Over the river and across the country
To Grandmother's house we go...
Ok, maybe not QUITE across the country, but my family did just survive two 17 hour road trips with a 1 year old-1 road trip to get there, and 1 to get back. Contrary to what you might think, it wasn't all that unpleasant. In fact, my daughter was having so much fun that she refused to nap on the way down to grandma's and I'm pretty sure only managed to nap on the way back because she wasn't feeling well (however, my little trooper hardly shed a tear on the way back either). So how does a parent make a road trip fun for a 1 year old?
#1: The best thing we did was buy a headrest DVD player for the car. My 8 year old step daughter was also with us, so we needed the kind with 2 screens. Total cost was about $100 and worth EVERY penny. If you can afford it (btw there are also 1 screen options for cheaper), definitely go for it. I also suggest NOT installing it until the morning of the road trip. It will help the amusement to last longer. When we got into the car tht morning, Pumpkin was beside herself with delight at the tv. There were lots of pointing and smiles for quite a while.
#2: Plan to sit in the back for a large portion of the trip. It may not be quite as spacious and comfy as the front seat, but it is a lot easier to entertain a 1 year old from that vantage point. There is more to it than handing her a toy and expecting her to entertain herself. All the toys are much more fun when mommy (or daddy) is playing too. It also made it easier for me to see my daughter asking for food or milk (if you are a signing family).
#3: You are probably going to be making stops. Even if you pack food, everyone needs a break from the car. Typically we were able to go 250-300 miles between stops and I consider that to be VERY impressive. I was thinking we would stop a lot more than that. We tried to make each stop around 30 minutes, and we let everyone-even Pumpkin- get out and walk. As tempting as it was to simply leave her barefoot and carry her around a bit before her diaper change, she needs to really stretch too ;) and she enjoyed exploring the merchandise in the "new stores" (aka gas stations).
#4: Make a bag of tricks/toys. Or a few bags. I went on the philosophy it was better to have too much than too little. It started out very neat and organized and by the time we reached the destination it always ended up as a heap under foot, but it's ok! It worked for us. What should you put in your bag of tricks?
A) toys-old and new. Our road trip started Christmas morning after the kids opened gifts, so there was a mix of old and new toys. In the mix of new toys were a baby doll (her first) and an electronic alphabet dog along with a bunch of stocking stuffers (mostly from dollar stores). Among the list of old toys were some imaginative play toys (horses, a car, etc) and musical instruments-bells and electronic instruments like her guitar and drums, etc.
B) gifts-again I relied on the dollar store. I spent $10 per kid per way and it stretched plenty far. I even wrapped them up so they could have the joy of opening a gift. Pumpkin needed help, but by the time we got there she had learned that exciting things come out of the wrapping paper. YAY! Among the most popular were a cookie tray for each of them. Cookie trays are magnetic so I got them magnets also but the real reason that they were a hit was because both kids discovered that you can draw on them with crayons (whatever works, right?). A close second was the toy I saved for last-a little set of toy keys with buttons to beep a horn, etc. Worthy of an honorable mention is the light up toys for night.
C) Homemade toys-using items we had at home and some dollar store finds, we brought an ice cube tray, Pom poms, empty bite size Oreo containers, empty "ice cube" gum container, mid individually wrapped soft mints, and random containers. We had all sorts of fun grabbing the Pom poms or mints and placing them into slots on the tray, opening and closing lids, and putting magnets and Pom poms into the containers and shaking them. Simple, yet very effective-especially if you play with her.
#5: consider keeping your child rear facing until the trip. We didn't really need to use this one until the ride home when mommy got tired of the back seat, but it is a good one to have up your sleeve. Turning forward facing was indeed new and exciting. Not quite for as long as I had hoped, but it bought a small break at least.
#6: bring snacks and drinks. If no eating in the car is a general rule for you, perhaps you might want to consider an exception. Otherwise you will definitely need more stops. Our main ones were those little food punches they sell (for a healthy option) and fish crackers. We also filled a cooler with ice and threw in a half gallon of whole milk and brought a cup from home.
#7: Download a few child friendly apps. There are a surprising amount of apps that would entertain a toddler. My daughter usually LOVES to play my phone so I had expected these to be a bigger hit, but as it turns out it wasn't a big hit. Even though it wasn't a big hit for this particular week, apps have been big with her before when I needed to get some chores done, so it is quite possible you will have better luck with this than we did. Either way, it doesn't hirt to have a few "just in case." If you don't use them you can always delete them. If you are worried about your phone's safety, try getting a toddler case for them-I know fisher price makes an "apptivity" case for apples (which is what we use).
So with a little advanced planning and some flexibility, taking a road trip with a 1 year old was nowhere near as bad as I had thought it would be. Frankly I enjoyed all the time with my daughter-actually my whole family, but as the article is about a road trip with a 1 year old... I Definitely would be happy to do this again!
