What is the "worth it" line

Kristin,

I am trying to read D & D and am getting a weird login message, what is going on? :) Have I missed out on something??

A loyal reader/sometime commentor, Annie

Reply

Sorry I should have also said that I wasn't sure how else to be in touch with you, I hope it was ok to do it on this forum?? :)

Reply

There has to be a 2-adult, 1-kid ratio on car trips, imho. I took a two day drive to Montana with my husband last summer, and I basically rode in back and did a puppet show for my daughter the whole way. Sigh.

Nolan will be snowboarding with the both of you SO soon, hang in there. Unless you have another baby ;-)

Reply

Here's the trick that worked for us, taking Jared to Seattle (from the bay area) when he was two -- You leave late in the evening, preferably either right before dinner (then stop somewhere new and interesting) or way past bedtime (after keeping them up) and they fall asleep in the car. You then drive all night if necessary (we got to Seattle at 8am or so.)

We're going to DisneyLand after New Year's and again, we'll leave late at night, drive for 5-6 hours, pull over and camp, then finish up the last couple of hours in the morning (when it's light out and the kids will have stuff to see.)

Anyway, the key is to do the drive while they're asleep.

Reply

It's a difficult age and three hours is a long time to be locked into a car seat.

Did you try stopping a couple of times?

Other than that, I don't know. Some kids will travel across country happily; others won't travel across town. And of course it's always easier with a second adult along.

Reply

My husband, our 1 year old, two dogs and two cats are moving across the US from Texas to northern Washington state in January. That's 44 hours of driving. In a car. With a 1 year old two dogs and two cats. Jeebus, it better be worth it.

p.s. If passwords are being given out I'd love to keep reading you elsewhere.

Reply

We don't have a car, so any time we rent one to go anywhere I freak out a bit. We did a road trip this summer, but A was only 4 months old, so much much much easier than toddler wrangling.

The destination would have to be very worth it for me to consider doing it alone.

(Also, I'm with Annie. Would love a password if possible. I'm missing my D&D fix!)

Reply

We have done many 2 and 3 hr trips with our 3 yr old and 1 yr old. Some trips have gone relatively smooth, some our 1 yr old screamed her head off for the last 45 minutes (very curvy road, no place to stop) and others fall somewhere in between.

I've never done one of these trips solo, so it makes it easier for one of us to entertain the children. So, I concur that having a partner there is a good criterion. We have a portable DVD player for the 3 yr old - snacks, drinks for both. I usually try to time the trip during nap time and pray they fall asleep.

We're doing a 6-7 hr road trip over the 4th of July. I'm not looking forward to the drive, but on the other hand, the destination should make it worth it.

Reply

We started with trips of ten minutes, and for the first six months they were not worth it. In 2 1/2 years we have worked up to a five hour drive (with several breaks). In a week we are attempting ten (10!!!) I'm trying to convince DH to stop at his parents three hours away the night before to break it up a bit, but he doesn't want to leave right after work Friday. I'm petrified. Neither of us drive well at night, so that's out. Parent Hacks has some good tips and tricks for road trips. Check 'em out- I wrote a few myself.

Reply

I'm chiming in with Annie, all of a sudden there was a login and no way of reaching you for a password! I will be sad if there is no more D&D, although your privacy and security are paramount.

Reply

I was just trying to find a way to contact you and saw this site. I just started reading D & D and was enjoying it; then got the password message.

Reply

I really wish I had not read this....we're leaving at the crack of dawn and doing 10 hours the first day of our trip at Christmas and 2-3 hours the second day. If our trip is anything like your's we're in serious trouble.


Missing your blog too. I hope you'll bring it back. Is it lousy commenters? Moderate 'em, delete 'em, whatever it takes. We miss you!

Reply

My biggest thing was getting used to the idea that the trip wasn't about how fast we could get there. That was my old M.O. My NEW M.O. is to get there with the least amount of screaming kid moments as possible. We just did a trip from central TX to western OK with our 2.5 year old son. It used to be an 8-hour trip; it was a 10.5 hour trip this time.

