These are not Kate's children. Her children will be angels. Maybe
In a month, our family is setting off on a driving holiday from Adelaide to Brisbane – an old-fashioned kind of driving holiday, only with seat belts.
Our accommodation will be a combination of motels, caravan parks, a houseboat, relatives’ rumpus room floors and one nice hotel. The kids will only be allowed to take what can fit in their schoolbags – and that includes swimmers and a towel.
There is a lot of driving on this driving holiday, and here’s the thing – I’m thinking about doing it without the aid of electronic devices. No iPad, no DSi, no on-board DVD. I’m serious. The question is, am I sane?
You see, I have visions of our band of five bonding over games of ‘I spy,’ and ‘I went fishing,’ (you know, the memory game where you take a sandwich, some bait, a hat etc – endless family fun there).
I grew up watching The Brady Bunch and loved how they drove to the Grand Canyon – eight of them, plus Alice, all in the big brown station wagon (don’t tell me those children were all appropriately restrained). Even at the end of the journey, they were still singing, ‘row row row your boat’ in a perfectly-pitched round. It would have been very different (and extremely dull TV) if they’d all had their noses in their Nintendos wouldn’t it?
My sister Nicole says I’m either batshit crazy or Amish. She remembers our family driving holidays as a living hell and reckons a Gameboy or five could only have improved things. If I’m honest, she could be right, but I believe the fights over who was breathing whose air, the car-sickness and the dodgy service station meals have formed part of our family’s rich tapestry of life. (Now there’s a sentence that’ll make you sick even if the servo sausage rolls didn’t.)
I want to give our kids stories to tell, and the best stories aren’t always the blissful ones. One of my husband’s favourite dinner party tales involves his father dropping the spare tyre on his head somewhere between Tamworth and Armidale. How can I deny our children similar hilarious anecdotes?
Kate Hunter is an advertising copywriter with 20 years experience and hundreds of ads under her belt. She’s also written two novels for young readers: Mosquito Advertising, The Parfizz Pitch and Mosquito Advertising, The Blade Brief. You can visit Kate’s website here or follow her on twitter here.
Did you love or loathe driving holidays? Do you remember driving holidays that you went on as a kid?
Comments
92 Comments so far
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We drove Melbourne to Brisbane with 4 kids under 5 (4.5yo, 3yo and 16mo twins) with no technology in sight. Backpacks filled with small (quiet) toys, books, crayons and snacks got us there and back quite happily.
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I’m really sorry, this might annoy people, but I don’t like the whole ‘tech on a long car trip is bad’ attitude going through here! I’m 19, and I have two younger siblings – we were all squashed into the back seat hahaha. When I was younger, I would read (have always been a bookworm) my sister would colour and my brother would sit in the middle and make stupid comments haha. As fun as it was, a DVD player would have really helped some of those 8hr drives. It gets to the point sometimes when the scenery actually IS all the same, and you need something to keep you sane! Just because you didn’t have the tech in ‘your day’, doesn’t mean it’s bad! I bet your parents would have loved a DVD player in the car at times
all in moderation I say, just don’t label using tech as bad!
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I have always HATED long trips. They are boring no matter how many games, books, etc you take they are the furthest thing from bonding time in my book! So it was with some trepidition we took our first road trip with our 3 year old with autism earlier in the year (Sydney to Gold Coast during the Kempsey flood). The whole thing could’ve been a disaster but we had the best time and why? Because we took the car DVD player. Mr 3 was happy, we were overjoyed that he enjoyed the travelling, my husband and I sang along with him and we actually got some quality adult conversation in too. We only played it a couple of times a day but if he’d been unsettled let me tell you it would have played constantly! We arrived happy instead of grumpy and over each other and actually had a relaxing holiday! Tech free trips are overrated in my humble opinion but good on you for attempting it! : )
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When we used to travel from Melbourne to Sydney to visit family my mum would always have a goodie bag, and would pull out little treats along the way, things like a new colouring book, a new sparkly pencil, a mars bar. we’d have 4 tapes on rotation, Louis Armstrong, Mills Bros, Ella Fitzgerald and Engelbert Humpadink (that was mum’s tape!) and when I got older I was allowed to play mine. I remember on one trip my really conservative dad threatening to throw my tape out the window when George Michael’s I want your sex came on!!
