Kids and long car journeys

Lunar_Eclipse

Js_Other_Half wrote: »

Ha, try Northern Ireland to London
via Scotland occasionally...:p

Fighting with my brother, trying to read, being sick, stopping to be cleaned up, fighting with my brother...:rotfl:

Yep same here. And I was always sick.

We're off to the Lake District tomorrow and our girls will be packing their own bags for the car (& week away) for the first time with no input from us whatsoever. Eek! They are now 6 and 8 and have been to NZ twice non-stop, so fingers crossed we're hoping the 6/7 hours flies by!

Our youngest has already said she is not stopping at all! We had hoped to leave early and stop for breakfast roughly half way but she said 'nope, we'll have to take it in the car with us!' I'm sure her bladder will be fine, but mine might not and the car will need a petrol top-up.

I think you've got it all covered. Favourite toy/blanket. And lots of verbal games - Eye Spy using colours instead of letters, I'm going shopping and buying 1 apple, 2 teddies etc (youngest starts & you take turns and use memory recall to list what everyone else is buying before adding your own purchase) etc.

My Mum used to let me count the coppers in her purse as a special treat on long car journeys!

Lillibet_2

I have a very travel sick 3YO, more than about 30 mins & he barfs, we found the DVD player a Godsend as he can go almost 2 hours with that on before being sick! Nappy bags are great for catching & sealing vomit in! Also the acupressure travel wrist bands make a difference to him but I know these don't work for everyone.
Other than everything else that has been suggested, maybe audio books? Sometimes if things get a bit fractous in the back putting on somethign that everyone listens quietly to can calm everyone down & even make kids sleepy!

HTH & have a fab trip;)

minimoneysaver

Sparkkee wrote: »

another thought - put down towels or blankets on the back seat of the car. colouring pens, sticky sweets, pukey kids and upholstry don't mix!

That's a super idea. I've never thought of doing that before. Will do next time as I've just sold my CR-V with leather seats for a Honda Jazz with fabric!

Savvy_Sue

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I'm sure there's other ideas over there already. To add mine to the pot, and sorry if they are there already but I've only skimmed: traveling with 3 pukey boys meant ALWAYS having a complete change of clothes for all of them right at the top of the boot. And they each had a soft sheet which we used to tuck round them before setting off. I think it helps with going off to sleep as well: even now DS3 (16) needs something soft if he's trying to sleep on a journey, and that's all his only jumper ever gets used for!

Oh, and try to encourage your children to warn you if they think they're going to be sick. You may find this means you're stopping every 5 minutes, but I know now and always used to know as a child what the warning symptoms were: a sort of freezing of my face and a build-up of saliva ... At least you can pass the sick bag back and make sure the sheet is well positioned ...

In the UK, remember that superstores are often only a few minutes drive from the motorway and it will usually be a lot cheaper to stop for coffee there. However I'm finding an increasing number of Sainsburys have a 'chain' Coffee Shop rather than a 'normal' cafe, which is NOT good VFM.

But try 5 minutes away for finding such places!

And hang on in there: we spent a few days in the USA in July, and I was dreading the driving journeys, with memories of vomiting boys, boys threatening to vomit, boys squabbling and multiple whines of "Are we nearly there yet?" re-surfaced. But they were fine ...

anewman

Lillibet wrote: »

I have a very travel sick 3YO, more than about 30 mins & he barfs, we found the DVD player a Godsend as he can go almost 2 hours with that on before being sick!

Reading books (basically anything other than looking out of the car window) can contribute to travel sickness.

devizes18193

we used to sign compitons say service stations signs or brown tourist information signs 1st to get to 20 won a prize sweets when younger my 2 kids now look out for speeed cameras for me passes the time

hewhoisnotintheknow

sit them in the back with a few toys, tell em to behave, worked for my parents

vikingaero

We regularly travel long distances with Monster 1 & 2. Monster 1 is 6 years old and Monster 2 is 4 years old. MIL lives 150 miles away and we do this trip every fortnight. We go away for a UK holiday 3 times a year and next week will be Kent to Snowdonia. Last year we did Kent to Cornwall and Kent to Skye.

DVD players are a godsend. Pop into your local supermarket to see what's on offer. Then buy some cheapo DVDs for them. There should be some £3-4 DVDs to buy that will interest them. Don't show them these DVDs beforehand to make them more interested. Amazon https://www.jungleninja.com have a sale on Disney DVDs at the moment and we've bought 5 DVDs. If you invest in a DVD player buy some decent roller sunblinds or else they'll complain they can't see the screen at times.

We have fold down airline style tables attached to the rear of the back seats. £14.99 each from Halfords. They are deep trays rather than flat tables so things stay in them. Below the tray is space for a tissue box. Each monster has her own set of pens (no arguments over who has which colour) and a fancy notebook or two (notebooks because they become more personal to the child and saves having a million pieces of paper fall on the floor).

Then we have the usual travel games, flashcards, etc in a box in the footwell.

Mum is the referee and has the stash of sweeties and snacks in the glovebox to bribe them with. They have their own access to bottled water and juices in the door pockets and armrests. We carry a Tommi Tippee porta-potty with disposable liners for times when they can't wait 30 minutes for the next service station. In addition we make them go to toilet before we set off and leave any service area. They are used to it now and so don't complain. A tiny wee wee is better than announcing it in the middle of nowhere.

If you need sickbags then nappy sacks are brilliant. They can hold the handles and boff into the bag. Also nappy sacks make great binbags.

purplepatch

vikingaero wrote: »

We have fold down airline style tables attached to the rear of the back seats. £14.99 each from Halfords. They are deep trays rather than flat tables so things stay in them. Below the tray is space for a tissue box.

Any chance you could do a link to the product, have had a look on the Halfords website but can't find it. Sounds better than the one I've bought from ELC as that hasn't got a lip to stop stuff falling off.

vikingaero

purplepatch wrote: »

Any chance you could do a link to the product, have had a look on the Halfords website but can't find it. Sounds better than the one I've bought from ELC as that hasn't got a lip to stop stuff falling off.

I don't think Halfords list them online. They are grey and £14.99. All the writing and instructions are in Japanese.