Question about weekend outings

Many of the things we like to do with the girls -- the zoo, the children's museum, etc. -- involve driving 45-60 minutes. We go first thing in the morning, have lunch there and go home. However, this means driving home when they would normally be napping, so of course they fall asleep in the car, then won't nap when we get home. This is not disastrous, but not ideal.

We've tried keeping them awake in the car -- this works for a trip of 10-15 minutes, but not 45.

We've also tried driving home before lunch. It's not quite as much fun, but we figured if they fell asleep in the car before lunch, maybe they'd nap again after lunch. Amy often will (after much protesting), but Sarah often won't.

And there isn't enough time in the afternoon between naptime and dinner/bedtime.

Is there any way around this? Or does having a field trip just mean ruining that day's nap?

 

I was a stickler for sticking to the schedule so we often time passed on some of the outings at that age. Otherwise we would end of paying for it later! I think occasionally it is fine to do and just let them sleep in the car or nap whenever they do. Personally I think its a personal choice. If you think the kids can handle not nappng well then go for it, but if not you might need to rethink the outing.

Also, whenever we had a long car ride and got home and they were still asleep I would just keep them in the car and let them finish their nap. I do realize though that some do not stay asleep once the car stops running. We never had an issue though.

 

Minette,

I also suffer from the same issues...Esp when we went to Disney World...byt 3pm they were out of thier minds...

I cannot keep them awake in the car....but if I use the portable DVD player, its really a non-issue. Most of the time they will stay awake for that.

Also, maybe wait to feed them lunch in the car...tell them we eat in the van today...and maybe you can keep them pre-occupied long enough to keep them awake.

Now that mine are getting a little bigger, its not that bad...but Once they do sleep in the car, there is no sleeping home...

 

If they fell asleep in the car at nap time, we would let them sleep. We would even drive around for a while if we thought they might wake up if we stopped. I liked it actually. DH and I would get some "alone" time to talk in the car. I kind of miss those drives.

 

Hey we have the same problem. We haven't really done any of those zoo, aquarium type outings yet because of it. But, DH has time off in a few weeks so we would like to take some trips like that. My plan is, and it's just a plan so I don't know if it works, is to leave shortly after breakfast (8:30ish), get there around 9:30 (hopefully things will be open or find something to do until it is), spend some time at the place, have lunch there, mill about for another hour, and then let them sleep on the way home, maybe stretching out the drive to let them get in a 1.5 hr nap. That seems to be the minimum nap to keep them happy.

 

We make sure nap time is close to when we will be in the car and they just sleep on the way there or back :umm:

 

If my husband and I want to take them for an outing during the day, sometimes we split the nap. If we leave around 10:30am or so they will inevitably fall asleep on the way there. We then give them lunch as soon as we get there then spend time at the zoo or where-ever and then put them back in the car around 3pm or so...combined they still get the same longer nap so it doesn't mess up bedtime. I couldn't do it all the time with my boys, but every once in awhile it seems to work for us.

Caryn

 

We also don't like it when naps are ruined, so we often will avoid those longer trips; however, for the longer trips we have taken, we have a few tricks. One is that sometime I or my husband will turn slightly to almost face them while riding and "entertain" them by leading songs, puppeteering, tickling toes, or offering snacks (cheerios in the snacking bowls work well cause they have to work to get them out). Also, sometimes I will arrange to have an array of new toys to wow them on the way home. And when you fail, riding around in the car for a longer nap time can be quite pleasant... if you can afford the gas

 

So glad I'm not the only one who deals with this debate!! I just started taking them out with a risk to schedule. And, the first time we did it it did not go as planned ... we went in the morning thinking they would take their morning nap since they are still on 2. Well, they didn't so they ended up getting a terrible one nap that day ... not good. So, now we leave later than their morning nap would normally be and get to our destination a little later ... even if we have to drive around a bit. We ended up doing this last Saturday and went on a spontaneous day trip because it took them a half hour to fall asleep. Then we wore them out while there and had lunch and all that and they fell asleep on the way home. It makes for a long day when they nap in the car, but it is the only way I can see when it's that far away. For a 30 minute car ride, I could see trying to keep them awake, but I'm not about to sit backwards, feeding and all that for 60. This is why we only do one of these kinds of trips once a month or so.

 

Ok I am known as the nap natzi (like the soup natzi on Seinfeld?) around my circle of friends. Oh none of them have twins so do not totally understand. Anyways, Josh will nap in his carseat very easily. But Zach will NOT. And then Z will NOT nap alone in his room in his crib w/out J. Ah the fun with twins LOL.

So when I am home alone with them, dual naptime is CRUCIAL. But when dh is home with me we just go with the flow. Why miss out on all the fun of museums, zoos, aquariums, dd's ballet recitals and cheerleading events aka life? So if Josh naps in the van, so be it! then I will take Z with me alone for errands and one on one time after 3pm and he usually does a quick 20-30 nap which renews him until bedtime. So dh will get alone time with J too which is good for all. Then dd comes home from school and its family time!

Not sure if that answered your question or not but that is how I deal with it. As long as they go back to t heir routine of naps easily on Monday, why miss out on things due to their naps? B)

 

QUOTE(1girltwinboyz @ May 18 2007, 05:56 PM) [snapback]260567[/snapback]
...when I am home alone with them, dual naptime is CRUCIAL. But when dh is home with me we just go with the flow. Why miss out on all the fun of museums, zoos, aquariums...


That's pretty much how I view it, too. My girls are not long nappers anyway, so if we have a 45-minute drive, it's actually a halfway decent nap for them. Sometimes we'll leave the house shortly after breakfast so they can nap on the way there, and then leave wherever we are at afternoon naptime. They may be a little more tired in the afternoon and need to go to bed a little earlier, but they're pretty flexible and it allows to have more fun than if we tried to stick to a rigid schedule. And if they are really run ragged, I sometimes get an extra 15-20 minutes out of their morning nap on Monday. Woo-hoo!

 

I also have this problem. One thing I have done is to drive part way home, stop have lunch then drive the rest of the way home. this keeps them awake a little better.
I have also told them, "Don't go to sleep" and that actually works sometimes too. Doing alot of finger plays in the car helps them stay awake.
Or sometimes getting them to rest in the car on the way there helps to prolong our visit at the museum.


When naps are interrupted for whatever reason, I usually put the girls down 30 min earlier at night.

 

I think I am very strict with their nap schedules, but not as strict as most I would suppose. We did (do) what Caryn does, in that we split the naps.

For example, today we are going to a bug show in LA. It will take about an hour to get there, if not longer. So we will head out around 10 and just HOPE that they fall asleep in the car on the way there (which they should). Then we will get there, eat, play, explore, and leave in the afternoon. And again, hopefully they will sleep in the car on the way home.

 

I usually plan an outing around nap, for instance, if we are going somewhere 45min/1 hr away we will leave at 10am which is their regular morning naptime. They nap in the car, we do our outing and I make sure we are back in the car by 3:30pm which is their afternoon naptime and they will nap on the way home. If it is somewhere close, I go out after lunch and come home before next nap or if we are driving I leave at naptime and let them nap in the car, like if I am at my mom's and I have to pick my SD up at school at 3:15, I leave my mom's 2:45 and they nap in the car until 3:30. I used to get such anxiety about their naptimes now I just go with the flow and it usually doesn't differ no more then 15min to a 1/2 hour.