But anyway, I’m not anti-tech we have an ipad, but 2 kids and 1 ipad makes for not a happy back seat, so it gets left at home. When we went to the uk last year, we loaded up our ipod with the first 2 Harry Potter audio books (read by Stephen Fry- amazing!) and they were great, even for us adults! Even our 2 year old liked listening to it.
Just recently I picked up a ‘jumbo boys activity pad’ from our local $2 shop, it has puzzles, dot to dots, word searches and code breaking activities and my son is in love with it. He leaves it in the car and even when we drive to the shops he pulls that out and does a bit of a puzzle. Good luck with the trip!
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I admire your intension but I think you are mad. What about taking your electronic props and limiting their use. The Brady Bunch is fantasy television of the most horrible kind. How many mixed families do you know that get along so well? Best of luck with your drive!
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Every summer, from Denmark to southern France with a camper trailer on the back. I get car sick, so all I could do was listen to music and fight with my brother. He, on the other hand, was able to read, draw, play with his matchbox cars…
Our mum had made these pocket contraptions that tied onto the back of the front seats (I’m sure there and name and a store where you can get them these days), but that’s all we had.
I remember playing cards a lot with my parents, and the one time my brother had left his shoes outside the car, and didn’t understand where they had gone when we pulled off the road some 600km’s later.
You’re a brave woman for wanting to have an electronics free trip, but I hope you go through with it and enjoy having to talk with each other!
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Hahaha…..everyone used to have trips like that.
I remember trips with my family as a kid where mum would wind the window down an inch to let the choking smoke out the car. Lovely.
We had lots of “fun” trips to and from Brisbane and Melbourne. Some of the highlights included running out of petrol on the Newell hwy, being tailed by an angry, strange car driver to grafton, my son throwing a toy microphone stand out the car window near gilgandra and my daughter putting her hands up to her window and yelling at her brother to “stop looking out my window”. Once, in a fit of clear lunacy, we drove from Melbourne to ayers rock, Alice springs, Darwin and back with kids and a camper trailer for a “holiday”. Admittedly we had a ball.
Take playing cards, books, pencils and rubbish bags. Put pillows between the kids if at all possible (ie to separate them).
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I too remember (not fondly) car trips with my parents sharing ciggies. At least my kids won’t have to deal with that. There may or may not be some Neil Diamond singalongs though. If it was good enough for me ….
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Let them look out the window and see whats happening out there – and hear whats happening out there! Bravo to you. Definately do it. It wont all be easy, but thats the point isnt – to let them feel real life!! We have a beach shack with no TV, no phone, no wifi, no oven, no inside toilet etc etc and its great. Sure there are times that a TV would be nice – like on a sunday morning when youve had a couple the night before – but without a TV, one of us (actually, its always me) gets up and takes the boys for a walk on the beach – its always perfect. Enjoy your trip
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We drove from Melbourne to QLD every year when I was a kid. Three kids AND a dog in the back, no air-conditioning & vinyl seats. Entertained ourselves by fighting & playing the “licence plate” game. The only music on the tape deck was Peter Allen & The Carpenters. Fond memories of soggy tomato sandwiches in country town rotary parks. Yep good times.
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My dad played Dionne Warwick. Such a pure voice but even now it makes me feel carsick.
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I find a game of eye spy can last no longer than 20mins max before we run out of items or everyone isz bored with it. Good Luck .
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Family driving holidays as a kid? Just think of the Griswold family in National Lampoon’s Vacation. Yep, that pretty much sums us up.
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Looking at the comments I think I’m in the minority, but I love taking the DVD player with us in the car!
I have 3 kids and a 1995 Camry sedan with no aircon, and we drive to Brisbane (from Canberra) a couple of times a year.
We’re the sort of family that doesn’t watch a lot of TV, the kids have a Wii but they only play it an hour a day, they don’t have handheld games, and they don’t surf the net. We eat at the table together every night and are a pretty well-connected family.
So when we embark on those long, hot journeys it’s a pleasure to be able to put the DVD player on so the kids can veg out and my husband and I can enjoy those long rambling conversations that only tend to happen on long car trips! We stop every couple of hours to stock up on fresh food at a supermarket and then head to a park for a picnic and some footy. And when we arrive at our destination we’re not all mentally worn out from the journey.
I can understand why people choose to go tech-free, but our system works for us.
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Oh, and for behaviour management, I have a friend with four kids who starts every road trip with a full jar of unwrapped lollies for the kids to share at the end of the trip.
