14 hour car trip! HELP!!!!

[AFWife]

Due to the TSA crap we've elected to drive instead of fly. The baby is pretty easy to deal with (keep him clean and fed...done) but my spirited toddler is going to be a problem. We don't have a portable DVD or anything so that's out. Is it just lots of snacks and toys and frequent stops? (We'll have to stop to feed the baby anyway...) HELP!

[caenach]

We've never gone quite as long as 14 hours--but we did a 10 hour trip this year with DD (who was a little over 2 at the time).

DD is not a great traveler, to be honest. She required pretty much constant entertainment/nursing and did not sleep nearly as much as desired. Hopefully that won't be the case for you!

We did have a portable DVD player this time, since we learned our lesson over the course of several trips. But we've done without.

Yeah, pretty much lots of toys and frequent stops. And LOTS of incessant toddler conversation.

I try to bring a decent assortment of snacks in easy-to-access/cleanup containers. I stay away from sugar/carbs in the car, as much as possible.
 

Lots of books. Lots of DD's favorite music CDs/playlists. DD loves some kinds of story/songs--like Peter & the Wolf, Abiyoyo...so, although I've never done it, I think some books-on-cd might work for her.

What else? Sticker books/coloring books? My mom gave us a bunch of those little wooden sewing cards where you string yarn through them, but sadly, DD wasn't interested. Maybe big beads to string or pipe cleaners to twist? Our Magna-Doodle is also popular. We would not survive without her puppets in the car.

My plan is always to do as much driving as humanly possible late, late at night when DD is asleep. DH and I do not wholly agree on this strategy, since he hates to drive at night. But. Trust me. I'm right. :p

And I pack up different games/snacks/items in little "packages" that I can pull out individually, every few hours, to change things up.

Hope you have a good trip!

[AFWife]

The plan is to start driving at 4am...like, don't even change him out of PJs or his nighttime diaper and just GO! We're hoping he sleeps the first few hours. He isn't easy to entertain outside of the car so I'm a bit worried...

[angela67j]

We have gone on two car trips....12 hours we broke up in 6 hour days and an 8 hour trip last week. Most night driving. We stop in cities with a store like target and let lo play and push cart....which on a normal trip to the store is not encourged or a pet store is a great mini zoo for a young traveler. Some fast food places have play areas....if you could wipe down the whole play area . If you are not in a hurry you could plan a fun stop for your LO to blow off steam at a bounce house place or something special like that. I had fish puppets that I put on a show with....big hit. About an hour of fun...which is HUGE! I don't have a DVD player either only because LO does not care for tv. We had a iPod full of her songs. Snacks in different containers that had different ways of getting the snacks out...used food containers I started to collect awhile back just for this occasion. A bag of strange items string, funny feeling ball, big smooth rock, snow globe....I did a lot of interacting with each iteam. hope you are not in a hurry and are able to make some fun stops along the way. Thing I found the hardest was when LO was sleeping our rule was go go go no stopping when sleeping...which always seemed to be when I would have to pee