stayin' alive ... traveling with kids

 My kids were pretty good at amusing themselves on car trips.

My son's blog posts on his memories of growing up under my wings have stirred up some memories of my own ... particularly about traveling with kids.

We took to the road often. I think the earliest trip was David's first Christmas, in 1983. He wasn't yet three months old but he traveled beautifully from Florida to my brother's home in Atlanta. David was a laid-back little guy, though Bill and I took a photo of him screaming while in Atlanta because we'd never seen him carry on so.

Our family rapidly grew from one little traveler to four. Then things got interesting. Thankfully, time has a way of smoothing the edges off the most extreme travel memories, because I remember most with fondness.

We acquired our first mini-van in 1986. It was - and is - the best invention known to moms, mainly because it put distance between parents and kids, and each other. On trips with with both parents, the phrase "do you want me to come back there?" was no threat because I DID "go back there." I was plenty limber, and at a moment's provocation I'd bound over teddy bears, cheerios, blankets and coloring books to "clear the air" in the far corners of our van. Some dads are impervious to the shenanigans that go on back there. But I wasn't.

My sister will remember this. She had bravely road-tripped with the two boys and me to Florida from Ohio, and Dan commenced a piercing scream on the beltway around Atlanta. After 30 miles, Anne discovered a solid little something in Dan's diaper. It's the little things that can put a damper on trips.

A mayonnaise jar makes a handy potty on the go ... for boys.

I found the kids to be calmer and better-behaved if only one parent was in the car. Maybe they instinctively knew that their lives were at greater risk if they distracted the driver. I took full advantage of this and made some outlandish solo trips with the four kids. Craziest of all was Ohio to Rhode Island to the Outer Banks when the kids were ages 2 - 8. Yeah, insane. We skirted north of New York City, wowed by the skyline. And on the Connecticut turnpike, we encountered a power outage at a rest stop. Katie, age 2, screamed hysterically in the dark bathroom stall with me.

I never put up with screaming in the car, however. I'd just pull off the road and sit until they got quiet. "Can't drive when you're screaming." It always worked. Kids, whether they're enjoying the trip or not, don't like to waste time at the side of the road.

Assigned seats. Yes. I really did. Tired of endless bickering over who sat where (and usually on normal errands about town), I devised a seating chart. Each seat was numbered and each child was assigned a seat number, rotating to a new one each week. Sounds extreme, but it worked. Pretty sure I still have that seating chart somewhere.

We did without videos to entertain the kids on car trips: the technology didn't exist. But books did. And small toys, Cheerios (lots of those), crayons, puzzle books, "Brain Quest," guessing games, pillows for napping, songs and lots of good, fun conversations. I think I really got to know my kids while riding in the car. 

The monster of all road trips occurred in summer 1998 when we journeyed 5300 miles to Montana and back.

That, dear friends, is another blog post.

I'm sure you have some notable travel memories, either as a child or parent!