Every time the kids start to bicker she winds the window down and throws a lolly out. No words, no warnings, no threats – just the heartbreaking sight of some teeth or a milk bottle flying away down the Hume.
The kids kind of settle down after that
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I love that *making a note*
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HAHA! That’s such a good idea! lol.
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So, if I drive behind them, with a big net out the window….
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I know a family that did that and made it all the way from Syd to Melb on the promise of one pack of snakes between 3 kids…only two went out the window. It was a miracle. I say give it a go!!!
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I am so stealing that idea
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this sounds more like my family as well. There are limits at home on the use of technical items, we played lots of games through the week as a family, so the long drives were times for my husband and I to converse a few times in the trip.
It wasn’t hard to say look kids, when something came up. Plus 5 to 7 hours in the car , the children require a lot of different activities.
the same goes for a long train trip; take a variety of things to do.
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Under 4 hours no Tech, camping no tech, they fight, they bicker, they sleep, they read, they colour, we play games Dad sings a line of a song & they have to guess the song, iPod best invention ever, everyone gets half hour of their choice. Three kids 8,6,5, one back seat, a vital lesson (how to be tech free), & rite of childhood
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We regularly do a mixture of long and Very Long driving holidays. When our destination is less than 2 hours away, the kids (aged 6 and 9) are expected to suck it up and make polite conversation with their parents. When it’s a Long Drive (ie involves at least one stop between here and there) then I am less averse to the idea of taking technology with us in the car. Although I am not keen on the idea of movies – the arguments on ‘dry land’ so to speak about which movie to watch while trapped in a car – erm. No.
We each have an ipod, so we take it in turns as to who’s ipod gets played (kids have WAY too much Michael Jackson and AC/DC for my taste!) And when we do the Really Long Drive (Vic to QLD in 2013), I will be investing in a car charger for the DSs!
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OMG! My first thought is “are you mad”. I’m happy to do the I-spy; number plate challenge, music, singalong etc, but there are times when as parents we want a bit of headspace and the “he touched me”, “no you touched me” starts ad infinitum. And all done just to wind each other up (and us in the process). That’s when the DVD or iPod come out to break up the tension and give everyone a break. Look forward to hearing how it goes, whatever option you choose.
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My family has always loved driving holidays and camping. My husband thinks staying in a 3* hotel is roughing it. But I think the idea of trying to keep it tech free is a brilliant idea! Think: books on tape…
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I’m in the Good On You camp! I am a lover of audio books…. As someone mentioned before they are great for the imagination! ABC shops have great ones and one time I bought a collection of Roald Dahl – my husband enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the most! Most roadhouses sell them too if you’re in desperate beed of a new story. Good luck – the kids will thank you for it. One day!
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Have just driven 3000km(over 2 week period) and was so grateful for all the electronic equipment we brought with us.Computer,2 iPads ,2 DS,1 dvd player and IPods,numerous books….. I just couldn’t keep up the momentum of games and conversation for the 6-7 hours we sat in the car all day. The kids were so content and really in the big scheme of things it didn’t matter that 2 weeks out of their lives we weren’t playing games or trying to stimulate them with interesting conversation.
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We do tech and non tech drives. Music is probably #1 for all of us, but I do have fond memories of the 4 of us trying to solve Professor Layton puzzles on a DS. Regular stop and plays are a must to keep the kids happy.
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We are about to do a big interstate drive over Christmas with two little kids (1 and 3) and are debating over whether to buy a portable DVD player for the trip or not. I hear ya Kate, in one sense I would like the trip to be about chatting, activities, fun and just learning to be ok sitting and not completely stimulated at all times!!! I cannot stand the idea of my kids watching TV for entire road trips (heaven forbid just around town!) I think car trips are the time for some of the best bonding and conversation. However, I dont want it to be too painful. I want to be principled about it but also dont want everyone to go crazy and miserable. Am thinking about getting one but just putting a limit of one dvd per day and only if things get dire. Definitely not back to back movies but… would probably help us all to have a little ‘break’
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We have always travelled a lot and both our kids hate being in the car for more than about 2 hours. When they were 1 and 3 I borrowed a DVD player for a trip to see whether it would help (we were going from Canberra to Rothbury via Orange). All we ended up with was crying and fighting, and then some wiggles, and then more crying and fighting and then some Hi 5 – sometimes we even managed to overlap the crying and the nursery rhymes!! It was really fun!The worst was when I turned it off. I found it complicated the trip, rather than helped.
