We’re BACK!
Well…we survived our trip to Auburn, AL for my sister-in-law’s graduation. It turns out, THREE is the magic age when traveling gets easier. You don’t have to drag around diapers or diaper bags. They’ll sleep in a bed so you don’t need a pack-n-play. And they can be relatively entertained in the van with a DVD on the drive.
But the most magical part of the trip?
Both directions I let the kids watch a movie and then…AND THEN…after the movie was over I told them to go to sleep. AND THEY DID.
Let me let that sink in for a moment.
I said, “Guys, it’s naptime.” I turned off the DVD player, reclined their seats back a bit, and they both WENT TO SLEEP.
It was like MAGIC.
Meanwhile, I was watching my brother-in-law with my 1-year old nephew as he was trying to keep him safe yet entertained in various non-child friendly places: A hotel, a restaurant, a basketball arena. And the whole time I thought, “How did we survive that?” You just forget how hard it is to have a mobile child who can not be reasoned with.
“No! You can’t chew on the light cord! OR THE HAIRDRYER!”
As awful as age 3 has been overall for the kids, I’m glad it at least allowed us to travel without too many anti-anxiety meds.
We went to Hawaii with our kids over the summer, and the one year old was SIGNIFICANTLY harder to manage on the plane/in the airport/in the hotel. The four year old needed my iPad, the end. The one year old needed snacks, and more snacks, and a diaper change, and someplace to burn off energy, and on and on. We’ll be waiting until she’s at the age to be entertained by things age before we travel again.
I completely agree that 3 is a magically good age for travel. 1.5 stinks a lot, somewhere around 2 ish they will watch a movie for a chunk of time, but 3 is when they are RATIONAL(ish) – at least bribeable.
My family (including in-laws) is about 12 hours away by car and we’ve been making that drive at least twice a year from the time my older child was an infant. Let me just say that the inventor or VHS and DVD players for the car deserves sainthood! The kids have also played the alphabet game and kept track of license plates. In the past 2 years, we’ve begun listening to audiobooks. You can borrow from your public library or rent from one Cracker Barrel and return at any other Cracker Barrel. My local public library and Cracker Barrel both have a wide selection of titles. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get into a book on CD, but now I love it. Sometimes I even listen to a book while cleaning up the kitchen or cooking dinner.