SING: Both of my kids like it when I sing their songs. (And helped me get to my “mental goal” stops – huge parent win) I hoarded those two for when they both were having a fit simultaneously. I grabbed a little bit of everything, including 2 things my kids will be very quiet for: Chocolate Chip Cookies & Gummy Candy. Since we had NO snacks left from our horrendous travel day the day before, we had to stock up. SNACKS: We skipped breakfast before getting our rental car because I knew I was going to stop at Buccees outside of Houston. Only 2 or 3 times did we absolutely HAVE to pull off when I wasn’t ready. I was surprised at how quickly the time passed when I set, then met these goals. Get to Mile 175 before stopping, get to the nearest Starbucks before I pull over to find one of 5 pacifiers my son threw, get AT LEAST 25 miles down the road before we stop for Charletta to pee – again, etc. SO, to keep me from pulling over and saying “I quit” – I set mental goals. MENTAL EXERSICE: Kids can break you down mentally. I was very surprised at how short of a time they cried when I just turned my music up and ignored it. I tried to comfort as much as I could from my driver seat, handed back snacks/drinks, handed back a lost pacifier or lovey, but mostly I just had to let them cry.
I forced myself to accept this as soon as our wheels started moving and did not get upset when they fussed. THEY ARE GOING TO CRY: Whether they are crying for snacks, crying out of tiredness, crying for water or just crying to cry - they are going to cry. They actually sat and watched a couple movies entirely with minimal fuss. MOVIES: Since I was alone with these two small humans and we had NO books & our toy stash was a whopping 3 plastic animal figurines (remember when I said all we had was our backpack? And we were supposed to go home on a PLANE and not in a CAR?), I turned on our iPad and shoved it between the two front seats for the kids to watch. Latham napped about 30 minutes after this stop – a HUGE win. I ran with them and told them to chase me and then pretended I was going to “get them” and they took off running. We also stopped at a rest stop just inside the Mississippi line and I let the kids RUN. I highly suggest this as a go-to stop for young kids because you can eat/relax while they go crazy and get the jitters out. We didn’t even eat there if I am being honest….just went to the play place and let them run free. PLAY & RUN: I stopped a little more than half way at Chick-Fi-La to let the kids play in the play place. She handed the cup back about 90 seconds after I gave it to her and it was completely empty. I gave my 2 year old a 9oz cup of half apple juice and half water with the warning “Do not chug this, just take sips” - well, she was directly behind me in her carseat and knew I couldn’t reach the cup. LIMIT LIQUIDS: Don’t get me wrong, let your kids drink water, but don’t make the rookie mistake I did. With a potty trained 2-year-old, we stopped so many times for her to pee. Let me put it like this: between Mississippi and getting home (14 miles into Florida) – we stopped 4 times. (can you see my Type A shining through?) However, this time….we stopped. Seriously, I hate stopping because I just want to get where I am going. I will starve, dehydrate or stretch my bladder to its absolute max before considering a stop. A LOT: When I travel alone, I almost refuse to stop. Being reasonable upfront helped me better cope with all the delays and extra potty stops along the way.īE PREPARED TO STOP. We left at 10:03 AM and arrived sometime between 8:30 & 9 PM. The GPS claimed 8 hours, 3 minutes from our hotel. BE REALISTIC ABOUT TRAVEL TIME: I was very honest with myself about how long it would take.
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