We never bought one in the end and they are almost 4 and 6 now and we seem to have come out the other side, so to speak.
Of course that is just our experience and I am sure some families find it helpful, but it doesn’t necessarily help. In the end just stopping in places they like is the best plan – ie a park rather than a cafe.
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I grew up in a family of 3 children, and parents who took us for a long drive every holidays. There were no electronic devices; now that my siblings are grown up my parents cant understand why NONE of us will ever go on driving trips with children as a pleasure trip.
Over the years I did venture out on a long trip with children for various reasons and the only electronic device we had was taped stories, with accompanying books. I wished we had more. Half way trhough the trip my husband bought individual cassette players with earphones, so thye wouldn’t fight over even that.
Recently I went with grandchildren on a 5 hour trip and the electronic devices gave that welcomed break from never ending entertaining. I was pleased with the mixture the children seemed relaxed when we finally arrived.
My advice is think of the trip from the children’s point of view as well, how much will they really like looking at scenery and playing verbal games, at least give a bit of both for them.
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Why does it have to be all or nothing?
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We drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast every Christmas holidays and we love it. The kids do a combination of ipods, ds, portable dvd player and old fashioned spotto and number plate alphabet.
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I vote: turn around and drive home.
Friend of mine told me about when his Mum cracked it about three hours into a trip and turned around on a trip to Brisbane.
They’d always fight non-stop in the back of the car and their Mum would yell “If you kids don’t stop fighting I’ll turn the car around”.
Then one day she did.
They were three hours into their trip to their Granddad’s and she turned around, drove home for three hours. They begged her the whole time to continue to Granddad’s, but she drove home, made them unpack and told them the trip was cancelled because of their fighting.
A day later, on Sunday night she told them that if they were good at school during the week, and promised to behave in the car on the trip up, they would try again next weekend.
They were super good and behaved on every car trip from that moment on.
Only years later did the Mum admit that the first trip was a fake out. She’d been sick of their fighting in the car and it had been stressing her out. So she planned the ‘lesson’ and never intended to drive all the way. She had been worried that they’d notice her bag was really light (unpacked), or question why they were leaving the week BEFORE school holidays.
I’ve got four kids. I’m totally going to do this.
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I love that story…it reminds of my mother…she fed my 3 year old older brother smarties for breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks for a week!!! The first 3 days he could not believe his good luck but by the fourth day he really wanted some real food but she persisted for the full 7 days…hes 47 now and NEVER eats chocolate!!!
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I believe that is called “commando parenting” … demonstrating to the kids that you will carry out absolutely any threat!
On a smaller scale, I’ve been known to walk out of restaurants mid-meal and abandon half-full shopping trolleys because the kids wouldn’t behave.
It works, and you only need to do it once
The fake-out trip is brilliant though!
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I think that’s a great idea and can’t wait to read your report on how it went.I agree with you about the memories you create-some of my favourite childhood memories revolve around the fights we had in the car during long drives :” Mum! Tell her to stop looking out my window!” They seem hilarious to us now! I have never really been close to my dad but one of the best memories of my childhood is when he, my sister and I drove
from Geelong to Merimbula and the whole way up and back (about 8 hrs one way), we sang the whole Paul Simon Graceland album over and over . It remains one of my favourite albums to this day. Have fun .
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Some child (who must be hunted down) has taught my kids a driving song that goes, ‘This is the song that’ll get on ya nerves, get on ya nerves, get on ya nerves. This is the song that’ll get on ya nerves, and this is how it goes … (repeat)
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(repeat) (repeat) (repeat) then repeat using a whacky voice….I hate this one….in my day we had monty pythons traffic light song to annoy my parents.
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Please don’t EVER tell my children about that song. Justifiable homicide?????
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I believe the orginal is
‘This is the song that never ends,
yes it goes on and on my friends,
Some people
Statrted singing it not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because (repeat)’
I think I saw it on Lambchop! (remember that show with Shari Lewis?)
