Ah, road trips!
For most of our marriage, our family has lived far from Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Purchasing 6 airline tickets to visit has not been always feasible. Additionally, upon arrival, we needed transportation for our big family. Consequently, my kids were introduced early on the great American Road trip!
Back in the day, much of our preparation was devoted to keeping our small children
entertained so that we could drive peacefully, free of sibling strife and boredom.
I remember vividly on one such trip, using a bungee cord to secure a small TV/VCR combo in place so that our kids could watch Nickelodeon and Disney shows that I had recorded onto a video tape. Just admitting this makes me feel REALLY old.
John and I would keep ourselves entertained by renting audio books on tape from a Cracker Barrell and then exchange it for another at a different Cracker Barrell Restaurant down the road.
Today our tween, teen and adult children are perfectly capable of entertaining themselves on a road trip. Electronics now have advanced way beyond my early parenting days.
Having said that, our objectives in road tripping with our kids have changed. The road trip now is part of the experience.
Being stuck in a mini van or a hotel room is part of the way we connect now.
Over the past several years of having older children, we have found the secret to connection while on road trips happens by adding an element of fun!
To do so, we have not really had to stray too far from the early years.
Let me explain.
Years ago, my friend Caroline mentioned that she creates bags to give her kids when they cross state lines on a road trip. I took that idea and ran with it.
Back when my kids were younger, I took a lunch bag, wrote a state name that we were going through on each bag. When we crossed the state line, the kids got the bag. Inside was usually a fun snack and something from the dollar tree to play with. A note pad and pen, sticky hands to muck up my car, silly putty etc. It was easy and cheap. They looked forward to those state lines.
Today we do the same thing, but the fun item in the bag I try to make a connection item.
I am currently planning a trip to Universal Orlando for Spring Break. Allow me to use this trip as an example of what I mean.
Disclaimer: I have had WAY too much fun theming this trip. You really, really, do not need to get this fancy. This bag idea can be inexpensive and simple, and your old kids will still have fun and you will still be able to sneak in some phone-free time to connect with them.
Ok, back to our trip. We will be driving approximately 17 hours through 4 additional states.
Because we are going to Universal and I could not help myself, bags are Harry Potter themed. You can find them here.
The first state we will enter is Louisiana. When we get to Louisiana, my kiddos will find in the bag, Harry Potter Jelly Slugs and Conversation cards.
We recently discovered the magic of conversation cards! You will find out A LOT of what is going on inside your kids’ brains without drilling them. It is fantastic!
Some of the types of cards we have used share nothing of importance, and that is PERFECTLY fine. The goal is to connect. Who cares if you are debating if you would rather take an ice bath or live in a tent when the temp is 115? It is still solid connection and great memory-making. When you talk about silly things, more sensitive things become easier to talk about too.
We have a slew of cards gifted to us over the years, but for this upcoming trip I bought a new set. The new ones I purchased can be found here.
The next state we will reach is Mississippi! When we cross the state line, our kids will open a bag containing Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans (A Harry Potter Staple) and Harry Potter-themed Mad-Libs, which can be found here.
Who does not love a Mad Lib? What is a Mad Lib you ask?
According to Wikipedia, “Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game which consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud.”
In a nutshell, throw in some fun adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns randomly into a story and voila! you will find the entire car laughing over the results.
We will find ourselves in Mississippi for a brief stint next. The kids will open the next bag to discover Chocolate Frogs and the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer stone DVD (we own this, so that part will be FREE. If you do not own it, you can find it here). Watching a movie all together and not playing individually on our phones may not be a super chatty experience, but it is a time we can all do the same thing at the same time. Well, not the driver, but hey, he/she can still listen in.
I need to note here, that all three candies noted above can be found here in a 3 pack. You can also find them individually if you want to customize the candies to include.
Our final state line will naturally be Florida! Yay! We will pull out the final bag which will contain Harry Potter Pez and a Harry Potter Trivia game. You can find the Pez here and the trivia game here.
The trivia game comes out in the last leg for a couple of reasons. One thing that we do on trips besides the above mentioned is listen to AUDIOBOOKS. The Harry Potter Audiobooks are literally THE BEST! The reader Jim Dale is so engaging. He makes you forget that one person is reading for all the characters.
To get a copy of this for free, you can sign up for audible here.
This state line bag idea can transfer into all sorts of themes. It would work well going to Disney, the Beach, a US landmark and so on.
Where will your next road trip take you? Hopefully, no matter where you go, the end result is closer family ties between you, your tweens, teens and adult-ish children.