Make travelling with children enjoyable

You're planning a long trip and the children will be going. Maybe it's a visit to your sister or a summer vacation. You know you will have a good time when you get there but the car ride, well that's a different story. You've done it before and the memories... Well let's just say you survived.

You're already beginning to picture the scene. The whining and fidgeting soon turn to arguing and other childish pranks. At first you shrug it off but soon you are ready to scream. Everybody is upset.

Let's recall:

20 of "are we there yet"

14 of "my brother's (or sister's) bugging me"

10 of "Can I get something to eat?"

6 of "I'm tired of just sitting here."

If only there were something they could focus on for a while! A little entertainment would work. A portable television might work but there are lots of dead spots along the way. Songs will work but they are too short to keep the young attentions for this many hour journey and reading books just isn't practical on the bumpy roads.

Try this technique to pass those hours. Do you have a portable mp3 player, an iPod or something like it? If not you probably have a cd player you can use in the car. I got my SansDisk mp3 player for around 80 dollars in Decemeber of 2006. A popular on-line store was advertising a player at just under ten dollars. Once you have obtained your player just remember to put in the car when you leave but do a couple of very important things first.

1. Get on the web and go to a store selling downloadable audiobooks.

2. download a couple of audio books.

3. Plug the mp3 player into the computer.

4. Use your favorite music player to sync the audiobooks to the player.

I know that no child will listen to a ten hour audiobook without breaks. That's about how much time a full novel would take. Just get what benefit you can from it. There are some shorter options. Many children's books are not nearly this long and some are dramatized for additional interest. Take that hour or two of quiet time and enjoy it.

This is what may just happen. Imagine getting to your destination while the kids are in the middle of an exciting adventure story. You may be hearing something like, "Can you drive a little farther, I'm not quite done yet." You get to decide whether to honor their request or just wait for the trip home.

You get out of the car and realize, this was much better than before. Arriving with a positive attitude makes things so much more enjoyable.

If you're thinking, "It won't work for me," then consider this. Will you really know until you've tried it? Imagine the difference it could make. A fully dramatized version of "Treasure Island" would be a safe bet with which to begin.

Article Source: http://www.adoptiondoctors.com/articles

This article is written by Daniel Brown, whose two chidren keep him busy. He also runs a downloadable audiobook store that features fun stories. Here you can find some d excellent audiobooks. ~ai601
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