If you are traveling for the holidays, you might be preparing for a long road trip with your toddlers like I am. Road trips with young babies and toddlers are challenging for so many reasons. How do you work around naps, what can you bring to keep toddlers entertained, and how can you prepare to deal with inevitable upsets while confined inside a vehicle?

Heather and I have outlined five of our best tips and tricks to help you get ahead of these common road trip struggles.

**Listen to the full podcast episode here, or read on for the insights

Tip #1: Break the trip up into chunks

As you are planning ahead, if your drive is very long, you might want to break it into two smaller chunks and stay the night somewhere, especially if you don’t want to be driving in the night. Depending on your driving endurance and how well your toddlers do sitting in the car for long periods of time, it might be better to have two shorter days of driving rather than one very long, grueling day on the road.

Even on shorter drives, it is helpful to break up the drive with one or two longer stops to stretch and eat a snack or a meal. About every two hours it is good to let everyone out of the car for a stretch break, but making one longer stretch and walk break about halfway through the drive can really help keep everyone from feeling too cooped up.

Tip #2: Plan out when to leave with nap schedules in mind  

You can plan the ideal time to start your drive taking into account your toddlers sleep schedule.

For shorter drives, you can plan to run around and play in the morning, eat a good lunch, and leave right before their midday nap so they are able to sleep well in the car for the first few hours. Even toddlers who have dropped their nap may still take a nap again during a road trip, lulled to sleep by the movement and white noise of the car.

If your drive is longer, taking a longer stop for lunch and finding a place for your toddlers to get out some energy may help them still take a midday nap in the second half of your drive.

• A note about car naps: If your toddler does fall asleep in the car, try not to stop the car unless you absolutely need to or it’s been more than two hours and its time for others to have a food, stretch, or potty break. The reason for this is because the change in motion from driving to stopped may wake your toddler up. Some toddlers are more sensitive to this than others, and in general younger toddlers seem to be affected by this change more than older toddlers.
• Tips:
  • Keep tabs on your gas tank and if it is low fill up right before nap time.
  • Plan for a long highway stretch, if possible during nap time.
  • Get an E-ZPass so you don’t have to stop for tolls. One of my common road trip routes includes a toll road right in the middle of the day and a few too many times my toddlers have just fallen asleep when we all of a sudden had to come to a stop to pay the toll, which of course woke them up. I finally got an E-ZPass and since then have been able to avoid having to come to a complete stop right in the middle of nap time.

Tip #3: Find safe, all in one rest stop areas

When you do stop, find a spot that is safe, has good bathrooms, and that maybe has picnic benches or an indoor food court and space to walk and run around. When we road trip in the warmer months, we love to pack a picnic lunch or take a drive through meal to a nearby playground or state park just off our route. In the colder months, we look for an indoor food court where we can get food, walk around, and stay warm.

• Note about car safety: Even if you are just stopping briefly, make sure you never leave your toddler in the car unattended when it is off. The inside of the car can heat up or cool down quickly which is very dangerous for a young toddler.

Tip #4: Have a plan for preferred toys, activities, music, or shows to bring for the drive

There are many great options for car safe activities to bring, songs or books to listen to, and even games to play with your toddlers on long car rides to make the experience more fun for everyone.

• Magnetic pieces or puzzles: Anything magnetic is great for the car because the pieces stick to a board and are then less likely to fall everywhere and get lost in the car.
• Window clings or suction toys: When my second son went on his first long road trip he loved a suction spinning toy we brought that stuck to the window. You can also find sticky window clings that peel off easily or other suctioning toys that might be fun to play with on the windows.
• Mess free drawing: Doodle boards and drawing pads, either magnetic or colored, are a great mess free drawing option, as are On the Go Water Wow books where your toddler can paint with water to reveal the colors underneath.
• Activity boards and books: There are many different activity boards you can find that have matching activities, magnetic mazes, or all kinds of zippers, threading, and buckles to try. Books to listen to (on a device that they can control like a Yoto Player or played from the car speakers) or books they can look at and have read to them are great as well.
• Songs and games: You can sing along to your favorite songs or play classic games like eye-spy out the car window as well as any fun made-up games like count the number of red cars or spot the construction vehicles.

Tip #5: Don’t forget the comfort items and essentials

Make sure to bring favorite snacks, any diapering or potty essentials, changes of clothes, and sleep gear from home.

• Having lots of your toddler’s favorite snacks will help pass the time in the car. I have found that it’s hard to stop right at normal eating times and since the food we get on the road is not always that familiar and they may not eat much of it anyways, having familiar alternatives has helped us avoid overly hungry toddlers.
• Having a small portable potty stowed in the backseat or the trunk has come in handy with my toddlers who are potty training because a bathroom stop is not always near when nature calls.
• If your toddler has a favorite blanket or stuffed animal, bringing them in the car might help them feel comfortable, especially during nap time, as well as a few favorite books.
• If your destination does not have a crib or toddler bed, don’t forget to bring a portable crib or travel blow up toddler bed as well as any sound machine or monitor you use at home.

I hope these tips help you as you plan to navigate your next long trip with toddlers! And if you find yourself needing more parenting tools and support, sign up for the free Transform Aggressive Toddler Behavior and Tantrums Guide and Workshop here!

Hi! I’m Dabney, mom to three boys in three years! I found Heather through her podcast while searching for tools to help my own toddler’s aggressive outbursts and button pushing behaviors. Few voices in the parenting world address how to manage the intensity of these toddler behaviors when you have not just one but two or more children with you.

Enter Heather, an educator for ten years turned twin mom of two boys with stories and strategies that highlighted how to manage these hard moments while also being outnumbered. I participated in her Transform Aggressive Toddler Behavior and Tantrums Workshop and Cohort and found her strategies simple and effective. Not only is my parenting better for it, but I am growing in my confidence along this journey collecting tools along the way.