Long car jounrney....help pls

l21ynz

I am quite well aware that the kids will need a drink and to the person that said my kids play second fiddle to our car staying clean, how dare you, you do not have the slightest clue about us.

I asked for things to do not to be jumped on and made out to be a bad parent, if we dont want our kids eating in our car that is our choice....and eating in a car generally causes children to be sick.

Also yes we are doing in in one day ots only 6 hours for goodness sake, they will clearly have their breakfast before they go, we are stopping every 2 hours at least (if we need to stop before then, then we will) we are leaving at 8am so no need to do it in 2 days.

Also our kids dont have ipods/ds's and the like they are 3 and 5 - no need for them to have them plenty of time down the line for them as they get older.

Wish I hadnt bothered posting now.

Thank you to everyone who gave me some good ideas, I especially like the car bingo one and will be using it.

Oh and NO we will not get the train, taking the car is less stressful and if my 3 year old falls asleep there is no need to carry her around aswell as bags etc. like we would have to do if we got a train and no we cannot use a buggy that in my opinion is lazy she has not used a buggy since she turned 2 because she dosent like to she prefers to walk,

I will not be returing to this post

Morty_007

Wow, I was going to offer some advice but i'm pleased I won't be bothering now!! With respect, you might do well to heed the chill out comment!

laurel7172

When we were living in Oz, we slept in one morning and almost missed a flight. Dashing along the freeway to the airport, our unceremoniously yanked out of bed two year old threw up spectacularly in the back of the car. All we could do was strip her top layer, ditch everything on the back seat and run for the terminal building. We left the car for a week in 45 degree heat.

I spent most of the return flight attempting to negotiate with OH that, for the good of the baby(cough), whose seat was coated in vomit, I should bring her home on the airport bus instead. But he wasn't a man willing to suffer alone, and all three of us ended up back at the car bracing ourselves to open the door...

And...it was OK. It had been SO hot that everything had dried up within minutes. I turned the car seat upside down and the residue all blew away into the bushes. I lined the baby seat with a clean towel and washed the cover when we got home...all the back seat needed was a stiff brush.

mikey72

Morty_007 wrote: »

Wow, I was going to offer some advice but i'm pleased I won't be bothering now!! With respect, you might do well to heed the chill out comment!

Got a point though.
I feed my kids, and they've all puked in the car.
Even the one that put her head out of the front window trying not to, it came back in through the back window. (and that really upset her sister sitting behind her)

jackomdj

We have a 3 & 5 year old & we will be travelling to the South of France in our car again this year (about a 10 hour trip).

We have DVD player, we take books for them to read, we have the drawing boards that use magnets rather than pens & aquadraw lap drawer. Our 5 year old has a leapster (a bit like a childrens DS) & this has some great educational type games. We usually do some singing (Leo the lion was a favorite last year!). Also they both have their favourite cuddly toy with them. This year our 5 year old has a drawing set which flips down from the drivers seat with some pencils....she is old enough & sensible enough to make sure they only go on the paper!

My OH is fanatical about the car. We take drinks that don't spill. Also, as our journey is so long, we have food in the car (we don't usually!)....tend to take stuff that is not messy: brioche, apples, cherios, certain crisps these are our snacks & we stop for our lunch & get out.

Sandoval

l21ynz wrote: »

I am quite well aware that the kids will need a drink and to the person that said my kids play second fiddle to our car staying clean, how dare you, you do not have the slightest clue about us.

I asked for things to do not to be jumped on and made out to be a bad parent, if we dont want our kids eating in our car that is our choice....and eating in a car generally causes children to be sick.

Also yes we are doing in in one day ots only 6 hours for goodness sake, they will clearly have their breakfast before they go, we are stopping every 2 hours at least (if we need to stop before then, then we will) we are leaving at 8am so no need to do it in 2 days.

Also our kids dont have ipods/ds's and the like they are 3 and 5 - no need for them to have them plenty of time down the line for them as they get older.

Wish I hadnt bothered posting now.

Thank you to everyone who gave me some good ideas, I especially like the car bingo one and will be using it.

