Tips For Keeping A Toddler Busy On Long Car Rides

The twitchy toddler strapped into a car seat for extended periods of time can bring everyone to breaking point. Their frustrated scream seems to echo around the car cabin and tensions mount. Hardly ideal when you have 6 hours to go and there’s still rush hour to contend with. There’s no magic wand to transform the trip into a serene experience for all, but there’s a few tried and tested tips that could inject some calm to the journey. 1. Make it an adventure — While too young to really get into the game, a toddler understands enough that if you are excited then they have something to look forward to as well. This is as much about re-setting your state of mind and projecting the ‘joy’ of the journey. If you are tense and dreading the whole experience, the canny toddler will no doubt pick up this and play to your weaknesses to spiral the entire trip into a disaster. 2. Be prepared — Most parents will be well drilled in this art and generally over-pack for most situations. Generally, there is no such thing as ‘too much’ for a long car journey since the average toddler is a master of the short attention span. Favourite books, toys, dressing dolls with Velcro and buttons and comics all help to pass some of the time and one of them will be sure to hit gold and capture the toddler’s imagination for perhaps 15 minutes. 3.‘ I-Spy’ — There’s no suggestion that your toddler will be working their way through the alphabet, no matter how brilliant they are, but chances are they will have grasped a few words by now and ‘lorry’ or ‘truck’ or ‘noisy motorbike’ might be in there. Help them to look out of the window and be delighted with them when they spot the appropriate vehicle. Some pre-trip homework to familiarise them with the type of things they will see might help to establish this game and distract them sufficiently so they forget they are confined to the car seat. 4. Sing-along — Toddlers love a good sing song and there’s many cheap nursery rhyme and action song CDs available. It may drive you crazy on the third cycle but if you join in and exercise your vocal chords too, the happier the whole car will become. 5. Snacks — The trick with snacks is that they have to be choke hazard free, relatively healthy to avoid any sugar rushes and time consuming. Raisins are an old favourite especially in the little boxes as the determined toddler doesn’t let any of the bottom sticky ones escape. Another tip would be crisped rice cereal. It’s small enough that they will generally pick it up rice by rice and tasty enough to keep them interested. The odd rice crisp might end up their nose but a good blow usually sorts this out at journey’s end. Variety is the spice of a toddler’s life and you will need to have many tricks up your sleeve. Hopefully some of the above tips might spark some moments of serenity to your trip but in the moments of meltdown, just hang onto the thought that a crying toddler is usually a tired one and their nap might be just around the corner. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society