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Depends just how much driving you’re doing, and where! We did some big, big trips last year- across the Kimberley, up to the Bungle Bungles (worst.road.in.Australia.) and from Perth to Broome via a trip inland to Karijini National Park- 3000+ kms in 13 days. We did take a portable DVD player, but with the stipulation that the kids were only allowed to use it for one movie if we were doing a 6 or more hour stretch and the scenery was dire. That happened about three times (we had one 12 hour driving day where Cam successfully lobbied for two movies), and I swear it gave us all a break…. occasionally on those long, boring stetches everyone just needs to zone out a bit and recharge, and the movie broke the hours up well. I agree though, I saw plenty of families driving up the Gibb River Road with all the little faces turned toward the screen and none actually noticing the AMAZING rivers, ranges, flowers, etc.
One other thing- the DVD saved our bacon one night while we were camping in Karijini. There were storms all around us as we set up camp, with the lightning so close you could feel it through the ground everytime it hit. Cam (9 yo) was TOTALLY freaked out and- after 10 days travelling and 42 degrees every day- so exhausted that she was on the verge of a complete hysterical melt down. We popped her in the car with her brother and “Nim’s Island” and she became so engrossed in it that she forgot to keep screaming. Thank God. Maybe stash an emergency DVD player? Though I guess if you are staying in civilisation that won’t be a problem- we swagged it for most of our trips. Good luck!
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Our son is about to turn one and my husbands family live 5 hours away so we spend a lot of time in the car. I am still torn if I should get him a dvd player for christmas….Part of me thinks he should learn to do it without having to be entertained but then the other part thinks I want him to look forward to visiting his Nan….there is also our sanity!! The last trip home was a shocker.
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we have a dvd player that we can put in the car. it only goes in for trips over 2 hours
we did a 3 day trip to visit the ILs 2 years ago…..1st 2 hours of the day, cds (music and reading books). morning tea break. next 2 hours – dvd. then lunch break. next 2 hours – sleep time (hopefully – kids were 4, 2 and 2 at the time). we would then stop for the day, check into the motel, go for a swim in the pool, have a walk, etc etc. worked really well
next year, we are going to vic again – but flying. the dvd player will be coming along, and no doubt the 6yr old will bring the ipod that santa is bringing. we will be doing the waiting at the airport, then the flight, then the skybus into the centre of melbourne, then wandering around town, then catching the train to the ILs (4 hours). so it will be a full full day, and when 2 of my 3 kids have an ASD, i will take all the reinforcements i can! but i do plan on us looking around in the city before we catch the train, and i don’t think the technology will be on all the time, more so to settle them in case they get distressed
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My husband and I did it. It was a lot of hard work but our kids remember it being the best holiday ever – so it was totally worth it.
We packed the kids into the car, hooked up the caravan and drove from Melbourne to Darwin and back – in a month. At the time our kids were 10 and 3. We let them watch tv in the camp kitchen at a caravan park in Darwin but aside from that the trip was tech free. The kids spent their time playing games, using their imaginations and having a ball.
I’m not going to lie – when I got back I felt like I needed another holiday or at least a trip to the day spa but it was great to know we’d given them some fantastic memories, and it was really nice to share that family time.
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You are not crazy Kate! I’ve done Perth to Canberra with three kids. We also do Canberra to Brisbane regularly. I don’t think audio books are cheating because the kids still use their imagination. Our local library has an awesome collection. I love it that we all talk about the story and wonder what’s going to happen next. I look forward to that interaction actually when I don’t have the usual distractions of life to take away my attention. I made organisers for the backs of the passenger and driver’s seats which are filled with note books, colouring and activity books, and picture books. I always buy the kids a new activity book for each big drive so the first morning they excitedly look in their organisers to see what’s in there. My husband and I play our favourite music as well. If you want to be in our car you must think that Sting is the greatest musician on earth! If things are really not going well then stopping for a packet of chips always works well I must say! Good luck!
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Don’t do it!!! We do the Melbourne to Brisbane trip every year and our kids are 11, 7 and 2. They have DVD players and DS’s (not the 2 yr old of course). We have a 7 seater car and have 2 boys in the middle row and one in the back. They set themselves up with books, toys, colouring in and the electronic devices. We still have plenty of games of ispy. During the last trip we read the “Magic Faraway Tree” – my husband did all the voices it was fabulous! When it was time for the toddler to have a rest our older boys would play their games or watch a movie and we were guaranteed a few hours of peace. We used to have an incar system but soon discovered that our oldest would fast forward his brother’s movie choices so it was his turn again. Now they have individual portable ones.
One last tip for DVD players choose one that works off a USB then load all the movies onto a USB – saves trying to change discs etc while driving along.
