Car Toys
If there is one thing that I have learned about traveling with a
child it is that you must have car toys or you are going to go insane.
There is perhaps nothing more maddening than a child in the back seat of
a car for a long ride that has nothing to do. Add another child to the
mix, and you are going to have problems on your hands. The mix of a
bored child and a car ride might be more frustrating than rush hour
traffic and long road construction sites combined. I love my daughter,
but when she is bored, she makes sure I know it, and she makes sure I
don’t forget it.
I have learned as early as my first long trip with her how important
car toys can be. I have also learned what works and what should be left
at home. Though they make car toys like travel versions of some great
board games, these don’t work well for a child under six. You have to be
more creative, and you have to remember that they have short attention
spans. Even the portable DVD player might not be enough to keep them
occupied. This means knowing what your child likes, and how to choose
among those things. Not everything will travel well.
For my daughter, some of the best car toys are the ones that she can
use to create things. You should say no to PlayDoh, but you can have
crayons and a pad for them to draw. This is probably one of the best
things you can get. You can also get them an electronic doodling pad of
some sort. Coloring books are good, and so are things like plastic farm
animals or dinosaurs. You can also get them things like a pretend cell
phone, and even dolls, if your child likes them.
Even more important than choosing the right car toys is choosing how
to have them in the car. I learned the hard way that crayons left
sitting in the car might soon become imbedded in the seat. Even moderate
heat can melt a crayon. Have a nice plastic box with a secure lid for
the car toys so that you can have your child put everything away when
you reach your destination, and you can store that box in the truck or
on the floor of the backseat so things like melted crayons are never
things that you have to deal with while out enjoying your vacation. |
