Holiday Travels Anyone?

So, the Holidays are coming.  I’m ecstatic about this, yet not; several emotions come to mind when I think about celebrating with friends and family: excitement, anxiousness, frustration, joy.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love Love LOVE celebrating the Holidays.  But there’s a small part of me that also dreads it.  I don’t enjoy the overpopulated rooms, the binge eating, or the traveling to and from the destination.  Most of all, I despise the travel.

How nice would it be to just put your kids in the car and just drive 10 minutes across a small town?  You don’t have to worry about “what did I forget?” or “did the kids go to the bathroom?” or “are the snacks in the car?” or “do we have enough books, toys, coloring crayons and DVDs to keep them happy for the ride?”.  Those of you that travel with young kids know exactly what I’m talking about.

I have to tell you my secret for traveling with a 2 and 3 year old: our portable DVD player.  While I’m not an advocate for television or allowing kids to watch hours on end, I do really insist that we have it for every car ride that lasts an hour or longer.  What else is a young child going to do, strapped in the vehicle, for hours on end?

We do still bring the coloring books, the music Cd’s, the doodle pros, snacks, drink cups, and toys, but nothing keeps them content like watching a movie on the DVD player.  If you don’t have one of these ingenious products, I would STRONGLY suggest purchasing one.  Make it a gift to the kids (but really, it’s a gift for the parents and kids alike).

When I arrive at my parents’ house for the week or weekend (which takes all of 2 1/2 hours), I am not nearly as frazzled from trying to keep my kids busy for the ride.  I haven’t had to climb into the back of the SUV, over the console to play with and draw pictures for my kids.  I did not have to contort my body to turn around to referee who gets to play with what toy.  I do enough refereeing and making sure my kids are occupied throughout the day that I really need the time that we spend traveling to be peaceful and relaxing.  Our DVD player has transformed the meaning of holiday travel for my family.

Holiday travel?  No problem!