Are We Nearly There Yet?

I wrote a post earlier this week about days out as a single parent. Often the most testing part of a day out is the journey there. On the way back, they're usually (hopefully) too tired out to require much entertainment; S usually zonks out for a nap on our way home from anywhere. The journey there though... that can be difficult!

Here are some top tips for making travelling with children a little easier:

• Be prepared! Don't just embark on a 5-hour car or bus journey without anything with which to entertain your child! Books, games, a portable dvd player, teddies, dollies, whatever you can think of that normally entertains your child. It's a great idea to find an old favourite at the bottom of the toy box they've not played with for a little while; the novelty might see you through!
• Point out anything and everything out of the window. "oh look, some cows!" "oh look, a lorry!" "oh look, some hay in a field!" If it's a journey you know well, you can even do "look out the window; we're going to go past the horses in a minute!"
• Use public transport - if you don't need to drive, consider taking the bus or train - kids love the novelty of a different mode of transport and a train ride can mean much more to see out of the window!
• If you're not in a rush to get to where you're going, consider stopping somewhere for a break. Kids love to explore; if there's something even vaguely interesting on the way from A to B, stop and have a look around. Many kids can even get a little excited over exploring a motorway service station (especially if it has a bridge over the road) - though this might prove a little expensive for you.
• Give them a camera! S has a great toddler-proof camera (trust me, we've tested it to the extreme) and it's great for occupying her. She'll either take photos of herself or me, or play games with the features on it. It's a great thing for them to have once you get to where you're going too!
• If you're that way inclined, you can download some child-friendly apps to your mobile or tablet, and save that for when the "are we nearly there yet"s get really bad.
• Of course, the old faithful: Ten Green Bottles!

This post was written in association with Parkdean Holidays, who made this funky video about their recent travel survey: