Make travelling with children enjoyable

By Guest | December 29, 2009

Imagine that you’re going to visit your brother. He has moved 400 miles away so the trip will take awhile. You really want the kids to meet their uncle so they are tagging along. The last time they were cooped up in a car that long… well it’s pretty painful to think about that!

Now here comes another round and there is no reason to believe it will be much better. They will get bored and try a bunch of childish tricks to pass the hours. You will get irritated and no one is happy. That pretty well sums it up doesn’t it?

Just remember:

23 of “Are we about there?”

18 of “he hit me again.”

10 of “Can I get something to eat?”

13 of “there’s nothing to do”

If only there were something they could focus on for a while! A little entertainment would work. A portable television might work but there are lots of dead spots along the way. Songs will work but they are too short to keep the young attentions for this many hour journey and reading books just isn’t practical on the bumpy roads.

I’ve got a better solution for you. Find yourself a cd player or even better a mp3 player like an iPod or the like. In late 2006 a SansDisk 2 Gigabyte player cost only 80 dollars. That’s what I’m using. I’ve seen ads for some players as low as ten dollars. Be sure to bring this with you after you do the following:

1. Log on to a on-line audio book store

2. Find some good stories and download them.

3. Plug the mp3 player into the computer.

4. Using a music player, select and sync the audiobooks to the mp3 player.

Some audiobooks are 10 hours or more in length. Now I know that most people will not listen to them straight through, and children’s attention spans do have limits. That’s okay. Actually there are lots of shorter audiobooks. Dramatizations of books may be just an hour or two. Take however much quiet time you can get and enjoy the relative calm.

Now for the big ending. Imagine what just may happen when you end the trip before they complete the story. You’ve got it! Your child may very well just ask you to drive a few more miles. Whether you circle the block a few times or tell them to wait for the return trip is up to you.

Your there now and in your right mind too! You think, “This was certainly better than our last trip.”

Now not everyone will find that this works for them. Go ahead and try it anyway. Who knows how much fun it could be for all. Try a shorter work like “Treasure Island”. It’s fully dramatized and should hold their attention for quite a while.

About the author – Daniel Brown is the father of two active boys. He also operates an on-line audiobook store where you can download children’s audiobooks.

Article kindly provided by UberArticles.com

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