Long car trips

We are driving up to my husbands family which is about 8 hours away. Any advice on what time to drive and how to keep them happy sitting when all they want to do is move, move, move? Flying is to expensive and not an option, although I doubt any better anyway. My kids are 1 year and 1 month old.

 

Well, I just did a four hour drive and it went okay. Are they napping once or twice per day? If once, then I would leave right at that nap time and drive as far as you can. Once they get up, then stop and let them run around/eat etc and then once it's bed time get back in the car and do the rest of the drive. Bring lots of snacks that are easy to just throw back in their seats and let them eat and maybe a new toy or two to entertain them. Good luck!

 

My kids are barely eating real food so snacks is not really an option, also they do not walk yet, so no where for them to crawl. They usually take 2 naps a day.

 

We just a 7-hour trip a month ago, with 13-month-old babies. I too found that leaving right at their nap time worked great, they took a nap in the car and then were okay for a few more hours before inevitably getting cranky. Driving around bedtime (on the way there) didn't work for us, they both cried and couldn't fall asleep, then finally did, woke up when we got there and had a really bad night. Daytime driving with one nap in the car worked much better. I agree that snacks definitely help. Do your kids eat solid foods at all? Even if it's just cheerios, it should keep them occupied for a while.

 

We did a long car trip when the twins were 17 months old, our original plan was to do the bulk of the driving while they were asleep that did not work out because we had to stop due to car trouble. The twins woke up every time we stopped the car to change drivers. Mine seemed to do better with driving during the day, so I would agree on getting a start during the first nap of the day.

 

Be sure to play some fun kids music! Mine love it when I play songs they are already familiar with and I love that it helps get them through some really tough I just want to scream all the way there moments! also, maybe a new toy or two or something that they haven't seen in awhile. we are planning a four hour drive this saturday so now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to go hide a few select toys right now and bring them out during the car trip! that way they'll miss them and hopefully play with them longer than five minutes before chucking them over the side of their seat!!! Good luck!

 

If they are not walking yet, I would do the drive during the day (just in case they don't sleep) then you'll have the option of pulling over at the rest areas and they usually have a nice grassy area with picnic tables. Maybe take a blanket with you and let them crawl around and get their energy out and then back in the car. I know for my two when we went on long car trips they enjoyed getting out every couple of hours even if it was for ten minutes. Good luck!