We are leaving in 2 weeks for a trip to AZ and NM to see family. We are in the Dallas area so this will be a long trip. We have never made this long of a trip with ds before. Does anyone have suggestions on how to make it as easy on him as possible?

When my oldest ds was 2, we drove 10 hours to visit family. He did pretty good, we had a few small toys and books for him to play with. We also had kids music tapes that he enjoyed listening to and singing along with. One time I had to drive 7 hours just him and me. I kept the music tapes going, threw graham crackers and juice cups back to him :lol: and made out fine.

We sometimes would leave around lunch time and he'd take his afternoon nap while we drove. Now my boys are 4 1/2 and 8 yrs. old and we have a tv/vcr combo that we put in for the 10 hr. drive so they watch videos and we hardly hear a peep out of them! 8)

Janell

When our kids were little we mostly did our travelling at night. My mil lives 8-9 hours away and my sil& bil live 18 hours away. We would leave in the evening and the kids would sleep away 90% of the trip. When we got to the other end there was always someone to watch the kids while we had a nap!

Um, we rented a Personal DVD Player. If anytime was okay for watching movie after movie, then was the time. That was an 11 hour trip...

One of the best things I think that you can do is leave when you know that he will be wanting to sleep soon... say, close to his bed time. This way he will sleep for a good portion of the trip. We made a 9 hour drive down to GA from MD this past summer with our then 2 yr old and 1 yr old. Also, we borrowed my parents DVD player to use in the van and the kids did really well with that. Make sure you plan for a few stops for him to stretch his legs... plan for him to have a treat when he gets back in the car. If its potty time/diaper change stop... make it a snack time when you buckle him back in. We planned to have one major meal in a restaurant and let the kids run around with us in the parking lot afterwards... that really gave them some time to get energy out and they settled down in the van well afterwards.

Hope I helped! Good luck! :wink:

I stocked up on some little toys and stickers from the dollar store- whenever DD got close to a meltdown, I would pull one out. The novelty of a new thing was a big distraction!

A couple new books and soft toys. Travel size Magna Doodle. Cup of cheerios and a smaller cup of water hehe

Put it all in a little bag (which can be new for the trip as well) that he can reach, pull things out on his own. That alone can be fun.

Thank you all for your suggestions! We are planning to leave early in the morning, though. Maybe we might rethink that. Davidsmommy, I didn't know you could rent personal DVD players, where did you get yours? That is a good idea. We do plan on stopping alot to stretch his legs. All good suggestions, thanks everyone!

We took a trip to Tennessee when Timmy was 2. It was over 6 hours so that was pretty far. We have a DVD player too though. I would just altrenate playing with him, reading to him, and watching a movie. I'd try to hold him off as long as possible between movies, so he didn't get sick of them.

Also, we stopped a few times and let him run around, and feeding him while driving helped too. We gave him chicken nuggets to eat, and we covered quite a lot of ground before I had to entertain him again. I sat next to Timmy while he was playing and up by dh when he was watching, napping or eating. It worked out well.

We have found that when travelling w/ our dd who is also 2 yrs old...we change up activities & make plenty of stops like some others mentioned but what we bring is also a load of snacks...crackers & bananas...but I also load a bag full of different books, a travel aqua doodle, & a notepad w/ some colored pencils!!! I also bring along magazines for her to browse through, too cuz that's something a little different than books & she enjoys that, too!! I have also found that playing a game like, "Ohh...what IS that? Is that a BIG truck?" type of stuff also gets her distracted & she starts looking outside the window. We also sing songs that have hand motions & clapping & she has lots of fun w/ that, too!!!

Good Luck on your trip!!!

I agree with a lot of the other ladies, definitely try to plan to start trip around bedtime, if you can manage to drive safely yourself during that time. I make a 6 hour trip with my son about once every 2-3 months (usually work trip but take him and DH with me) and we always leave at 4am so he will still be asleep for a good part of the trip. If we are careful, we can lift him into his car seat and tuck a pillow in next to him and he never even wakes up.
My son never wanted to watch tv in the car, but loved loud music. So, we bought several kid cd's (praise music, silly songs, tv show theme songs, etc.) and keep in the car for those longer trips. We may not enjoy it as much, but it's better than having a screaming toddler along.

The last time I took a long trip with my daughter, having the DVD player was a lifesaver, but she got bored with watching videos after a few hours of it. I got in the backseat next to her and played games with her, and that helped with the boredom factor. We also planned each lunch stop for McDonald's, lol, and wouldn't eat at one that didn't have a play place. We decided to split the 12 hour trip with an overnight stop , so that we'd only be on the road for six hours each day.

We got up in the morning, took off, played videos until she got bored, stopped at McD's for a couple of hours for lunch, got back in the van, and she and I played together until she got bored with Peekaboo and all her car toys. Then, we got out some videos again. (We are very fortunate to have a pretty large kids' video collection.)

Can you plan out your trip to have long mealtimes at places with playgrounds, to give your son the chance to get a little physical exercise in between the long periods of time on the road? Also, for less than $100, you can get a portable DVD player. Check out Wal-Mart and Best Buy, places like that.

We are going to make frequent stops, even if it is just a rest area so he can stretch his legs. I hadn't thought about McDonald's play area but that is a good idea too, though I hate McDonald's LOL! He is still learning to eat, so he would just lick the salt off of fries anyway ( feeding issues), but the play area is a great idea! I will check out some prices on DVD players too, we had thought about it, but didn't want to spend alot on it.