Finally my long-awaited vacation has arrived! And since I’ve procrastinated like hell on starting this thread, I need answers fast-ish. We are leaving tomorrow morning to drive from St. Louis to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee – myself, my husband, and our 22-month-old son. It’s a drive that he and I have made many times before, but never with a kid in tow. So I would love some Doper wisdom on two things:
Tips for keeping him from melting down along the way, and
Insight on specific rest stops or roadside attractions along the way that have (ideally) playgrounds or at least wide open spaces for him to run around for a while.
I would appreciate any advice! We have snacks and music and some toys/ games for him, but ideas from veteran family travelers are always welcome.
I have no idea of how long a drive that is. I have made several 8 hour drives with my now 14 month old daughter by myself and have learned to stop every 2-3 hours; i.e., before she starts to fuss and to take about a 30 minute break each time so that she can have a snack if interested and stretch and not get too tired of the car seat. If you have a laptop or portable DVD player, put in a movie for him. Letting him run around when you take a break is a great idea.
McDonald’s playplaces saved our sanity when our son was little. We’re vegetarians, so a cold-weather car trip was our first experience of them. The people who work there are pretty tolerant, and if you just get a cup of coffee, then let the kid play while you drink it, that’s always been good enough, in our experience.
If you don’t have a DVD player for the car, get one. Use Velcro to strap it to the back of the front seat. 22 months might be too young for headphones, but you can try.
A lot of rest stops have swing sets, but you can just run around and play tag with the kid, play airplane, anything that gets lots of muscles stretching. Being strapped into a carseat can be really cramp-inducing.
I wish you’d posted earlier, because our son liked all kinds of activity books on long trips at that age-- there’s a paint-with-water book he loved. He also liked an Etch-a-Sketch by age two.
Make sure the kiddo has lots of access to juice and water. It can get thirsty in the backseat. Even if he can already ask under most circumstances, getting your attention from the back of a car can be a challenge.
Paint with water books are a great idea – we have coloring books, but that should be different enough to change up the entertainment level. McDonald’s is a great suggestion, too, and since I’m a vegetarian and my husband just doesn’t like them much, we wouldn’t have thought of it!