A Life In Review

I won’t pretend that I’m an expert toddler travel guide, but I AM a mom who has driven a long (2,400 miles round trip) trip with a toddler in tow. Somehow when I made that same trip while she was a baby, it wasn’t as painful or nerve wracking. She napped for most of those trips, however I knew that this time would be different since she’s older. I asked so many different mom friends for advice before we embarked on our trip in February. I was trying to be as prepared as possible. The trip didn’t go off without a hitch, but being prepared sure saved us some headaches along the way.

I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you have kids. You may be an expert or you may be a newbie like me, but here in a few seconds I will share with you my tips and tricks for traveling with toddlers. If you don’t have kids, you can still read on and see what a mess we make when we travel with tiny humans. There are tears, laughs and many yawns. So let’s get into it.

Travel Toddler Tips:

1. BE PREPARED: Do NOT wait until the last minute to tell your toddler that you are traveling (surprising toddlers with big things doesn’t allow them time to process what is going to happen and can bring up big feelings for them). Prepare them ahead of time. Let them know that they will be spending a longer period of time in the car than they are used to. Talk them through your plan for the trip (are you driving and stopping for the night, or are you driving straight through, explain bathroom stops and more of the basics of a car trip). You also need to prepare all of the things you will use for this trip with your toddler. The closer to the trip, the more you will pay for the items you need (ask me how I know that? 😂).
   
2. Special Car Toys: These are toys that won’t be used anywhere but the car. It’s like a little treat for them when they get in. We have a couple noisy toys (the Fisher Price remote and toy controller), and a few special books. We keep them in a little bin that sits next to Georgia’s car seat. The key is to NOT take them out of the car with you when you get out. You can use it as an incentive when they don’t want to get back in and back on the road.
   
3. Car Friendly Activities: We bought a small sticker book and let our toddler use them however she wanted (she currently likes stacking them all on top of each other on her belly or her car seat straps). If for some reason the stickers get placed somewhere else in the car, you can use Goo Gone to remove them. The other activity that we found was the Melissa and Doug Reusable Water Wow (they literally “paint” with water. It’s safe to spill, and safe to use in the car. Georgia used it to paint her hair more than she painted the coloring pages, but it served its purpose). Both items are relatively inexpensive too which is nice because the next item is your big ticket item.
   
4. DVD or Blue Ray Player: I know that some people frown upon using screen time to keep kids busy, but when you are on a 20+ hour road trip, you do what you have to do. We have used two different players now, and I love them both. They can run rather pricey, which is why you need to get these ahead of time and not at the last minute,
   1. DVD player: My mom is the one who found our DVD player and it runs amazingly well. The only downside is that you cannot play Blue Rays on this device. The upside is that it’s a split screen.
   2. Blue Ray Player: We searched and hunted for a good one and finally settled on the Sylvania 10 inch dual screen player. It even has a remote so that you can change things for the kids, from the front seat.
      
      ** Don’t forget to bring DVD’s. If you are someone who primarily uses streaming services, run to your local Goodwill and just pick up some used DVD’s because they are really just for the car trips. **
      
5. Pack Comfort Items: Is there something that your toddler can’t live without? For us it’s this fuzzy pink blanket that usually never leaves the house, but we lessen the rules when going on a road trip. If they have a favorite stuffy, pack it. If it’s a pacifier that only gets used in bed, let them use it. You’ll thank yourself later. Remember that these things will be used when you are in survival mode, you do NOT have to offer them as soon as you start the drive.
   
6. Have Snacks (and fun drinks): This is not the time to be worried about your car being a mess. You can do a big vacuum job when you get home. We bought our GoBe Snack Spinner with us and it was a win, especially when it came to clean up. It has 5 compartments that you can add different snacks to. (If you follow that link you can grab one for 20% off). As for drinks, make them fun and easy to access/open. Make sure that everything has a tight lid so that there are no big spills. We love the Good2Grow juice bottles with the characters on top (you can get the low sugar ones if you don’t like your little one to have a ton of sugar).

7. Be Patient: This is my final word of advice. Your toddler is probably going to complain at multiple points. Make sure that you stop every few hours and let them stretch. We stopped for dinner in one place and I let my toddler run (yes run) through a Hobby Lobby because it was too dark outside to find a park to run in. Toddlers aren’t used to being cooped up all day so there will be whining. Just be patient with them and remember that long car rides suck for adults too.

I tried to keep this short and sweet because toddler moms (and dads) barely have time to go to the bathroom, let alone read an in depth blog post. I will be the first to admit that I am still learning things about parenting, so if you have any more tips PLEASE share them in the comments. I would love to add things to my toddler travel arsenal!