Driving can present many challenges over time, but few can be trickier than travelling at distance with children in the car.
If you have a family and find driving with children irritable then it can be a nightmare that you worry about weeks ahead of any journey.
If you’re heading out on a long drive, perhaps on holiday, then it can get your vacation off to the worst possible start.
You need to find a way of entertaining the children, or at least passing as much of the journey without problem as possible.
The problem is that children will often be excited with the prospect of jumping in the car and going somewhere, particularly if you’re off on holiday or heading for a fun day out.
However, the longer the journey goes on, the more tense it can become with kids becoming bored and parents getting frustrated and tired.
You’ll be pleased to know that, despite the difficulties of driving with kids, there are endless ways in which you can keep them entertained to make driving with them much easier.
Our guide has been created as a bit of a brainstorm for you.
We’ve driven with children in the car and we’ve also spoken to lots of other people who have gone through this.
All of the experience and information we have gathered has been put together in to this guide to hopefully make your next journey with kids easier than your last one.
Our step-by-step guide will consist of all of our tips for mastering driving with children.
As for the rest of this page, we’ve kept things consistent by using our usual layout.
The sections in this guide are split in to the following sections:
Here are some steps to take which can help you master driving with children.
Travel At Night:
A great tip to consider is to try and travel at night time where possible.
If the children are in the car at a time when they’re tired and would usually be sleeping then ordinarily they’re likely to just fall asleep pretty quickly.
This allows you to cover a considerable amount of distance without any hassle at all.
Take Regular Breaks:
It’s a really good idea to take regular breaks throughout your journey.
Short stops after short periods of time help keep the kids in a better mood and allow them to burn off energy.
This means their mood will be better in the car and everyone’s journey will be much better as a result!
Take Some Entertainment:
A really important piece of advice is to make sure you pack some fun and games for the children during the journey.
Keeping them entertained is vital.
This can be anything from some small travel games, books, to colouring or even their favourite games on their tablet.
Anything which they enjoy and can keep them occupied will help you to focus on the driving!
Take Some Drinks & Snacks:
Another great thing to have when you’re on a long drive is some sweets or healthy snacks.
The kids will love them, so not only does it keep them occupied but it also gives them some motivation for being good just in case the journey gets tiring and rowdy!
Take Some Audio Books
Finally, another great tip for keeping children entertained on journeys is to pack some audiobooks that you can play in the car so everyone can listen to the story together.
In addition to the steps above, we’ve also got a couple more things which are worth considering ahead of a journey with children.
Planning The Journey Is A Family Event:
Planning any trip can take a lot of work, but if you include the children in some of the planning it can make everything much more fun, which will carry through to the driving itself.
Get the map out ahead of time and show the children where the journey will take them – are there any little stop-offs you can do, or anything that kids spot that they can watch out for en-route?
Maybe even an old-fashioned game of eye-spy can come as a result of getting them involved ahead of time.
Make The Journey Part Of The Fun:
The aim of all of the guidance in this article is to try and make the journey part of the fun.
If you’re off on holiday, then treat the journey as part of the holiday.
Wear some comfortable clothing if possible, have some fun games and activities lined up along the way, maybe even plan a picnic stop halfway down?
Anything which can keep things light-hearted and fun will help.
Mastering driving with children is tricky, but putting a little bit of thought and time in ahead of the journey really will make it so much more bearable.
However, regardless of which fun activities you pack for the kids, safety is always the most important thing.
Never let your children move seats while the car is in motion and ensure they are always seat-belted in.
If they are using tablets, for example, ensure the attachments to the seat are secure so they do not fall off mid-journey.
This could injure them, or just cause them to want to scurry around on the floor of the car trying to reach it back.
Mastering driving with children is tricky, but putting a little bit of thought and time in ahead of the journey can really help you make things less painful and more fun.
If the kids are prepared, part of the planning process and have enough to keep them occupied, then it can be a lot more fun than you’d otherwise expect it to be!
Finally, enjoy it!
At the end of the day, a journey in the car is actually some great family time.
If it’s organised well enough, it can be memorable for all the right reasons!