Long car trip with children

Quenastoise

Thank you all for the advice - if we travel from the SW to Scotland, I guess we could stay overnight somewhere around the Lake District, if we stopped at Carlisle, DH would insist we push on to his parents.

Elise: FYI Everyday life with my husband is a struggle and a strain and that does not even include a 10-hour trip !

globalds

If your really worried then set off early something like 4:00 am.
This will mean you make good time , the kid will sleep as soon as the car starts moving and will miss a good portion of the trip.

If you were to jump in the back for a couple of hours once they wake up they would have a whale of a time ,if you get a game of eye spy going and bring a cd with some good sing a long songs on....or just good old pointing out the window and chatting.

Mountain out of a molehill thing really.

hngrymummy

My parents used to send us to bed, pack the car for going on holiday, then once we were asleep gently rouse us for a last minute wee stop then bundle us into the car. We were back to sleep within about half an hour. If you do that then you should get several hours driving underway with DS asleep.

Plans_all_plans

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Oh for heavens sake! - You worry about a 6yr old getting stressed - I think there's a lot more in life to get stressed and worried about. My Dad had to move to the far(very far) north to get job designing a rig for BP and so we all went with him - in the car!(From Bexleyheath)

My mum and Dad and 4 kids all under 6 in 1972, so you can imagine the kind of car we had back then - I think it was an old volvo hatchback and I sat in the 'boot', with nothing more to entertain us apart from 'Eye Spy' books and dot to dots! God forbid we did annoy my dad when he was driving as just used to lean back and give the nearest whinger a clip round the ear!

Aaaaah the good old days

Well said! My daughter and I used to drive 5.5 hours once a month (that's before accounting for stopping time!) between two major cities up until she was 2.5 years old. We would sing, stop and read, she'd have a sleep, play with toys etc.

I really think it is not a lot to ask of a 6 year old to sit in a car for 10 hours when he'll have your undivided attention to play or read or whatever. It's not like he's going to have to do it month in moonth out!! It wont kill him!

balletshoes

Quenastoise wrote: »

Thank you all for the advice - if we travel from the SW to Scotland, I guess we could stay overnight somewhere around the Lake District, if we stopped at Carlisle, DH would insist we push on to his parents.

Elise: FYI Everyday life with my husband is a struggle and a strain and that does not even include a 10-hour trip !

Preston East Premier Inn might be suitable? Its just off the M6, so doesn't take your out of your way at all.

jfdi

We've been doing this journey by road since my lad was just a bump and he's 23 now!

I guess we're at a big advantage as we both drive, so can take it in turns.

We nearly always leave about midnight / 2am and make it to Edinburgh for breakfast or the Highlands for coffee break, depending who we're visiting.

Couple of stops en route for coffee / chocolate / wine gums / bacon rolls & we're fine.

DS used to sleep most of it, but then playing 'Spot the Eddie Stobart v Norbert Dentressangle (?)' kept us busy the rest of the way - with MP3 player or car radio/CD player too.

It's far cheaper to drive if there's 2 or more of you, especially if you need the car up there, so I fully sympathise.

The trip to USA is easy for your DS - loads to occupy kids on planes these days - not so sure about the grown-ups tho! LOL!

billius_2

You will be suprised how resiliant kids can be... When we were younger, mum use to drive from northwest germany to northwest england every summer!! Just her and two dd's both under 8years old!! And that was in the days before psp's, dvd's, nintendo's!!! Treat it as an adventure!! I always liked having my own walkman, (so these days try an mp3 player) I could listen to what I wanted instead of boring bbc radio 2, LOL. Pack him a small treat bag, sandwiches, fruit, sweets and drinks, but not too much, just incase he's sick, and play good old fashion games like eye spy!! If you show him you are nervous, he will be!! Having a overnight stop is a good idea, but having lots of comfort breaks is good also... I'm a long distance coach driver, and rule of thumb is to do no more than 2 and a half hours between stops!!
So it may be wise as he is so young to stop every 2 hours!! Another good tip is to take a blanket and pillow... You will probably find within an hour of starting off he will be asleep!
Enjoy the adventure!

jackomdj

The last two summers we have driven down to the South of France, this year our girls were 5 & 3. We have a DVD player for them to watch, our eldest has a leapster2, we have the magnadoodle type boards, we take books, some other hit toys of the time. We make sure we have food & drinks within easy reach (drinks are usually sports tops so they don't leak).

We also play eye spy, sing songs (although 3 hours of Leo the Lion did get a bit much), we make up stories with each of us telling a sentance, we play guess the animal (although our 3 year old always picked monkey!).

Make it an adventure for him & I am sure he will be fine.

As others have said as a child I used to travel from Scotland to Cornwall with little to do, no electronic gadgets in my day! It ended up as a standing joke as we would ask fairly regularly if we were nearly there & my Dad would always say 5 & a bit more miles, even when we had just left!

Also this time of year make sure you have some warm blankets & a shovel!

paddedjohn

ARE WE THERE YET!:j:D

themull1

If you don't want to go just tell him you're n ot going. Depends on what the weather is doing anyway.