Claustro-Phonophobia: Tips on Traveling with Children

It's summer time!  Time to lather on the sunscreen, hit the lakes and beaches, take walks... and plan vacations that involve long rides in the car with screaming children.  I don't think there is a word for this experience so I have made one up:

Claustro-Phonophobia- Fear of loud noises in small spaces.

I suffer from this.  There is nothing that can get my eye twitching like a screaming or whiney child in a car.  It grates on me and I slowly come unraveled.

I don't really consider myself an expert on anything.  Parenting is nothing like I expected and much of what I have learned has come by trial and error.  But I have traveled A LOT with children.  So much so I have been asked on more than one occasion if I was crazy.  In one long (but fun and eventful) summer we traveled 116 hours, 6,000 miles, and crossed 30 states in a 2 month period.  Oh, and we had a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 7 month old in the car.  We've made another across country trip with two of our kids ages 1 and 2 at the time.  We've made countless one day drives in the past seven years as well.

I have learned a thing or two in that time.   But the most important thing I have learned is road trips can be really fun with even the youngest of children (you just called me "crazy," didn't you).  Seriously, don't stop reading!  Here are a few of the tips I have learned to make traveling a fun and relatively whine/cry- free experience...

1.  Get them excited!  Talk about the trip with your kids (if they are old enough).  Do some plan-ahead research and find some things they will see on the way.  They will anticipate each site even if you are only driving by.

2. Buy a map.  I got this map and every time we crossed a new state the kids got to put a sticker on (we would wait until the next stop to put it on and the kids would take turns).  The best part is you can reuse it for each trip and the kids can keep track of all the states they've been in.

3.  This one is pricy but is possibly the greatest invention short of antibiotics in the past 100 years: The automobile DVD player.   You'll take a hit with the initial purchase but you will hopefully have it for years to come.

4. Baby entertainment.  For young babies who can't eat snacks, there's not a whole lot to do.  I usually reach back and hand them a toy if they can hold onto things.  I keep a small bag of little baby toys and hand them a new toy each time they drop them into the new area of your car you didn't know existed.  Baby mirrors that attach onto the back of the seat are great.  Things that make noise and have a remote control (that particular toy works great if they are rear facing because you control the remote and forward facing because they control the remote). Also, this and this. And this is great so your older baby or toddler can't lose their sippy cup or bottle.  If they can eat snacks, I prefer Mum Mums because they dissolve in their mouth and are not a choking hazard but they take awhile to eat. And it goes without saying, make the most of your stops so you are stopping as little as possible (i.e., change diaper, feed and let baby stretch during each stop.  And don't stop if baby is sleeping... no matter how bad you have to go to the bathroom).

5.  Kid/Toddler entertainment.  My 5 and almost 7 year old like to play video games.  My 2 1/2 year is entertained by each device for all of two minutes.  Fun Pockets are great because they stick to the scenery without being sticky.  Magnetic Books are great for the same reason.  Obviously no one can buy this kind of stuff for one trip. I have come upon most of this stuff at garage sales or have accumulated stuff over time. If you have two kids sitting next to each other this is a great way to store everything.  I put all their entertainment, including coloring books and crayons and their water in there.  aquadoodles are great entertainment without making the mess as well as Color Wonder books and markers.

6.  Comfort.  Uncomfortable kids make for cranky kids.  We bought our kids these a long time ago to ease the long amount of time in a car seat.

7.  Snacks, Snacks, Snacks.  Each day of travel I pack a brown paper bag full of snacks for the kids to eat at their own discretion.

8.  CD's.  Not just music cd's (Those are great too).  Try books on tape.  You can even check them out at the local library.  It gives them something to follow without starring at a screen.

9.  Presents!  Everybody loves to unwrap a gift.  I am going to wrap a present for each day of the trip and I will give it to them at the "half way" point each day.  That will give them something to look forward to as well as a boost of energy for the second half of the trip.  Again, I have picked up a lot of this stuff at garage sales.  Buy a toy for a quarter at a garage sale, wrap it up, and you buy an hour in the car.

10.  Pack separate suitcases for each day you are staying at a hotel.  There is nothing more frustrating and tiring then hauling all your luggage into a hotel you are only staying one night at.  Pack a separate, smaller suitcase with all the stuff you and your family will need for that night.  If you are staying at more than one hotel, pack a small luggage bag for each night and carry a small back pack with all the stuff that will need to be used at every hotel like toiletries, pajamas, bathing suit.  That way you don't have to worry about transferring stuff over to the next suitcase. So, you are walking into the hotel with a backpack and a small suitcase and maybe a few small items like a purse, computer, etc..

                               Most important, don't forget to take pictures and have fun.

                                          You'll always remember your vacations!

                     We will be traveling for three days (24 driving hours) this summer

                                              with a 6, 5, 2 yo and 4 month old.

Moving On

I think a common misconceived notion is that if I work hard enough or have the right amount of faith, no troubles will come my way.  God blesses the righteous and to hell with everyone else.  This is simply unbiblical and not true.  Ask Job.  If anything, God calls the Christian to a life of crosses and a certain amount of suffering.  This is not to say the Lord does not take absolute delight in blessing His children. 

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  -Matthew 7:9-11

I can attest to this verse.  In my short lived life, God has blessed me and my family beyond measure.  I cannot tell you how many times the car broke down or something came up and the Lord provided.  But we have endured a certain amount of suffering as well.  I won't get into the details but I think we can all agree every person does suffer.  But the reality is people do not suffer because they lack faith.  They suffer because we live in a fallen and sinful world.  And no amount of faith is going to change that.  Believer and unbeliever alike, we all suffer, we all are disappointed at times, we all experience heart break.   I have never lost a child.  I'd imagine that is one of the worst things that could happen to a person.  I've never been physically persecuted for my faith or had a crippling illness.  I don't know why I have been spared (thus far) in my life from certain calamities but I can tell you it is not because of me.  I do know I am not exempt from such tragedies.  These life altering events happen everyday.  If I am ever faced with such a crises I pray God would give me the grace to persevere.  The Christian cannot/ must not ever boast of their own works.  We are sinners and apart from God's grace we are nothing.  The difference for the Christian boils down to one phrase: hope in Christ.  Our hope is not in this fallen and decaying world.  The Rev. Lamb so rightly spoke when he said we must not look to the god of death for life.  We so desperately try to keep these fragile and feeble bodies of ours going because we believe this life is our hope.  That is why we turn to abortion, assisted suicide, stem cell research, and the like.  We look to death to ease our suffering.  But friends, take heart!  We were created by the God of life!  There is hope from the pain, the heart break, and the suffering.  God has given us His one and only Son to die on our behalf so that we could live!   Life!  That is what our God gives us.  That is who our God is.  That is why He tells us to eat and drink of His life giving body and blood while still on this earth.  That is why we can look past this earth and declare with the saints, This is not it!  There is so much more!  There is the kingdom of heaven that waits for all those who believe! Hope, my friends!  Don't ever give up this hope.