My kids are 4 years old and 18 months old. I love them so much, but they drive me crazy. April 29th-May 7th we road-tripped down to Las Vegas, NV from Willamette Valley Oregon to see my family. It was my 18 month old’s first time seeing all but her Grandpa (who visited in February, when his brother passed away), and my 4 year old’s first time since she was 9 months old. We got to see one of their Aunts, two Uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa. Sadly their other Aunt was not in Las Vegas while we were there.
Anyway, we learned a few tricks the hard way, so I thought I’d share some tips in case you are planning a road trip with little ones soon!
1. Bring your loop earplugs (or whatever you use to block out noise or at least reduce it) and wear them! Seriously! I brought mine but never put them in, and I really wish I had. It would have made the crying a lot easier to handle.
2. Make sure and pack Tylenol and Benadryl for everyone. And anything you might need for car sickness! My youngest threw up a couple times on our road trip, and it was not fun cleaning that up. After the second time it happened, I googled and learned Benadryl actually helps with motion/car sickness! Luckily, we had packed the children’s Benadryl and had a sticky note with measurements for her. So we gave her Benadryl before driving and we didn’t have another problem! (We gave her a low dose, but use your own discretion as your child’s parent or guardian).
3. Have snack cups and dry finger foods on hand for when the little kids get fussy! We forgot to bring snack cups, so we bought some the second day, after I got tired of handing them one pretzel at a time. 😅 It helped so much on the trip home! It’s even easier with kids ages 4 and up, because you can pack a lunch box or other container of different snacks they love, and just let them have it for the trip.
4. Get a case that attaches your tablet to your car for your kids to watch movies! We pre-downloaded some of their favorites on the tablet for them and just turned it on right before we started driving again. It was a lot of screen time, but honestly there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Only thing that would have made this better is if I could have controlled it from the passenger seat. I couldn’t reach the tablet to turn on another movie while we were driving. If you know of any devices that allow you to remotely control it from your phone, or allows you to control it without touching it, let me know below!
5. This one is more for older kids, but I saw this idea online and we had to do it: print up a map of the route you’re taking and let them color it and show them where you are as you go along! We weren’t great about keeping up with this one, but I think if they were both a little older it would have been fun to show them and let them color in our route as we went along! Highly recommend! Maybe even print some pages related to places you’re going or passing through, too! Make it educational!
Overall, just remember this trip will be over soon! You can do it!
Let me know below: what are your favorite tips or hacks for road trips? I’d love to know!
Clarissa
The Neurodivergent Homemaker 