If you had to drive 14 hours with 2 kids

AggieCouple · March 2010

ages 2 and 4 would you rather:

A. Drive at night while they sleep, taking turns amongst 3 adults.

B. Drive during the day, with endless DVDs.

Caveat: the 2 year old's ability to be distracted by TV is variable, and he is quite active.

EliseB0323 · March 2010

C. Stick a hot poker in my eye.

momintn · March 2010

Driving at night would be ideal if they actually slept all night in their carseat. Mine will never sleep longer than an hour.

hikerbeth · March 2010

Really depends on the temperament of the kids.

With my DD, definitely daytime so we could all be well-rested on the other end. She's a good traveler and doesn't sleep that well in her carseat any more.

ppants · March 2010

We drove 8 hrs overnight thinking the kids would sleep. Not really. Thankfully, my parents rented a room and we got to town @ 5:30 am, ate at IHOP, and we all slept for a few hours. Then we drove the remaining 4 hrs. I wouldn't do an overnight drive again for a while/if I could help it.

emilykristene2006 · March 2010

EliseB0323:
C. Stick a hot poker in my eye.

lol, probably C.

JOEBunny · March 2010

B. I would do endless DVDs.

I think driving over night is irresponsible, unless you regularly have a night job. You are just as bad at driving after drinking as you are when you are tired. Not a good idea IMO.

Zenya · March 2010

EliseB0323:
C. Stick a hot poker in my eye.

yup. But seriously though I have had horrible experiences traveling at night. Never again. Now we leave really early in the morning.

KrisBriMcBunny · March 2010

A but much prefer Elise's C lol

We drove 17 hours when Michelle was 2.5 yrs old. We drove thru the night. It was rough on us but not on her lol

Kapalua · March 2010

we did it during the day...with endless DVD's. Those suckers saved our marriage.

femmegem · March 2010

I would also drive during the day. Partially because I don't think DS would sleep well in his carseat and partially because I don't sleep well in the car and if I don't sleep well I get migraines.

CleoKitty · March 2010

Other: I'd break it into two shorter days of driving. We take lots of long car trips but the kids and I can't do more than 10 hours in a day without going nuts. You could do one long day, get a hotel, wake up the next morning and finish the last segment of your trip by lunchtime.

penguingrrl · March 2010

We'll be driving 14 hours this summer with a 1 yo and an almost 3 yo. I will be driving during the day because I don't do well when I'm tired and DH is a lousy driver even when he's well rested, so it's all me.

LanaM · March 2010

we drove with an almost 5 y.o. and an almost 2 y.o. to and from FL 22 hours each way. Our plan was to not stop and just switch with DH, but it did not happen... boys got cranky and wanted to stretch and we ended up staying in a hotel there and back...... so driving at night would not work for us.

During the day they did great. Both napped, we only watched about 1.5 hours of DVD's each day (10 hours driving one day at 12 hours second day).

jlw2505 · March 2010

At least once a year and sometimes twice we drive from MN to MI and we typically do the majority of the trip overnight and it works out great. We have done it during the day - this past Thanksgiving we left to head home right after lunch and I lost track of how many hours Dora was played in my car and couldn't get the songs out of my head for weeks. The end of the drive the girls did sleep and they both fell back to sleep when we got home at around midnight. I honestly think either way can work depending on your kids and the adults abilty to be up and alert all night. I hate night driving but my DH is great and typically does the majority of driving overnight and we stop every few hours regardless. If its daytime, we all get out and strech and if night, whoever is awake gets out of the car.

Dcubed · March 2010

We did this last summer with our two which were about the same age but did a 22 hour drive (straight no kids). We left at like 4 in the morning and put the kids in the car still asleep. Drove till they woke. Stopped for bkfast let them stretch. Drove to a mid point at like 4 (making a couple of stops in between) and stayed in a hotel. Stopping at 4 gave them time to get out and stretch (play in the pool) before going to bed. Did the same thing the next day except drove until we reached the destination. We watched a lot of movies and got a lot of activies and snacks to keep us occupied. Good luck! It really goes quick and wasn't as bad as I prepared myself for (maybe because I expected the worst so it could only get better). The only thing that I didn't prepare for was DD not being able to sleep in her carseat. She kept waking up cause she couldn't get comfortable and wanted to be laying down to sleep good - that was not pretty

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