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USB’s also use less power so the charge on the DVD player lasts longer and you don’t need to have the cord snaking through the car
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I think you should go for it!!! We drive tech free all the time (actually, we don;t really have much tech at all anyway!) and it can be great and it can be draining, but we choose it.
We have 4 kids (6, 3, 2 and 5 months) and just did an 8 hour drive with….wait for it……NO crying, NO whinging and NO arguments!! It was fun and fabulous.
I pack snack packs and drinks for everyone and they can eat anything from it whenever they like and then a bag of things for each child dependant on their interests – little toys, pencils/crayons, colouring book / find a words / scrapbook, books to read etc
We also make sure we stop at parks to give the kids plenty of run around time.
Works for us most of the time.
Good luck! And have fun
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We’ve done both. Last trip was full on technology (DS and DVD). The previous one I left the DS’ at home and took paper, pencils, coloring pads & we had the DVD player (it’s in the roof) on for small periods of time. Have to say I prefer the latter as even when they are coloring they are still engaged. Hubby prefers the former because he can listen to his songs, his cricket etc and doesn’t have to moderate fights! I would say go tech-naked, but pack the tech just in case non-tech clearly isn’t working.
Those kids in the photo are spits for my 3 boys- right down to the ages, haircuts and inability to keep hands to themselves!!
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I’m for technology, and here’s my reasons.
1. Sorting out fights etc while driving on unfamiliar roads is distracting and potentially dangerous.
2. If you have these technologies at home you are removing your children’s coping mechanism (my son is ASD so this is quite an issue for us, probably not so much for my daughters).
3. While the kids are watching a movie I can have some quality time talking to my husband.
4. the kids haven’t used up their good behaviour before we arrive.
That said, we don’t have a DS/ipad/games on phones or ipod, so the DVD player only amuses for so long before we’re onto car games and colouring anyway.
My best memory is seeing kangaroos on the Nullarbor, while dad removed the car window winder handle because my 18month old sister wouldn’t stop winding the windows down and throwing toys out!
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Awesome go for it, I decided to do the same a while ago and it was actually really good fun. We rediscovered I Spy and all sorts of other car games. Go Girl!!
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I used to love roadtrips when I was a kid – I still do.
We used to drive from Sydney to Port Maquarie every school holidays (About a five hour trip), and this was in the late 80s/early 90s when there were no gameboys, discman, etc. I dont have a single bad memory of those trips. When we moved to Qld, we would drive or take the bus to Sydney every holidays. We would take books for when we got bored, but that was about it. Apart from occasional car sickness, we would chat and sing and play games the whole way. Of course there were moments of “hes on my side of the car!” “Stop touching meeeee!” etc, but nothing major.
With my kids, we have taken driving trips from Brisbane to Melbourne, Brisbane to Sydney, Melbourne to Brisbane and back (when we lived in Melbourne) and the grandparents each live three hours away and we visit both every school holidays. The kids dont have a DS, we don’t have an Ipad or DVD player for them to use, they dont have an Ipod and the radio in our car doesn’t work. Maybe its because they are used to not having gadgets to keep them entertained (even at home they dont have video games, they dont watch TV on weekdays, etc), or maybe its because they take long trips so often, (then again maybe we are just inexplicably lucky) but we have never had a problem travelling with them. Actually, I LOVE being in the car with the kids, they talk our ear off about anything and everything – our car is like a big truth bubble where the kids talk to us about anything and everything thats on their mind as soon as we start driving. The biggest problem we’ve had is them getting too excited and singing too loudly while the baby is sleeping. A lot of our funny family sayings have come from our road trips.
We often get odd looks and statements of surprise when people find out we dont own any child-friendly gadgets or that our kids dont use ours etc, especially because my partner is an IT whiz an uses them all as part of his job, but we have just never felt the need to get them – we are lucky, our kids prefer to run around outside or draw pictures etc – theyve never asked us for any of those techy things. (By the way, I just realised how that may have come across…Im not trying in any way to sound like Im doing things better or that kids shouldnt have those things – I think all those gadgets are great! And great for kids, especially these days, to learn how to use them. Im just saying we have never had the need for them YET).
I think it depends on the kids really – if they have DVD players, Ipods, DS games etc and they are used to using them all the time, especially in the car, I think it would a lot harder to execute a tech free road trip. IF they are used to being without them, I think youll be ok.
