Long car journeys with a 2 year old

[chelseamorning]

We've just come back from a holiday in Northumberland and found that DS (22 months) was getting pretty bored in the back of the car, poor thing. We stopped every 1.5-2 hours so that he could run around a bit. However, we couldn't seem to engage him in playing with his favourite cars etc or reading his books. I know we were pretty fed up of travelling by the time we arrived home so we had a lot of sympathy for him!

How do you/would you help to ease the pain of long car journeys for little ones?

Also, can anyone please recommend suitable toys for our DS to play with on long car journeys?

Muchas!

p.s Re: toys, preferably ones that are easy to hold, or easy for me to pick up from the floor when I'm in the front seat!

I would be careful re books, some people start to feel sick very quickly if looking down.

If he has a regular sleep, try to travel within that time.

Offer a snack that takes a while to eat.

When he gets a bit bigger, (or even now) consider a car dvd player. We are getting one for Christmas. If you do a lot of driving/travelling this would probably help a lot.

Thanks onepieceoflollipop!

I know what you mean about reading/sickness -been there myself! At his age, he just flicks through the cars and tractors and then grunts at me to give him another book!! However I'll be careful with this one in the future as sickness is the last thing we need!

We tried the snack thing which worked a treat.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the DVD player idea. He doesn't watch much telly so that could be a great way of occupying him and keeping long journeys special.

Oh yes I forgot about the Cds as well. There are some dreadful singalong type ones - try mothercare, elc etc. Just take earplugs for yourself.

I'm curious to know what time of the day you would normally start your long journeys, Starlight.

As for nursery rhymes, if I hear 'The wheels on the bus' one more bloomin' time...

i travelled from kent to wales during the summer with my 2 yr old. i found that waking her up early in the morning meant she slept a couple of hours in the morning meaning i made it about half way before stopping.
before we stopped she ate cereal bars and fell asleep munching them. when she woke we stopped for lunch. then spent the next couple of hours playing games shouting out horse- cow sheep-lorry whatever very loudly whenever she seemed to get bored. this amused her greatly and all i could hear was dd shouting random words at me from the back seat and ds sat next to me giggling at her.
also a mystery box is great. i put a box of toys next to her on the back seat which she could reach into full of different toys books, emptying and filling the box was lots of fun for her. she also does this at home with bags.
the last hour was the worse, she found a new game shouting "toilet" every couple of miles so we stop she could get out the car seat walk into a petrol station and say "wee wee gone now it ok"

Some good tips, dylsmum.

Anyone travelled in the evening or during the night to make a long journey into a quicker one? We thought about travelling back from Northumberland (to Bucks) after DS's supper but couldn't face getting home after midnight. zzzzzzz

If I travel to my parents (so Surrey to Liverpool about 4 hours) w DD (now 21mths) I usually leave about 7 with the idea that she'll sleep in the car. That generally works although it's taking longer for her to nod off and i have to listen to an In the night garden cd on loop.........

We're off to Devon though tomorrow, can't get into cottage until 4, so we'll be driving through the day, and I'm really dreading it

Crossed messages, Starlight.

I think we'll try travelling late on our next long trip, assuming we're not too tired ourselves. Might also try keeping him up late the night before too.

Yes, DS loves his nursery rhymes and will often shout from the back when we try to play our own music - bless! He has recently listened to Radiohead and Joni Mitchell so perhaps he's developing his tastes a little.

thefunkypea i did that journey with my dd one week before her second birthday. before the cd player was knicked out my car, we had her wheels n the bus cd playing on a loop the whole time.- reminds me must replace that when i get a new cd player for the car- it was in the old one when it was stolen

i've not travelled late at night on a long journey sincce i was pregnant with dd and i nearly drove into the back of my dad (who i was following). i get far too tired to risk a long journey at night