By Levi Quinn
Have you ever experienced a long-distance car trip with children, and survived the "ordeal"? If you did and came out whole, it must have been because you meticulously followed detailed procedures in planning a car trip with kids beforehand, and completely prepared yourself for the journey.
Thorough planning and preparation for a trip with the kids should be mandatory, because the experience could be a most harrowing one for you if you go unprepared.
The most important rule to observe here is that the safety of the kids is paramount. Take all measures meticulously to ensure that no possible danger can do harm to the children during the trip.
If one or more adults are traveling with you, they can very well help in the control of the kids, and your problem will not be as much as when you are alone, driving with the kids. At least the adults can take care of the needs of the young passengers, while you can concentrate on your driving.
There may be an instance however where you have to be the only adult, driving in the company of children of various ages. Here is where you have to check and re-check your preparations prior to moving out on the road.
Lock securely all doors of the car during the entire trip. Assign the older kids to sit right next to the doors, with strict instructions from you to keep them locked all the time. As much as possible the loading arrangement must be such that the younger kids cannot reach any of the door handles. This should help you with some peace of mind at least.
There should be some activities to keep the kids busy while you are on the move in that highway, like a singing contest. Let one of the older kids initiate this activity you may have prearranged before the start of the trip.
Encourage all the children to participate in the impromptu singing competition. There will be some shy ones of course who will need some extra coaxing and encouragement. That will certainly test your skills in child psychology, in how to get the shyer ones to shed their inhibitions and respond to your challenge of sharing their singing talents with the others.
Most adults will normally motivate kids in that kind of situation with some announcements on prizes that the kids will get after the trip. Choose those prizes you know the kids, especially the shy ones, would always like to have. You can always tailor your offer of prizes to relate to what the shy kids have always wanted. These may be toys they do not have yet, and their favorite goodies. These should come in handy in your mental arsenal of enticements.
As you get some of the children who are more cooperative and willing, to start doing their songs in the singing tilt, and as you continuously and patiently coax the others to contribute their numbers, maybe you are already nearing your destination. A few more miles, and maybe you can start thanking the heavens that at least you had a safe trip with the kids.
If you were forced to do some singing too along the way to help out some of the shyer kids in their songs, that was good exercise for your vocal chords anyway, wasn't it?
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Source:www.isnare.com |