One question though while we are talking about going tech free – the past few weeks I have seen no less than four times, when we have gone out to eat, parents with their kids where the parents are eating and talking while the kids are watching DVDs on a portable DVD player…..Am I wrong for thinking this is taking it a little too far, if your kids cant get through dinner without watching a movie or playing a video game? Is it just me who thinks this is over the top?
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Thanks for the comment Freetoclaire. We have all the devices (I’m more addicted to my iPad than the kids are to their DSs). They have their place We’ve been on plane trips and I’m all for them – air travel is boring and other passengers look oddly at families playing ‘I Spy’. It’ll be interesting, for sure – if we decide tech free is the way we’ll go. I’m with you on devices at dinner.
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Oh yeah they definitely have their place – and I have no doubt that as the kids get older we will accumulate a lot of them. I know I couldnt live without my iphone, Im actually surprised the kids havent tried to claim any of our devices for themselves yet!
I think I just like the habit we have when it comes to driving – talking and chatting and having them actually sit still long enough to have a proper conversation with them, haha!
I can see how theyd have their definite advantages on a plane – my kids havent taken a plane trip yet, so I havent had to worry about that.
I have no idea if going tech free will work for us after they get into all the gadgets…as I said that might be the reason it works for us now, because they are used to being without them.
I would probably say it depends on what the holiday is for — if the driving is to get to the holiday, letting them play their games or watch dvds etc is probably the way to go, but if the driving *is* the holiday, going tech free would probably be great.
Let us know what you decide and how it goes
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You should totally do it! Just come up with a heap of games to do on the way and activities for the backseat.
Anyone remember CORNERS!? Ahh, that was fun.
My friend was telling me about her uncle doing a drive up from Sydney (I think) to Brisbane with their 3 boys and they had DSs, Ipad, DVD player to keep them occupied.
I personally HATE the idea! Children these days can hardly keep themselves entertained without something electronic! We once had someone leave their laptop here at work to get looked at her 12 year old daughter asked “what will she look at in the car since they don’t have the laptop” !!!!!
Are you kidding me!!!?
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We did a trip from the South Coast NSW to Gold Coast and back with minimal tech plus 5 kids aged 1.5 to 10. Yes the baby had her moments but the trip was enjoyable. With lots of chatter about what we could see plus the normal car games and also quiet times as we went along. It was a great lesson for the kids as when they did complain or ask how much longer we simply said this is what we have to do if you want to get to the fun part i.e. movieworld.
I’d do it again anyday and I was happy to report back to the nay sayers that we didn’t need the DVD player they felt we’d be wishing for 2 hours into the trip!
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We didn’t have any technology for many years and survived without it. But now that my boys have DS’s they play them for a bit and then we make sure they put them away for a lot of the time and make them look out the window for a bit. Also, If there is any whinging, we confiscate the DS’s and that seems to be a good bribe for good behaviour.
I think there can be a happy medium, you just need rules and you have to implement them.
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I agree a combination of both is a good thing. Sometimes parents need a break too! We have family time and tech time. We love the tech time because it gives hubby and myself a rare chance to have a conversation! We divide each ‘leg’ of the trip up – have 2/3 family fight free time and 1/3 followed by one hour of tech time, then a park break. Any fights and the time restarts. My 12 year old pointed out that it was their holiday as well, and playing the IPod was relaxing for him, which I thought was a fair call. We don’t do DVD’s, find them too distracting for the driver, we can’t have our music, and it’s too hard to find a movie they all like now they are a bit older.
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The longest road trip we took as kids was from Perth to Melbourne. Took 3 days, 3 kids in the back. Good and bad times. Lots of fights!
I think that if we asked our parents about those trips, they might have had a different level of “enjoyment” of the experience to ours!!
My fave part of road trip entertainment used to be those notebook/activity pads that came with an invisible ink pen. Can’t for the life of me remember what they were called and have not seen them around for many years but I loved them at the time.
Nowadays I make sure I pack loads of food and books but yes, also the DS and Ipods. DVD players always seem to break or skip and end up being more hassle than they are worth but I dont think I could do without the other technology.
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We don’t ban the electronic items, but we don’t have them going the whole time either.
