Driving in the car with kids? Here’s our top tips
Driving used to be a time of relaxation, a time to listen to music and enjoy the views. Now it is a military operation to just get every one into the car. I now listen to the Frozen soundtrack in between the shouting, fighting and food spillage. Here are some tips we put together to make your car journey with kids easier:
Pack the car in advance
Make sure you have everything for your journey packed well in advance of your drive. There is nothing as stressful as kids bouncing off the walls waiting to get into the car as you run frantically around your house struggling to find a missing dodi or nappy bag.
Reduce Toilet Stops
Make everyone go to the toilet before the get into the car. Make this a house rule. It will eliminate that awful situation when you have everybody in their car seat and someone announces they need to use the toilet! And you can be guaranteed if one says it the entire car will need to get out and go back into the house to go.
In Car Entertainment
We use soundtracks and stories for short trips and in car DVD players for longer journeys. I simply do not know how anybody does a long car journey without DVD players.
Have a set of Car Rules
The most effective car rule has to be the “sweets out the window” rule. Start your car journey with a full bag of sweets. When you reach your destination the kids get to share the sweets between them. Every time there is a cross word throw a sweet out the window. It works a treat. The kids even start reprimanding each other in order to conserve the sweets.