Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Trust me...you CAN survive!

Just a heads up that I'm on a bit of a soapbox today...


Three weeks ago, we loaded Jane, 5, Megan, 3, and Ben, 20 months, into the van at roughly 4:00 in the morning to make the drive from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City. I was slightly apprehensive--the only other time we had made this drive we had left at 7:00 in the evening and arrived at 5:00 in the morning, pretty solidly assuring that all three kids slept the entire time. While we left when it was still dark, the vast majority of our drive would be in full-blown daylight.

I spent an hour (or maybe more...) scouring the internet for ideas about how to keep kids occupied and content for hours in the car. I read blogs about quiet books, presents to unwrap from the Dollar Store, and even an entire scheme for sorting puff balls of multiple colors into jars of various sizes--all while sitting in a car seat! I was impressed at the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those moms.

And yet, the voice in the back of my mind kept telling me it wasn't worth it.

When I was a kid, we made a fair number of long road trips. We drove between Utah and Washington State a handful of times. For many years, my dad worked as a truck driver for USPS and we would join him on day-long adventures visiting what seemed like every single post office in the entire state of Utah (even though I know better now). Other years, my dad drove a service route throughout the Western United States and my siblings and I each had a chance to travel with him on a two-week run. In short, while I was growing up, we spent a lot of time in the car.

And in all that time I spent in the car, we didn't have cell phones. We didn't have portable dvd players or iPads. The most we had was an old airline bag full of cassette tapes featuring Tom Bodett, Garth Brooks, and John Denver. I single-handedly burned out a copy of Garth Brooks' The Hits when I refused to listen to anything else one summer.


It was with this history in mind that I started prepping my kids for what I considered our first family road trip. I planned the food--various crackers, cookies, and fruit stashed in little baggies labeled with each person's name--and I planned the entertainment. In one basket between the girls' seats were a variety of books. In a bag near the driver's seat were a variety of activities including whiteboards and markers, coloring books and crayons, small toys and trinkets, kid computers, and my own laptop with a stash of dvds. Feeling thus prepared, we headed out.

I am quite happy to say that we made it 1200 miles, there and back, with 3 kids, and NO ELECTRONICS.

Did I do anything special? No.

Are my kids super-humanly amazing on car rides? No.

So what's the deal? I hear you ask...

In my humble opinion, it was a matter of expectations. Simply put, my children do not expect to be entertained in the car. They know that we get in, drive, and when we get there, we get out. They had snacks at the same intervals when we eat at home. They had stretch breaks every time someone had to pee, and they read books. Just once did Jane say she was bored, and we waited half an hour before getting out the crayons and blank paper. They colored for a bit, and then all on their own they put the crayons away and they never came out again.

We did listen to The Piano Guys, a bit of Marty Robbins, and yes, even Garth Brooks' The Hits using the car stereo. But we never pulled out the laptop, we never turned on a DVD, and we never sorted any colorful puff balls. We just took a ride in the car.


We're headed back to Utah again next week for David's wedding, then to Idaho two weeks later for Brenda's graduation, then to Idaho again a month after that for Chris's high school reunion, then back to Idaho for Heather's wedding in July, and finally we'll be making the 21-hour one-way drive to move to Atlanta. And you know what? I'm not worried about driving that long with my kids. We're just taking a few more rides in the car.

Soapbox done now.

P.S. I double-posted this here and on my website. Check it out and leave a comment there, too! Moments of Joy Blog

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