We have a DVD player that goes in the boot with us, and for the bulk of the trip we don’t use it. If we reach a point where everyone is getting a bit ratty, that’s when we pull it out. We regularly do three hour drives without anything except a bunch of books and a couple of favourite toys (dolls, stuffed toys etc) in the back seat. My kids don’t own any ipods or DSs etc – they are in early primary school.
I think you can easily do both. In our car it is just another distraction like giving the kids a colouring book – we have it if we want it, but most of the time we don’t.
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Im with your sister!!!!
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I am in my mid 20s so went on car trips with my parents quite often before iPods etc. You’re right Kate, some of my most treasured memories are of silly games we used to play, the audio books we listened to and even just hearing my parents talk late at night about all sorts of wonderful things when they thought we were asleep.
It’s never going to be fun all of the time but I think it’s worth it and will create some great memories for your kids, and you as well
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We’ve recently completed a road trip from Melbourne to the Gold Coast!
It was awesome fun. We broke up the journey by stopping every two hours or so to see the sites along the East Coast and took six days to do it in. Our boys hardly ever got restless and their main backseat activities were spotting number plates from different states and reading silly verses from Alright Vegemite and Far Out Brussel Sprout.
Inky Binky Bonky, Daddy had a donkey, Donkey died, Daddy cried, Inky Binky Bonky…and so it continues. This became our anthem.
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Holy mackeral, I remember those books!
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They were great books! I loved them when I was young.
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I did a driving holiday with my family from Sydney to Cairns and back. It was many years ago (so no ipods or DVD players) but we were allowed our discmans and books. And LOTS of snacks! There a lots of painful moments, but when you look back they’ll be overshadowed by fun moments like the sing alongs and conversations, and my brother and I were never really into I Spy but we played a lot of different number plate games! I have to say though, it was also before the days of satellite GPS and there were also lots of angry tense moments with mum and dad being cramped and and completely frustrated with each other. Forfeit whatever technology you want, but whatever you do, don’t forfeit the navman!
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I got a NavMan for my birthday.
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DO.NOT.DO.IT.
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We do semi regular road trips of 8 – 10 hours at least 4 times a year. My kids are 15, 5, 3 and 7 months and on those trips we do a combination of tech and no tech time.
The first few hours (till lunchtime if we can stretch it) is NO tech. We chat about where we are going, who we’re seeing, what’s expected, colour, play games and listen to music.
After lunch the younger ones will usually sleep so we start a DVD but they don’t always manage to get through it.
Then we have tech free time again before we arrive. It usually works really well. We also do lots of stops at parks for quick run arounds to burn off excess energy.
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I completely agree with you Kate and congratulate you.
Too often parents use technology as a baby-sitter. What happened to having conversations with your children? Letting them talk to you about their day? Asking questions they may not ask in other situations. Asking questions about what they see out the window?
Parents are so busy – busy getting from A to B, busy on the phone… too busy to be annoyed by their own children?
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Just wondering Alyssa how many children do you have? 3 days in the car with 3 kids asking the same questions over and over again would do even Mary Poppins in! “Mum why is that car blue?” “Why is that kangaroo dead? How did he die? Why did the truck run him over?” “What does that sign say? How fast is 110? Are you going that fast? Are you speeding?” “I need to do a wee, he’s touching me, he breathed on me” and every parent’s favourite “are we there yet? How far is it to Granny’s house?”
I love my children more than anything but listening to them bicker whilst trying to navigate our way across Sydney is not something I ever want to do again! Bringing a DVD player and DS on a 1800km road trip does not at all mean I don’t want to talk to them (the batteries don’t last that long). Nor does finding constant, repetitive questions annoying make me a bad parent. I am pretty sure most parents would agree.
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We have just done ( on the tail end of actually) a trip from Sydney to Western Australia. I can only say take the electronic devices . My husband said it Is much safer for a driver not to be distracted by constant bickering or even loud games…we had a car DVD player (it broke) , one week later hubby replaced it with similar . I had times when their noise just got too much for me and i hate yelling at them. We are towing a caravan too so hubby has to be extra alert and he likes his own music. We have headphones for the Tv/ DVD and electronic games. I love the iPad for maps feature and looking up places of interest.
We also stop every 2 hrs and have stopped at almost every playground between Sydney and WA.
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I have 5 yr old twin boys … and a spare seat in between them. Sorry the iPad is terrible for editing typos on , we are on our way to Port Augusta today . I’d google caravan parks with jumping pillows / cushions they are awesome for exhausting little treasures.