When my kids started spitting at each other in the backseat, I knew it was time to pull over for a break. We were driving from Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota to Minneapolis and we had been in the car for two hours. But where could we stop? We were in the middle of nothingness just south of Motley (pop. 585) where the attractions were open pastures, farms, and industrial buildings. That's when I noticed the grassy field with dozens of sprinklers spewing across it. "Pull over!" I told my husband.
I stripped the kids down and put them in their swimsuits and we ran wildly through the sprinklers on what turned out to be a airstrip next to the Trident Seafoods plant.
Stop every two hours--that's my No. 1 tip when road tripping with kids. Pull off at a rest stop for a game of tag, park in a small town to grab an ice cream cone, track down an elementary school with a jungle gym--this is the key to keeping children sane in the car. Out in the middle of nothingness? Run through the sprinklers, of course.
Does your family take time to stop on long road trips? What are your tricks and tips?
1 comments:
We don't stop if the kids are being good. Some days they need more breaks than others. When we drove from Wisconsin to Ohio, 10-11 hours, we only stopped twice and had a really nice day in the car. Other days we need to stop every hour, it seems!
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