The key is to stop whenever he needs to stop (about every hour or two) and let him play. McDonald's is a great place if they have an indoor playscape. We would let him run around for 20 minutes or so, then get back on the road.

We also invested in a $100 portable DVD player with a car adapter. Best money we've ever spent, since he LOVES Elmo and the Wiggles. Plus, I wouldn't let him watch any videos for the week before we left, so he was excited to see them.

Reply

We've gone on many roadtrips with our son (he's now 2 1/2). They usually work just fine. If it's just a few hours we try to schedule it around his naptime so he'll sleep for a good chunk of time. We've been on many all day and 2-3 day trips as well. We bring toys and snacks that he's not used to and stop every 60-90 minutes so that he can run around.

Good luck next time.

Reply

My son is now 21 months old and over the last year and a half we have made three trips from Houston to Mobile which is somewhere between 8-9 hours. I have a built in DVD player in my minivan which with a stack of baby einsteins has been a life saver. I usually make 2-3 stops to let him run around briefly. I carry lots of snack and beverages with me. At home he usually takes a 3 hour nap but for some reason in the car he won't sleep for longer than an hour so I'd be terrified of doing the drive at night.

Reply

We have always taken big trips with our children. We are getting ready for a 12 hour trek at the holidays with our 7 and 2 1/2 year old kids. Our youngest took her first big trip at 3 months. That wasn't fun, we had to stop every 2 1/2 hours to breastfeed!

Anyway, they rae really just used to it by now. I bring a lot of activities - coloring, books, car toys. It is also the age of technology and we travel with the evil DVD player!

I didn't try a solo trip until my son was 3 1/2 - those are a little rough because you have to pull-over to properly take care of their needs.

Reply

I have only attempted a trip once..it was a 3 1/2 hour long (I mean LONG) trip...we rode with my grandparents..so as my 1 year old screamed the entire way there..my grandfather repeatedly asked if he was hungry,tired,or just pitching a fit...I had no idea of the answer..he just wouldn't stop crying,and the moment we stopped at our destination..he quit and went back to his happy,content self. Thankfully, we left at nap time on the way back and had a realtively nice trip home...I will only try this in a serious emergency...at least until he can occupy himself for longer than 5 minutes :)

Reply

My son was 2 in the spring and we do road trips pretty regularly- this summer it was to go camping but we usually visit family at easter or thanksgiving, etc. Road trips are usually 3-5 hours for us (if you drove straight, but we stop so more like 4-6 hours).

I usually go and buy a couple little toys or take things like measuring spoons even that I think he would like to play with. Books on tape are good too. We stop every 2 hours, approximately and if the weather is nice we will take him to a playground or campground so he can run around and play for a bit. We don't use a DVD player but most of my friends wouldn't travel without one.

Reply

We`ve actually never had any trouble with road trips. We take a good 5 hour drive to the grandparents` once every month or two, and my son (2 and 3 months) never puts up much of a fight about it. In fact, we always find the trips remarkably peaceful. My son will either look out the window or sleep. We often do the drive in one chunk - no stops along the way - without any difficulties. (Of course I feed and give him a drink, but as we`re driving.) It`s the same whether it`s just to two of us or if my husband is along. With food it just takes a little more preparation if it`s the two of us. (Small two or three bite non-messy things that I can hand him one by one while driving.)
I guess it really just depends on the personality of your child. We love road trips, and took an 8 hour one (including stops!) 2 months ago - with not a whimper from my son.

Reply

Yes to road trips! What helped me enormously was renting an RV on the 800-mile trip to Grandma's with my twin 2-year-olds! I had plenty of room inside to let the twins out to run around at rest stops, plus a full fridge and bathroom and all the comforts of home! We had a few periods of crying, naturally, but that goes with the territory.

Reply