If you’re like me, driving 8+ hours sounds miserable. Add in 3 little kids and it sounds just plain horrendous. I’ve always been a flier (and Hunter definitely takes after me 😂) and I really don’t like car rides. I think it’s because I’m the type of person who doesn’t enjoy just doing nothing. I’m always on the go and feel sort of trapped and like I’m wasting time in the car.
But with little kids – and now with all of the airline delays/cancellations due to COVID – it just makes more sense for us to drive distances that aren’t very far. Take Orlando, for example. It’s about 9.5 hours from New Orleans. Typically I prefer to stay under 8 hours (based on Google Maps drive time) because inevitably that means 10-10.5 hours of actual drive time. The extra 1.5 hours to Orlando isn’t worth an overnight stay so we just push through and can usually make it there in 11 hours total.
Getting ready for this ‘adventure’ takes almost as much mental preparation as it does actual, physical preparation. I make sure to hide my dislike for the driving part from the boys. We want them to see it as a fun part of the vacation and look back on these memories with fondness.
So here are 4 things we do to mentally prepare our little kids for a road trip:
- We make it sound exciting!
We hype it up as an adventure with exciting things to see along the way. We talk about how awesome our vacation will be once we get there or how nice it will be to get back home to our house, bed and toys.
- We show them the route ahead of time.
Both of the big boys actually love geography and doing their country and continent puzzles. We use this to our advantage and use our fingers to trace out our starting and ending points. and even print out the MapQuest (yes, MapQuest still exists 🤣) for Hunter to hold with us along the way
- We talk about the route while we’re driving
After printing out the MapQuest (still can’t say that while keeping a straight face LOL) for Hunter (and now Gage) to keep track of, we then ask questions or make exciting exclamations like:
- “What state are we in now?”
- “Oh, we recognize this city!”
- “Let’s look for the next state sign.”
- “Let’s look for a brown sign.”
- We let them pick 2-3 toys for the drive.
This is ‘guided picking’ you might call it 😂 as we limit them to car-friendly items. We sort of know what toys will be best for the car, quiet, keep them occupied the longest, etc. We’ll give them 5 or 6 options to choose from and let them pick their top 2 or 3.
Just Go!
Driving long hours in the car with your kids doesn’t have to be awful! YOUR mindset as the parent is actually super important and we actually have a full post dedicated to that topic. We also share 4 helpful tips for road trips with toddlers and infants if you still have kids in that age range in this post.
You got this!! Take the trip – don’t let the logistics of driving with little ones be the reason you don’t go 🙂
Resources Mentioned
9 Tips for Traveling with Toddlers & Babies
Ultimate Vacay Grocery List for Big Families with Little Kids
