Long car trip with children

Wilma33

Why don't you and the child take the plane (or train) and your OH take the car?

jackomdj

paddedjohn wrote: »

ARE WE THERE YET!:j:D

five & a bit more miles!

RLH33

No suggestions but I do have a lot of sympathy with you. A trip such as this would fill me with horror, we have just been to Center Parcs - 20 mins down the road, and ds (nearly 6) was moaning about how long it would take to get there!! That said we went to Cornwall in June, which took 4 hours, and he was absolutely fine, dd (6 months) was the one who was a nightmare so basically we can't win!

I would be sorely tempted to take the train or the plane and meet your oh at the nearest train station/airport.

PasturesNew

When I was a kid, a trip to Cornwall took 12 hours (pre motorways). Our parents would not tell us we were going on holiday and we'd go to bed, then they'd pick us up and put us in the car when it was dark/later and drive through the night. No seatbelts back in those days though.

paddedjohn

jackomdj wrote: »

five & a bit more miles!

Aaawww you said that hours and hours ago,......i need a poo!

skylight

I wouldn't mind a flight but not a train trip for that length of time. Because although you can walk up and down etc, at least in a car or a plane you strap the littlies in and they are not as much bother............ (But I have 4 under 8's so a train would be problematic for me!)

GobbledyGook

It really depends on the child, but I have done journeys of 8-10 hours with both of my girls.

I have an in-car charger for my laptop which I strap to an in car table and it is used for DVD's, games and audio stories. I take colouring books, books, etch-a-sketch and before we leave I go to the £1 shop and buy a number of new toys. It's amazing how long something new will keep them amused for.

Lots of snacks, timing it so the children will at least nap for a while and plenty to do and it's fine. They may moan, but family relationships are important so journeys are worthwhile imo.

Glitzkiss

I'm another one who used to be taken on long trips as a child nearly 30 years ago when there wasn't the entertainment available there is now. Hell, we thought we were lucky with an 8-track stereo We used to travel from the north east of Scotland to Cornwall without stopping and it certainly didn't leave either my sister or myself with a fear of travelling or any other mental scars. Books, guessing games, and sleeping kept us sane. Plus numerous bribes/threats etc

bylromarha

I take long trips with my kids, with and without DH, all the time. Have done it since they were born, they're now 6 and 4. Mums are a 4 hour/8 hour round trip - no airport option for us!

For the 8 hour round trip we leave at 5.30 am - they have a croissant and juice around 6am (whilst driving - the passenger seat is stocked up with things to pass back) kids normally fall asleep again around 7am for an hour. Then we play/chat/sing/read for the rest of the journey. On the way home I leave around their bedtime and they fall asleep for most of the journey. We only stop for toilet breaks.

February this year I (not we!) took them on a day trip to Disneyland on Eurotunnel - 5 hours each way in the car. They had a box of books inbetween them, a few pencils and colouring/wordsearch books/worsheet books, as well as nursery rhyme and story CDs for us to listen to. Coped absolutely fine - though it helped I never told them where we were going until they saw Mickey Mouse on the motorway signs.

They've NEVER had a DS/handheld game/DVD player. They've always had story/nursery rhyme CDs in the car, I spy, books, paper, clipboards, colouring books. I sing and drive, I spy and drive, retell stories and drive. And they coped just as well when they were 1 as they did when they're 6 - they had no option as the journey had to be done.

Lunar_Eclipse

It's difficult to comment without knowing your son, but I think it'll be fine! Fun even.

You are probably (hopefully) worrying about nothing. Really. My children are 9 and 10 now, but we took them on a 32 hour journey to New Zealand, for the first time, when they were 4 and 5. I too was dreading it, particularly because after the travelling, there's then the jetlag and timezone adjustment.

Our youngest is active. Very well behaved, but still active. She doesn't watch much TV for instance. Anyway, they really did us proud and have continued to do so ever since. We have flown long haul several times in the past few years and regularly do 6 hours up to the Lakes and only stop for a 5 minute fuel/toilet break. Of course compared to our NZ trips, that is easy.

The trick is to be prepared. And ideally not to start off tired - ie leaving at 3/4am (we've done this too, it's not ideal!) I always have a supply of snacks, drinks and activities: variety is key. Comfy clothes, with a spare to hand. I've noticed mine eat more when travelling too.

If you have a Nintendo DS, DVD player or iPod, load it up with appropriate content. We have these now, but didn't when we started off on the above mentioned journey and it wasn't a problem. Pack a toy bag for the car, including some new things if you can afford it. I also recommend audio tapes/CDs for the car (we like Roald Dahl stories) and also, check out Encyclopedia Brown Detective books (we read these aloud on long car journeys now.)

Teddy and pillow also essential!

Try to relax as he could feed off your angst.

I actually LOVE travelling with my two and missed them when hubbie & I went alone, so hopefully that offers you some hope.:)