Travelling with 2 year old boys

[Deleted User]

So my husband and I are about to visit his parents this weekend. They live about 4 hours away. I'm thinking of leaving on Friday at 4pm, right after work, that way we can feed the boys dinner while driving, and then they can hang out a bit, and possibly pass out in the car by their usual bed rime around 7pm. It's our goal at least.

Anyone have any advice on keeping toddlers entertained in a 4-5 hour car ride? How can we keep them awake for the majority of the drive? I'm dreading it, but we have to visit

JENandJEH

We've done many, many 7+ hour road trips with our kids.  I wouldn't try to feed them in the car...I try to avoid anything more than snacks just because of the mess and I'm afraid of them choking and us not being able to stop or get them out right away.  

I keep a basket of toys that they don't play with very often in between our captains chairs.  Books, plastic figures (DS2 LOVES dinosaur figures), matchbox cars.  I also make sure to have DS2's blankets within arms reach.  We have a DVD player so they'll watch a movie or two sometimes.  Honestly, aside from the toys and occasional movie, I don't really do anything to entertain them in the car.  I will say that whenever we start our drive later and drive past their bedtime, they ALWAYS wake up and have about an hour hyper period when we get to where we're going before I can get them back to sleep so be prepared for the possibility of that.  Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Eeek! Good to know! Trying to plan this trip has been a nightmare. We have to visit some family because they haven't seen the boys in awhile, and are starting to get up there in age. We want them to stay awake in the car as much as possible so it makes it easier for us to get them to bed once we get to where we are going. It just seems like that isn't going to happen lol!

ashiscute

I think you're overthinking this. We bring a couple of toys with us. Books, magnadoodle, stuff like that. We also have a DVD player (we have one with 2 screens for 2 kids). We sing songs and do pretty much what we do on normal car rides.

I also don't feed my kids meals in the car. I would be uncomfortable with that. I would stop and have a quick meal and bathroom break around your normal dinner time. And as far as falling asleep my kids usually only fall asleep later than their normal bedtime in the car.

[Deleted User]

Ya I might be. I just know how busy they are so I worry that they are just going to scream the whole time lol! First long trip for them, so it's a little nerve racking. Doesn't help we are going to be visiting my VERY difficult in laws. Probably doesn't help the stress level lol!

[Deleted User]

lol!! They visit us a lot. My husband works in and out of the province a lot, so it's hard to find time to go visit. He's home for the holidays so we thought we would rip the bandage and give it a go! haha!

BBS!

We strap the iPad to the headrest and he will happily watch movies for the 4 hour drive.

this decaf life

JENandJEH said:

I'm afraid of them choking and us not being able to stop or get them out right away.  

I don't feed DD in the car because I'm too worried about this, plus she's still RFing so I wouldn't even see her if I were alone. I'm avoiding road trips with DD though, she hates the car, always has. We're often in the car for at least an hour going anywhere because traffic here is a nightmare and I've resorted to Daniel Tiger because I just can't handle it. I don't think she likes RFing but I'm not willing to compromise her safety yet. She just turned 2 and is pretty small.

GL!