Ideas for a Long Car Ride

We don't do road trips over 2 hours HOWEVER, our neighbors with 3 girls under 6 do it all the time.

They leave at bedtime for the children and drive all night. The girls sleep. They swear by this method. They are gone every holiday/break to NC or CO or further.

Good luck

A portable DVD player with entertaining DVDs! I know some parents are opposed, but we got one for our girls for long car trips only and it is a boredom buster for them and a sanity saver for my husband and me. We limit it, though. Since your son is so young and can't really read or do activities yet, I would suggest getting a bag full of new and exciting things he can play with that are age and car appropriate. Ration out the items to last for the whole trip (including the trip home). Also, snacks are good to keep him happy. Take a break at least every 2 hours to let him out and stretch his legs and walk some if he is walking. Bring a blanket to cover him in the car in case the AC is too chilly for him. Of course bring anything he is really attached to. Good luck!

Have a great trip! We used to pack up the car the night before and then set the alarm early (around 3:30 in the morning) Then we would wake up the kids and put them in the car (or put them in the car sleeping-all belted in). It was usually easy to get them back to sleep since it was dark and the car was moving. Then I would wake them up at their normal time and we were already several hours down the road. Then the trip didn't seem quite so long to them. We usually stopped for a rest stop soon after they awoke and let them run around little. I always carry water, cheerios, easy to snack on food to provide if they were hungry before we stopped. Sometimes, if rest stops were limited, we would plan to stop and gently wake the kids up. The other ideas of what to do while the kids are awake were terrific.

Yes, DVD players are good, but I'm not sure at 14 months they will keep his interest that long. Don't give him too many toys at once, little at a time. Also, plan on stopping, there are some really nice rest areas. During the daytime I know it makes the trip longer, but let him get out and play, wear him out as much as possible. Now you probably think I'm a bad parent, but I had to go to Illinois with my 2 year old, and we stopped at Family Dollar store, he picked out this kid chain saw that made noise, he LOVED it, it kept him quiet for hours at a time. When we made the trip back, he was given a car thing, that has the steering wheel and has a horn to beep, you know the play set... well that worked good with his chain saw on the ride back. I also tried to do most of the driving when he was sleeping.
Enjoy the ride, you'll talk about it for years!

Things that make noise are always good. I kept a bag of stuff in the front seat--things that were either new or hadn't been seen in a while. Whenever my kids started getting fussy I would get something new out. Also, if you have a portable DVD player things like Baby Einstein might keep his attention.