Road Trip with 2 Toddlers and an Infant

I'm with most of the other moms... start in the evening that way the kids will sleep most of the time. Good luck!

Hi K.,

Have you thought about driving at night? We did that with our kids when they were ages 2 1/2 and 11 months. It was tiring for my husband and me, but worth it b/c the kids slept almost the whole time.

Good luck!

P.

We have done this a few times with my three children. My older ones are a few years older than yours so I don't know if your kids will be interested in the same things. Movies are life savers, I didn't want my kids to watch movies the whole time so we would start with other things and when they got bored we would turn on a movie. My kids love to draw so I got them each a clipboard and chubby colored pencils and lots of paper. We also brought a leapfrog which was a good entertainer.
I would say to make sure to keep your stops short, just let the kids get out and run around a bit. No matter how many stops you make the kids are going to get sick of being in the car and if you take too many stops it makes the trip crazy long.
You didn't say if you were doing this in one day or two. We usually do a 16 hour trip in one day but last time we did it in two. I don't think I'll ever do it in one day again if I don't have to. My kids love to stay at hotels and love to swim so they thought it was so much fun.
Anyway, I hope this helps, good luck!

we have a 14 hour drive every year with our 3 kids. My advice is to drive at night. I know it gets long for you but it helps.We leave around 6pm here so the drive go alot better.

Try driving at night

Hi Kristen!
Good luck on your journey! I made a 9 hour drive alone with our 13 month son in December. I had planned on leaving early in the morning but got a bug in my pants and ended up leaving about 7pm the night before. An hour into the drive my son was sound asleep and I stopped twice to get a drink, bathroom break and diaper change. I have to tell you it was the best trip, he slept the whole way and when we got ot our destination it was still late/early morning so he slept a bit more. I got to take a nap and a few hours later he was ready to see his Daddy in in a great mood!

Hi K.! Personally what worked for us... is leaving at around 6pm.. that way usually around 9pm they fall asleep, and pretty much stay asleep until the next morning... Good luck :)

I've found my kids are good for about 3.5 hours before they need a break. We also have a DVD player that we use for long trips and it keeps our 3-year-old happy.

Other suggestions:
1)Get each of them a portable MagnaDoodle or AquaDoodle. (I also suggest any toy with buttons/knobs/etc.)
2)I always have a stash of lollipops for when you just need that extra 20 minutes or so.
3)Books are always great.
4)Make sure to bring along plenty of drinks and easy to eat snacks.
5)Games/songs with gestures like Isty Bitsy Spider or Wheels on the Bus, anything they can play or sing along with.
6)Try to plan stops around naps or travel at night if possible. And be prepared that you may just have to stay over-night somewhere.
Hope that's helpful. Good luck on your travels!

For meals, I would recommend trying to stop at McDonald's or someplace where they have those kids' playgrounds. It is a good place to unfrazzle while they burn off some of that excess energy from being cooped up in the car.

Have a safe trip!

my advice would be to start driving close to their bedtime, that way you get a whole bunch of driving done when they are sleeping. yes its harder on you and hubby, but in the long run worth it. I drove by myself with two kiddos, 6 and 7 from california to colorado (about 18 hours) and it went very well that way. I drove right through the night though, dont know if that's something you would want to do? Hope this helps. Good luck :-) I also didn't have much time to get to my destination, so that changes things a bit...Otherwise movies, coloring pages, snacks, car games etc should help some.

We took my son across a couple of states back to Minnesota at the end of last year.

He did great!!!

We started our trip at night so there was not a lot of traffic and Wade slept quite a bit.

My suggestion is not only do you have toys to keep them busy but make sure that you have some other noise in the vehicle, i.e. music or a dvd. Be careful with the dvd/movie. Some kids can get carsick while watching.

Good luck!! :)

I would bring lots of little toys/treats that they haven't seen before--buy new ones or hide existing toys for a few weeks ahead of time. Dole them out as you go, when you see they are getting bored. The DVD will be great, and plenty of stops will also help. They will sleep for part of the time, and hopefully once one goes down, the others will follow! You could also take some music CDs and have a sing-along in the car. Sounds like a barrel of fun; you might want to videotape parts of it if you can manage--it would be a fun family memory when they are older!!

we take a 956 mile trip home (Kansas) to see my parents every summer and have become pretty experienced with traveling with kids...we also have a dvd player (those things are wonderful), but i also pack little activity bags for them with color wonder paper and markers, a dry erase board, glow sticks (for at night) and little toys from the dollar store...we actually take a potty training chair with us in the van for when someone has to go and we're nowhere near a rest area...with bathroom trash bags, paper towels and wipes it all works pretty well...we're able to make the trip in 16 hours and when we stop for gas, everyone gets out to stretch their legs for a bit...i also pack snacks and drinks in a small cooler...we also make sure to go into a restaurant, be it mcd's, wendy's or an actual family restaurant, for supper...i have three kids ages 19 months, 3 (almost 4) and 7 years of age...i've lived here in utah for 9 years, so we've been making these trips for quite awhile :) ...hope this helps or at least gives you a couple of ideas...we do the same thing for our trips to southeastern washington as well.

oh and we never start in the evening..it makes for very grumpy kids (and parents) on the trip for us..first of all because they're not able to sleep comfortably and secondly because their sleep is interrupted whenever we stop for gas..we always start at about 7 or 8am and drive the whole day..when we get to my parents' house they spend a couple of hours winding down and then they're OUT until the next morning....sometimes we split it into two days,but oftentimes that just makes it worse..and we always have pillows and throw blankets for when the kids get sleepy, they can just take a little nap ... it's different for each family, so do what feels right for you :) good luck!

I have two tips that I've found helpful when traveling with wee ones in the past. The first is to stick to their routine as much as possible. Try to keep the same times for meals and naps. When it's naptime, put on some quiet music, read some bedtime stories and dim the stimulus and light from outside as much as possible.
Secondly, go to the dollar store and put together a bag of age appropriate toys/activities for each of your kids and use your goody bag when things start to get rough. You'll be surprised what the novelty of new toys can do and while they may only buy you fifteen or twenty minutes of quiet and calm, at fifty cents a piece, it'll be worth it.