Children on Board: Tips For a Safe and Fun Family Road Trip

The temperatures are just right to load up the car, grab the kids, and hit the road. There’s so much of this great world to see, and exploring it with your family creates memories of a lifetime. If this is your first time traveling by car with your children, however, you’ll need to do a little extra prepping. A long car ride with multiple children in the car, if not properly planned for, can result in anything from sibling fights to a disabled car on the side of the road. 

Our Roadtrip to Tennessee and Kentucky

How can you make sure you and your family have a fun and safe road trip? Simple, just follow this advice below. 

Safety First

Above all else, as parents, you want to keep your kids safe. Safety should be a priority when planning a road trip as there are a lot of things that could go wrong as you’re driving along. From a flat tire to an accident, you want to make sure you’re prepared. Here are a few road trip safety tips:

• Have the car serviced- before getting on the road have your mechanic inspect and repair any damage to your vehicle. Let them know you’ll be going on a road trip so they can ensure your car can handle the distance. 

• Check your insurance - make sure that you are fully insured before your next road trip. If you are in an accident you don’t want the stress of having to pay for the damages and health bills. If you don’t presently have coverage, you can find liability, collision, and sr22 quotes online and sign up for instant protection. 

• Pack a first aid kit - you never know who could end up with a boo-boo while you’re traveling. Rather than having to find a nearby hospital or pharmacy, you should make sure to pack a first aid kit in the car. 

The #firstAidKit that will be in our #car always. We love to #travel but we always have just a few things but now we have a complete set. #travelerPreparedness #inCaseOfEmergency

A post shared by Chubskulit Rose (@chubskulitrose) on Mar 13, 2018 at 3:28am PDT

Don’t Forget Entertainment

The other part of making sure your family has a fun road trip is to pack lots of entertainment. You’re going to be confined to a car for hours at a time. Your kids are used to having the freedom to run wild throughout the day and, therefore, may become antsy if they’re not entertained. This leads to senseless sibling fights. Some ideas for entertainment include:

• Electronics - mobile devices can be a lifesaver when trying to entertain children of all ages. If you pack a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, your children can play games, watch movies, do research, listen to music, and more. Be sure that you also pack a car charger with several ports so you don’t run out of charge. 

• Books - reading is fundamental and is a great way for your children to unplug for awhile. Packing books of interest can keep them occupied for hours. 

• Snacks - you don’t want to witness the outcome of a bunch of hungry kids crammed in a car together. Bring healthy but appetizing snacks along for the ride. This saves money and helps to ward off those hunger pains. 

• Music - chances are your children aren’t interested in singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall over and over, so it’s probably a good idea to download some jams. Radio can be very finicky on the road so you want to have options. Creating a playlist can give you guys something to jam out to for several hours. 

Plan Stops - you may be able to go hours in a car without needing to stretch, use the bathroom, or grab something to eat, but it’s going to be a lot harder for your kids. To break up the monotony of being on the open road so long, plan stops in between your home and your destination. Try to make it places of interest so the kids get to have a little fun before getting back into the car.

Rest Stop in Cincinnati Ohio

You’ve seen enough family movies with sibling fights and “are we there yet” to know that if you fail to plan, you’re planning on spending hours in a car in the midst of chaos. The above-mentioned tips will make sure that your family remains safe and that your children are so entertained that they forget how long they’ve been traveling.