As I mentioned in our last post, for our vacation last week we traveled to Gatlinburg, TN, to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trip consisted of a 9-hr drive (including breaks) complete with a time change in the middle. We had made long trips like this when H-man was an infant, but this was the first when he was a full-blown toddler. It went remarkably well, and the 21-mth old was quite the trooper, even managing a construction delay with little major protest.
With the hopes that it might help somebody out there whose thinking about vacationing with their child, this post is devoted to tips and tactics that can make road-tripping easier.
General Thoughts:
When traveling with kids of any age, one of the basic things to recognize is that they thrive on a routine. Each kid has a rhythm, a set of activities they tend to do at certain times everyday, and keeping on a basic schedule tends to make them happier. Infant routines cycle through every few hours--they need 2-3 naps and eat on fairly frequent schedule. Toddler cycles are in some ways more like ours, but they too seem to thrive on a shorter cycle. Or more specifically, they can be prone to boredom, and need to change up their activities or they tend to get fairly grumpy. If you can find a way to follow the child's natural rhythms your trip will certainly go more smoothly.
When Holden was an infant, we tried to time the beginning of our trips around one of his naps to make the most of the most peaceful part of his routine. We used a similar strategy this time, gently pulling him out of bed at about 5 am (aka before his wake time) with the hopes that he'd sleep the first couple hours that we drove. This worked to an extent - he slept about an hour more, and was fairly quiet until approximately the time that we would have eaten breakfast at home. The bigger challenge on this drive was entertaining him when he was awake, since much of the driving time fell between his morning wake up and his afternoon nap. Our strategies for this challenge--and for a few others--are listed below.
Toddler Tips:
1) Bring a mix of old toys and books and new toys, especially the kind with an element of 'spectacle' in them.
Holden is now at an age in which he can enjoy 'pretend' reading his books, so we made sure to have several of his favorites on hand. We also bought him a couple of new ones, and brought along one of the types with buttons and lights that sings songs and asks questions. He particularly like this one because it played his favorite-song-of-the-moment ("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"), and he would sit in the back "conducting" the imaginary orchestra as it played it.
2) Bring some new children's music, preferably some you can stand to hear again and again and again.
We were largely successful is endeavor, save for the fact that the music he liked sometimes drove us nuts. H-man got hooked on a particularly obnoxious version of the ABC song, which he repeatedly requested. To save our sanity, after we realized he loved bluegrass we bought a CD of it in the park and listened to it much of our way home.
3) Have a consistent nap-time CD.
We used to use a particular lullaby CD during his nap time routine at home. We gave up that part of the routine, but we still keep it in the car for those longer drives when nap time is part of the trip. We also give him his lovey and "blankie," take off his shoes and explain to him that it's nap time. Sometimes he fusses, but it always works.
4) Need to know where the next rest area is? There's an app for that!
If you have a smart phone, consider downloading this free "Rest Area" app. It's not perfect, but it's really quite helpful when you need to plan a break for your little one. And a related tip - bring food and have a picnic at the rest area. An especially good idea for the picky kid!
5) Another smartphone tip: bookmark those DOT websites
After running into a traffic jam on the TN highways, we checked the DOT websites. We learned that an accident had blocked both lanes and it would take an hour or more to remove it. We were lucky enough to be near a turn-off, which we used to backtrack to the closest alternative round. This probably saved us about 1/2 hr of drive time
6) Prepare your child in advance for your travels
I think this was key! The week before the trip we began to talk about our vacation, and the day before we explained that we'd have to take a "very very long drive." During the drive we continued to express our excitement about the vacation, so that he understood that our driving had a purpose. And guess what? He actually said "yay!" when we arrived at the cabin destination. Understanding what's going on is vitally important for a child, it settles them and makes them comfortable.
Oh...and a sense of humor helps.
What about you? Do you have any travel thoughts or tips?
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