin says. “If you don’t prepare yourself for the fact that it’s going to be very different than it was before you had kids, you might be disappointed.”
Lanin says the first family trip with her daughter was an eye-opener for her husband.
“My husband was working really long hours, and I was a stay-at-home mom at the time,” she says.
So, while Lanin was looking forward to an extra set of hands to help out with the baby, her husband was dreaming of relaxing on the beach. Needless to say, hubby was fairly disappointed.
“He just hadn’t wrapped his head around it, hadn’t prepared himself for [taking care of the baby],” she says.
It’s also important to be cool- and level-headed when starting your journey.
“Road rage and rude gestures 20 minutes into your 20-hour drive is not the best way to start off your vacation,” McDermott says. “It is a vacation, after all.
“Getting there may not be half the fun anymore, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare.”
Family, Pages 33 on 07/20/2011