Trifter

Most people in the United States of America have gone on a vacation.  Even the less blessed among us tend to find a way to make a fun trip every few years.  That list of less blessed grows when children are thrown into the mix.  Not to say that children are a bad thing, but they certainly add a whole new level of obstacles (or even an entire obstacle course!), especially on trips exceeding an hour.  Heck, sometimes it only takes thirty minutes for something “interesting” to happen.  And on road trips, one of the most common forms of family vacation, there are plenty of hours and half-hours.

The first that we’re most often concerned about is entertaining the little ones.  They tend to have a very short attention span in the context that they get bored easily doing the same thing over and over again.  Sure, you could play 2, 3, 4 DVDs, but by then you’ve only killed about half of the trip.  After a couple movies, they tend to get bored just like the rest of us.  The only difference is that young children often become loud, obnoxious, and very creative when they get bored.  So, what are you to do?

Well, this may sound like old advice, but bring snacks along.  Lots of them.  You don’t have to feed each child an entire box of cheese-its every hour, but it gives the child something to concentrate on during the in-between moments.  When a child is actually willing to eat, you wouldn’t believe how much they’ll concentrate on that single task.  Well, you probably will, since you’ve probably observed it every now and then.  It doesn’t have to be anything exceptional.  A little kool-aid pouch and a handful of snack crackers or a small package of gummy fruits can keep a young one entertained anywhere from ten to thirty minutes in my experience.  

For those who are still in the two to five range, or even sometimes up to eight, coloring books are a great way to kill loads of time.  This is a method that some parents seem to forget these days.  It only costs about five bucks to get a few good sized coloring books and a pack of crayons.  Or, if you don’t like some of the potential mess, and trust your children enough, get a pack of colored pencils or markers.  I found around six and seven that I liked to be a little more detailed in my art, so I quickly grew to prefer pencils. 

Now, as your children get older, they either learn to entertain themselves, or they become several times harder to entertain.  After they reach the age of eight, it might be a good idea to bring along some age-appropriate books.  Many children in my generation seem to have a natural aversion to reading, and from my observations, I think I know why: they never learned to read young.  As far back as I can remember, my parents almost always read to me daily, and by the time I was eight, I was reading books several levels above my school grade.  Both of my sisters did the same, and my youngest brother, who is turning eight this year, is reading 3rd and 4th grade level literature.  I have found that many of my peers were not encouraged to read as much, if at all, when they were younger, with the exception of school assignments.  In doing this, you would be exposing your children to an alternate form of entertainment which has been proven to exercise the brain, affecting everything from comprehensive abilities to IQ levels.

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By this point, many children have enough reading ability to enjoy more rudimentary video games.  When I was eight, I was happy with one of the original, green-and-black Game Boy systems and games like Super Mario Brothers or Primal Rage.  They were simple button mashers, but at the same time, helped develop my response times to both physical and mental stimuli.  Just make sure they don’t play the entire trip: looking into normal light after having played on my computer for a few hours can be painful if I don’t give myself time to adjust.  And pain is a warning signal. 

Now, once you hit the teenage area, it’s pretty easy to keep everyone entertained.  Around the time I turned twelve, I could pass hours on a trip just staring out the side window, taking in the landscape.  I also found it fairly easy to get a nice rest.  If I truly found myself bored, I would strike up a conversation with one of the adults, which was possible by that age.  Other times, I would pop open a book or magazine, play on a Game Boy Advanced, or even write and draw.  The primary problem with teenagers on a trip is not so much entertainment material, but conflict.

What kind of conflict, you might ask?  Well, so far, two kinds: sibling and interest.

Most likely, you don’t have one child.  In this country, you probably have between two and four, though it’s not uncommon to run into a family with as many as eight.  Now, young children tend to play nice with each other, but as they grow older, they tend to develop barriers between each other, especially during the teenage years.  Your best bet tat keeping conflict to a minimum is to make sure that you strategically place your children throughout the vehicle so that any two who have shown such behavior before are not directly next to each other.  If you want to go one step further, make sure they’re not behind or in front of one another, either.  Unfortunately, if they really want to have a go at it, they will regardless of any cautionary measures.  At that point, your best bet is to pull over, whip out that belt, and…

Just kidding.  I am very much for a child’s rights, and do not condone child abuse in any form or fashion.  Unfortunately, many parents don’t realize what they’re doing is considered abuse, and that they’re simply taking out on their children what their parents did to them.  But, for another day.

Now, the more deadly form of conflict, conflict of interest, happens when you have children from all stages of life being exposed to each other’s entertainment.  Most commonly, the teenage and pre-teenage children having to listen to the movies or music of their much younger siblings.

Now, by no means will this kill them.  Not unless the movie is blasting so loud that the sound waves are disintegrating your children’s bones, of course.  But, speaking from experience, I’m not very fond of having to listen to movies where there is a five minute musical playing every other sentence.  There are a few I like, and many I tolerate, but some movies have songs so poorly written, so repetitive, and so annoying that I literally fold my ears over and force my fingers as far into my head as physically possible, sometimes even as an adult.  Some children’s movies just aren’t very well suited for any audiences older than the age of four or five.  I even thought so at…well, four and five, just not with so many words.  The same also can apply to a number of electronic devices young children enjoy playing with. 

Overall, just be considerate to both your older and younger children.  Invest in some headphones for one or both groups, and they should be happy unless one of the younger children just can’t stop making noise, or if one of the older ones is tormenting his younger siblings.  If the situation becomes this desperate, it may just be time to pull over at a rest stop and take five. 

Well, have a good trip, and if you have anything to add, feel free.