How to Shut the Kids up While Traveling
Whenever my family travels, we travel with small children. As a father of three girls aged nine and under, I’ve witnessed a technological revolution aimed towards helping children stay entertained during extended travel times. It’s not the same as when I was a kid forced to endure protracted road trips by counting license plates.
Modern automobiles are designed towards entertaining the kiddies. The ultimate entertainment for children is the mobile DVD player. Many current car models come with them pre-installed; the rest of us can purchase them and install them ourselves. Installation is really simple and consists of wrapping the unit around the headrest and plugging it in to the cigarette lighter. I cannot stress how wonderful this in-car entertainment enhancement is. The limits to its potential for keeping children quiet are only limited by the limits to your kids’ DVD collection. Make sure you have enough headphones for your children. If you have more than one child, purchase a system with two screens and put one on each headrest to avoid the perception arguments. Give them shows to watch and they will be quiet. It’s miraculous, I promise.
Another option for the DVD players is purchasing one that comes with video games. Some of the newest ones do, complete with controllers. Some portable DVD players are also compatible with handheld game systems. Handheld gaming systems, like those available from Nintendo and Sony, are a must for in between movie watching times. Make sure each of your older children has one so they don’t argue over whose turn it is to play. Nintendo and Sony systems, with their separate game purchases, can be expensive but there are other hand held gaming options that are much cheaper. There are whole sections in the toy store or Supercenter that are dedicated to these. Some of these are geared towards card games like poker and can keep the difficult adult traveler entertained also.
Younger children not digitally proficient enough to play the handheld games will have to stick to the old standbys that the older generation knew as traveling entertainment. Keep an ample supply of coloring books for the younger kids to utilize when not watching movies. I know my four-year-old loves to express her artistic talent and can stay at this for hours as long as she is supplied with new material and crayons (no markers).
Older kids and teens can be kept happy with a well-stocked iPod. These were known as Walkmans when I was a child and I can remember being kept happy for hours as long as I had my huge box of cassettes. Ample portable media storage is no longer an issue with the iPods’ ability to hold thousands of songs internally. The video iPods can also keep the teens entertained with their own videos watched separately from the younger kids. I do not recommend allowing teen use of cell phones while traveling. It might keep them happy, but the rest of the travelers will be miserable.
The failsafe method in keeping kids quiet while traveling is a concoction available at pharmacies. Pharmacists will prepare a batch of phenegrin which is an anti-nausea/anti-traveling sickness agent. It is also a mild sedative. Phenegrin is probably most helpful with the smallest travelers who are inconsolable by the other previously mentioned techniques. By rubbing small amounts of this gel-like substance on their little wrists, these novice passengers will “sleep like a baby” throughout the trip. This can be especially useful on plane trips as babies are less able to cope with the atmospheric changes and are more prone to traveling sickness.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 6:10 am and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I find this article Shut the Kids up While Traveling very disturbing. What is the world coming to when children cannot even be trained to sit quietly when they need to. What children need is firm dicipline. It worked for me and I’m one of the most patient people I know.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
That’s what I call the miracle of modern science. Making kids docile on long car trips, sign me up.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I was thinking the same thing as Rachel, only on a different line. The kids are excited, why shut them up? Learn to experience their joy. We always shout and sing when in the car on vacation, it really gives us a lot of fun energy. And the kids get tired at night, which is a good thing.
October 19th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Really good post and definitely that would work while driving in your car to help quiet my kids down so I can concentrate on the road a bit more. I’ve even heard that some folks install Xbox in their car just to keep their kids happy and busy.
I’m glad we live in the age of automobile and car technology that we do! The hard part is when you try and talk to them while they’re busy watching DVD’s or playing games….
October 20th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I agree with both Connor and Rachel. I’m 53 and have three brothers and we took long driving trips with our parents every year.
As Connor mentioned we’d sing when in the car. We would discuss the geography, topography the vegetation that was growing and how it changed as we traveled.
There were many lessons learned and I am grateful to my parents for this gift.
It brings back fond memories.
Retired in Mexico,
Joel
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Flanders - I know that is you signed in as connor
November 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
It is truly a sad day when parent resort to medicating their children to “shut them up”. I also find it appalling that the parents, who are supposed to be the ADULTS in this situation, have to use technology as a babysitter on a trip. Wonder how many HOURS on end their children spend in front of a TV? Read some books on good parenting tips, talk to educators about ideas for engaging childrens’ minds, and think of activities the whole family can do in the car (and out) to make travelling fun.
November 29th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I prefer going to the old way, having some coloring books or books to read on their side.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I guess this depends on what kinds of kids you have. I remember when I was a kid during long car trips, I would just use the occasion as a kind of geography lesson (looking at road mileage signs, buildings, landscape features, etc). It was only after becoming older that I was less fascinated by such things. But even then, things like Xbox can help to pass the time.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:24 am
i bring the 360 and hook up to dvd player works great, man bet my mom wished she could do that
December 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I agree with E cho,it’s very useful and works for every kids.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:12 am
just slap them
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
My son is 16 months old and a cracker to eat and some music does it for him now, but I’m sure that soon I will need a dvd player in the car to keep his attention.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
You really hit the nail on the head. It is amazing how some of the latest gadgets are able to help parents so much. My personal favorite of keeping my son quiet on the road is his Sony PSP
May 6th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
the title did make me lol, i suggest duct tape
May 11th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Get them something that they are always asking. Like toys, or psp games or something. I think it works better than slapping them.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Sometimes kids can be very irritating but you can’t think of your holidays without them.
May 16th, 2009 at 12:02 am
These are good alternatives to duct tape, which I always have such a hard time getting off when we reach our destination.
June 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
use a dog grooming muzzle nylon
put sock in muzzle and childs mouth
strap muzzle over childs mouth and tighten
June 11th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Oh my lol at the previous. I personally prefer the portable DVD player option, and if that fails, good ol cough syrup.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:03 am
sounds lively. Luckily my kids doesnt make too much noise while traveling coz they are usually entertained by anything they see outside the windows.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
my kids wake up and put on there muzzle they love it i take them to a pet store to get a muzzle they go to school wearing a muzzle
July 12th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
reply a comment if bob`s idea works
August 28th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
my kids wear diapers [they are forced] during long and short trips also wearing dog muzzle
September 1st, 2009 at 4:41 am
Love playing I Spy and counting car registrations - but on the longer trips its nice to have some quiet times, and time to enjoy the scenery, and the in-car dvd can be great if used sparingly.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Well..this is pretty genius! Sign me up anytime to set my kids quiet on a long trip! It’s good for my health (I bet)