If you?re feeling ambitious, you might take your kids on a road trip. You know, for the thrill and adventure of the open road and the memories that come with spending quality family time together. But somewhere along a long stretch of road a child disaster will happen that risks putting a damper on the entire vacation. Be prepared by stocking up on these road trip essentials before you hit the road with kids:
Extra clothes. It?s inevitable that someone will have an accident or spill water all over their sibling. In those cases it?s handy to have an extra set of clothes or easy access to the kids? suitcases, because digging through the entire trunk to find clean shorts on the side of the road just doesn?t sound fun.
Kid-friendly snacks. Get your kids involved in planning the trip and let them pick out a favorite snack to bring. We?ve learned that these special snacks can be great motivation for keeping them happy and quiet.
Trash bag. We all know that the car gets messy on road trips, but by giving the kids their own trash bag to clean up as we go, things end up a lot tidier.
Family-friendly books on tape. The type of books you listen too will change as your kids get older, but we love books like Junie B Jones and Harry Potter. Younger kids might enjoy Dr. Seuss or Berenstein Bear books.
Paper, crayons, and stickers. There are lots of ways to keep your kids entertained in the car, but we like the classics of drawing and playing with stickers. We also challenge our kids to draw things they see out the window as we drive.
Portable DVD player. When things get rough (or when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere), it is great to have a DVD player and a stack of kids? movies.
