Family road trips can be a great adventure. However, if you are a parent planning a long trip, you may be feeling a little daunted about how you are going to look after the children. Kids can get agitated on long journeys, and keeping them occupied long enough to avoid any tantrums is often high on the list of priorities.
- Family Road TripJoe Fakih Gomez / Foter / CC BY-ND
The secret is to plan carefully. If you want to make sure that you all arrive at your destination on speaking terms, here are three suggestions.
1. Stock Up On Treats
You know what your kids love best, and a long road trip is the time to indulge them. Your goal is to keep them happy for the duration of the trip, so reward them for good behavior by stocking up on a ready supply of all their favorite treats.
Make sure you have plenty on you, and take a variety of treats so that everyone gets to enjoy their favorites – you don’t want any fights to break out over them.
2. Download Videos from the Web
Another great idea is to keep the kids entertained with videos. If you have a tablet computer or laptop, you can easily prepare some videos for them to watch. One of the best sources of videos is the web, so you may want to download a good selection of videos before you go on your road trip to ensure you have enough to keep the kids entertained.
Use a service like http://youtubedownload.
3. Plan Some Fun Games
Simple games for long journeys can be an ideal way to keep the kids occupied. The best games are the ones that you can play on the spur of the moment, such as ‘I Spy’ and ’20 Questions’. However, if you start preparing well in advance you could even choose a few games that require some props.
When playing the games, try to incorporate the treats. Give them more of their favourite sweets and something special for the winner. And remember to stick to games that are not going to end in arguments.
Buy a book of games for the road to get some good ideas for games that you think everyone will enjoy. Try to have about five or 10 to hand so that if some don’t prove to be popular, you still have a few backups.
4. Make Your Road Trips More Bearable
Road trips should be fun, and with a little bit of forward planning they can be. The above ideas are just three ways to improve road trips. You could also consider investing in portable games consoles, fitting DVD players into the backs of the seats or planning places to stop off on the way like popular attractions. Just make sure you think carefully about how you can keep the kids happy well in advance and you are more likely to enjoy a smooth road trip.
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Brian Richardson is a technology guru. He loves to share family friendly travel tips on parenting blogs.