Oh and NO we will not get the train, taking the car is less stressful and if my 3 year old falls asleep there is no need to carry her around aswell as bags etc. like we would have to do if we got a train and no we cannot use a buggy that in my opinion is lazy she has not used a buggy since she turned 2 because she dosent like to she prefers to walk,

I will not be returing to this post

Well this post has completely changed my initial impression that you are slightly irrational about keeping your car clean at the expense of your children eating, drinking, drawing and so on in case they get some grime on your car seats...

molerat

Ellie2758 wrote: »

Do you plan to do that in one day? I ask because I have always fancied Scotland and I live in Kent. Everybody I know who travels from here stops off for a night en-route.

Inverness - Dover is normally about 12 hours taking it steady. Used to do it as a 2 day travelling Germany to Inverness via Calais / Dover, 1000 miles. Had to use that route as DW and DD tend to throw up walking over a puddle and had relies in Kent to overnight with.

Kayteehee

Wow I was also going to offer some useful advice but as OP is not returning, perhaps someone else can make use of it?

With the 'car bingo', we call it motorway bingo - you just make up a sheet with different squares on and you have to find the things.

Ideas are:
-Yellow cars
-Police car
-Ambulance
-Fire engine
-Broken down car
- Sheep, cow, horse, etc
- Farmhouse
- different coloured cars
-Caravans
-Motorbikes
-Motorhomes
-Traffic cone
- Bicycle (on bicycle rack probably!)
- Eddie Stobart lorry
-Blue van, red van,
-Taxi
- Minibus
-Red coach, green coach etc.
etc etc.

When you see one you shout it out and put a cross in the box. first one to fill sheet wins.

I'm not quite sure how the OP wants to keep his/her children entertained without the use of pens/pencils/crayons etc and they are too young for stuff like games consoles......but anyway!

JC_Derby

l21ynz wrote: »

I am quite well aware that the kids will need a drink and to the person that said my kids play second fiddle to our car staying clean, how dare you, you do not have the slightest clue about us.

I asked for things to do not to be jumped on and made out to be a bad parent, if we dont want our kids eating in our car that is our choice....and eating in a car generally causes children to be sick.

Also yes we are doing in in one day ots only 6 hours for goodness sake, they will clearly have their breakfast before they go, we are stopping every 2 hours at least (if we need to stop before then, then we will) we are leaving at 8am so no need to do it in 2 days.

Also our kids dont have ipods/ds's and the like they are 3 and 5 - no need for them to have them plenty of time down the line for them as they get older.

Wish I hadnt bothered posting now.

Thank you to everyone who gave me some good ideas, I especially like the car bingo one and will be using it.

Oh and NO we will not get the train, taking the car is less stressful and if my 3 year old falls asleep there is no need to carry her around aswell as bags etc. like we would have to do if we got a train and no we cannot use a buggy that in my opinion is lazy she has not used a buggy since she turned 2 because she dosent like to she prefers to walk,

I will not be returing to this post

WOW, how many points could i pick fault with in this?but there are also some i agree with.
Anyway you post on a public message board and expect everyone to agree with your opinions? thats very naive

as for eating in the car generally making kids sick....is that opposed to eating elsewhere?would they be sick if they ate in a car that was stationary then didnt go anywhere? or do you mean eating in a moving car?or do you mean eating then getting into a car?
kayteehee, great idea with the bingo, but as you said, how are the kids going to be able to do it without pens or pencils.
does the OP expect the kids to read in the car? a major cause of travel sickness?
seriously if you dont like being shot at, dont stick your head above the parapet!
theres lots of good advice on this thread, which you have chosen to ignore and belittle
or perhaps the idea of the train, you dont have to carry the bags or the kids if they are asleep, but them using the buggy is lazy?:eek:

as for 2 hour splits in your journey, isnt the attention span of a child 3-5 minutes per year of life?

2boysmum

Thanks Kayteehee, will be using car bingo on our next trip, we are driving from Glasgow to Cornwall in 3 weeks time, have ds and dvd player for our 6 year old and eldest is taking his i-pod and will buy them some magazines each. We are leaving early in the morning, so expect that they will both fall back asleep at some point. Don't have an issue with them using pens/pencils or crayons in the car, and will definitely be giving them drinks in the car, I can see the OP point about food in the car if they suffer from car sickness, ours will be getting food when we stop for the loo.