Yes!! Definitely. 10 years ago our family drove down the West coast of US and Mexico to Baja with 4 and 6 year old boys, no screens, for a month. There were lego's, blanket forts, boredom, and good conversations. Kids need to learn how to amuse themselves, think for themselves and be bored.
I used to feel horribly guilty if I wasn't paying attention to my toddler daughter. Until my mum reminded me that when she was in the same life stage, she was dealing with me, my newborn brother, and my dad being overseas for several months at a time due to his job. Plus monitoring her elderly parents and grandmother. She didn't have all the time to devote to keeping me busy and it was beneficial for both of us that she didn't have that expectation and encouraged self entertainment for the times she couldn't be available to me.
Some of the best times I remember as a child was falling asleep in the backseat of my mom's car. I felt safe and refreshed, ready for a day of play after the ride!
Completely agree that the car makes for some of the best conversation opportunities, and your observation about the lack of eye contact is very interesting - with the kids usually in the back, it seems at times much easier for them to be uninhibited to talk about deeper, "denser" topics this way.
Even on short everyday commutes it's a hidden treasure and blessing - the twenty five minutes I drive mine home from school are so full of his stories about his day, my stories, discussions and just a relaxed, no rush, no pressure space in the day to share and enjoy each other as people, without chores and schedules and everything on fast forward.
I loved reading your post and completely resonate with it.
My daughter is 4, and I’ve never given her a screen on long road trips. She’s used to that now and loves looking out the window and looking at the cars go by or spotting animals.
We play games like eye spy or the alphabet game in the car, and since she’s so accustomed to not using screens during long journeys, she always falls asleep after a while
It’s just so refreshing, as always, to hear you preach common sense here. Somehow we got along without personal screens during long car trips — because they didn’t exist yet. Why do we think they’re necessary now?!
We frequently travel several hours to visit family with our 1.5 year old, and though screen-free trips are hard, I know they are so worth it for the developmental impacts! I remind myself it’ll (hopefully) get easier as he gets older 😅
I am not as screen-free yet as I’d like to be, so I really appreciate this. It’s encouraging, even if I’m not quite there yet, this helps me realize there’s a lot I can do to get closer to screenlessness for myself and my kids. Thank you!
When I was a child, my siblings and I used to sing in the back seat, or play make-believe—act out scenes and basically improvise comedy doing the voices of all different imaginary characters, etc. On long trips we used to count how many out-of-state license plates we could spot. I always enjoyed simply watching the scenery if it was remotely nice to look at, and if it was a "boring" view like a highway roadside or a suburban area, I'd sometimes craft my own make-believe about it to liven it up. (I used to picture a horse or a dog running alongside the road and jumping each fence or obstacle as we passed it.)
Though I was an avid reader, I could never read in the car because I'd get carsick. Yet I don't regret that, somehow; I think I'd have missed out on something by *not* looking out the window and having a sense of my surroundings, if I'd only been looking down at something in my lap all the way from Point A to Point B.
My boys are 5 and 1.5, we don’t own tablets or have screens in the car. I find it helpful to not have an expectation of getting to relax during a long drive. I’m constantly handing out snacks, switching out activities and generally sorting out issues. I used to think that since I did so much prep work of packing and planning activities/toys/snacks that I deserve to just sit and read my book but that’s just not the case at this stage of parenting! I also like to drive so my husband and I switch out being driver so I get a break from being the ‘on parent.’
That's an interesting point that I hadn't considered before! You're right that it's hardly relaxing, but that's part of the job. I like that perspective. Thanks for sharing.
We take a 13hr trip to my in-laws twice per year with my 6, 4, and 2 year old. We are a very low-tech family, but we did buy a little strap that allows us to attach a Chromebook to the back of the driver's seat. At some point in the trip (as decided by parents), we have the much anticipated "movie screening" with special snacks and all. We hook up the sound so it plays over the car's speakers and everyone watches the one film together. This is just one activity among many that we do on our super long car trip and it's become a fun tradition.
I grew up the same way - long car rides for holidays and figuring out games to while away the time in the car (especially in stretches where there wasn't much to look at 🤣) with my younger brother. Eventually I got a Walkman but even then was limited by the battery life. One road trip wow did was for two weeks across three states with my grandmother who was visiting from the UK (I grew up in Australia) and I still have wonderful memories of that - and have somehow adopted my grandmother's penchants for reading aloud all the signs (shops billboards, streets) in a town.
Our nine year old daughter doesn't have an iPad (yet) and can read for a little bit in the car before that sick feeling takes over, but most of the time we play car games (some she invented herself) or she has smaller toys she makes up games with. I feel so fortunate that I grew up when I did, so I can remember and see the benefits of those experiences in my own daily life and can try to implement boundaries and expectations for my daughter so that she can have a similar experience even in this tech heavy world.
So glad you wrote this one: I am 100-percent on board with screen free road trips. Audio books have been huge for ours.
