Everybody has a dream, a week or more on the road with no responsibilities other than family togetherness. But the dream can speedily turn into a nightmare for tired, fussy and out-right bored kids and the parents who have to listen to them.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when situation out cross-country with the wife and kids in tow. These guidelines can make hours spent in the limitations of your minivan a little more bearable.
1. Keep on with caution when it comes to initiating road games. While the license plate game seems like a huge way to keep the kids occupied in New York, hearing their little voices screaming “Michigan!” or “Nebraska!” every five minutes could seem like cruel and unusual castigation by the time you hit hour two.
2. Just because your wife and daughter need to use the restroom every half-an-hour does not mean it’s fair to disallow them water. If they have to pee, you have to stop. End of conversation. Don’t even think about telling a bottle.
3. You’ll probably be worried to hit the road, but if you forget to check the oil, put air in the tires and gas up the car, you could end up stranded on the side of the road with hot and cranky kids and, even more scary, one very, very angry wife.
4. Don’t take sleeping pills into the kids’ applesauce. Though a few hours of delightful silence could be infuriatingly attractive and, let’s face it, downright heavenly when the kids awake they’ll be even more revved-up and you’ll be running on empty.
5. Earplugs. They may not be street legal, but a pair of earplugs could end up being your saving grace. Slide them in, don your sunglasses and ignore the half of a peanut butter sandwich that just landed in your hair and thinks to yourself that someday, your kids will have children just