Yes!! Definitely. 10 years ago our family drove down the West coast of US and Mexico to Baja with 4 and 6 year old boys, no screens, for a month. There were lego's, blanket forts, boredom, and good conversations. Kids need to learn how to amuse themselves, think for themselves and be bored.
I used to feel horribly guilty if I wasn't paying attention to my toddler daughter. Until my mum reminded me that when she was in the same life stage, she was dealing with me, my newborn brother, and my dad being overseas for several months at a time due to his job. Plus monitoring her elderly parents and grandmother. She didn't have all the time to devote to keeping me busy and it was beneficial for both of us that she didn't have that expectation and encouraged self entertainment for the times she couldn't be available to me.
We just got back from the road trip along Cilento coast and we were listening for the “Raise and Fall
of Rome” with Gregory Aldrete at Lex Freedman podcast. It is three hours long and very engaging. Lot to talk about with kids along the way.
Some of the best times I remember as a child was falling asleep in the backseat of my mom's car. I felt safe and refreshed, ready for a day of play after the ride!
Completely agree that the car makes for some of the best conversation opportunities, and your observation about the lack of eye contact is very interesting - with the kids usually in the back, it seems at times much easier for them to be uninhibited to talk about deeper, "denser" topics this way.
Even on short everyday commutes it's a hidden treasure and blessing - the twenty five minutes I drive mine home from school are so full of his stories about his day, my stories, discussions and just a relaxed, no rush, no pressure space in the day to share and enjoy each other as people, without chores and schedules and everything on fast forward.
I loved reading your post and completely resonate with it.
My daughter is 4, and I’ve never given her a screen on long road trips. She’s used to that now and loves looking out the window and looking at the cars go by or spotting animals.
We play games like eye spy or the alphabet game in the car, and since she’s so accustomed to not using screens during long journeys, she always falls asleep after a while
It’s just so refreshing, as always, to hear you preach common sense here. Somehow we got along without personal screens during long car trips — because they didn’t exist yet. Why do we think they’re necessary now?!
We frequently travel several hours to visit family with our 1.5 year old, and though screen-free trips are hard, I know they are so worth it for the developmental impacts! I remind myself it’ll (hopefully) get easier as he gets older 😅
I am not as screen-free yet as I’d like to be, so I really appreciate this. It’s encouraging, even if I’m not quite there yet, this helps me realize there’s a lot I can do to get closer to screenlessness for myself and my kids. Thank you!
When I was a child, my siblings and I used to sing in the back seat, or play make-believe—act out scenes and basically improvise comedy doing the voices of all different imaginary characters, etc. On long trips we used to count how many out-of-state license plates we could spot. I always enjoyed simply watching the scenery if it was remotely nice to look at, and if it was a "boring" view like a highway roadside or a suburban area, I'd sometimes craft my own make-believe about it to liven it up. (I used to picture a horse or a dog running alongside the road and jumping each fence or obstacle as we passed it.)
Though I was an avid reader, I could never read in the car because I'd get carsick. Yet I don't regret that, somehow; I think I'd have missed out on something by *not* looking out the window and having a sense of my surroundings, if I'd only been looking down at something in my lap all the way from Point A to Point B.
My boys are 5 and 1.5, we don’t own tablets or have screens in the car. I find it helpful to not have an expectation of getting to relax during a long drive. I’m constantly handing out snacks, switching out activities and generally sorting out issues. I used to think that since I did so much prep work of packing and planning activities/toys/snacks that I deserve to just sit and read my book but that’s just not the case at this stage of parenting! I also like to drive so my husband and I switch out being driver so I get a break from being the ‘on parent.’
That's an interesting point that I hadn't considered before! You're right that it's hardly relaxing, but that's part of the job. I like that perspective. Thanks for sharing.
We take a 13hr trip to my in-laws twice per year with my 6, 4, and 2 year old. We are a very low-tech family, but we did buy a little strap that allows us to attach a Chromebook to the back of the driver's seat. At some point in the trip (as decided by parents), we have the much anticipated "movie screening" with special snacks and all. We hook up the sound so it plays over the car's speakers and everyone watches the one film together. This is just one activity among many that we do on our super long car trip and it's become a fun tradition.
I grew up the same way - long car rides for holidays and figuring out games to while away the time in the car (especially in stretches where there wasn't much to look at 🤣) with my younger brother. Eventually I got a Walkman but even then was limited by the battery life. One road trip wow did was for two weeks across three states with my grandmother who was visiting from the UK (I grew up in Australia) and I still have wonderful memories of that - and have somehow adopted my grandmother's penchants for reading aloud all the signs (shops billboards, streets) in a town.
Our nine year old daughter doesn't have an iPad (yet) and can read for a little bit in the car before that sick feeling takes over, but most of the time we play car games (some she invented herself) or she has smaller toys she makes up games with. I feel so fortunate that I grew up when I did, so I can remember and see the benefits of those experiences in my own daily life and can try to implement boundaries and expectations for my daughter so that she can have a similar experience even in this tech heavy world.