Bribe Them With A State Quarter Map! And Other Fun Tips For Taking Children Across America
You want your kids to know the same wonder you knew when you first discovered your country by way of its back roads. There's nothing like it. A true appreciation for the vastness and variety of America's landscape can't be gained from geography class or a state quarter map.
You can't stop playing it over in your head: the memory of sitting in the cab of a pickup truck with your father and grandfather, watching Michigan turn into Canada, camping and fishing gear in the truck bed, your grandpa chewing tobacco, visions of silver bass dancing behind your sleepy eyes.
Or the time you rode a train from Philadelphia to San Francisco with your grandmother, playing rummy in the dining car, pretending to surf in the smoking car while your grandma finished off another Virginia Slim.
Your mom, filling up the tank on the Cutlass, her cowboy-booted silhouette carved against the rainbow of the sunset over the Nevada desert. She hands you a glass-bottled Pepsi, but you really wish she'd hand you the keys.
Times have changed. You've changed. You never chewed tobacco (okay, once, but it was disgusting), and you quit smoking before your kids came into the picture. Seat belts preclude you from making a playpen of the station wagon trunk (this is a good thing), but you still love the open road. El camino abre. And now you have these kids, and you love them, and you want to put these two loves together and drive off into the sunset, literally.
Here are a few ways to make the most of your epic family vacation.
1. In the weeks leading up to your trip, watch road trip movies and read from classic road trip literature. Easy Rider. Travels With Charley. The Muppet Movie. Easy Rider may be too much as a whole for the little ones, but that doesn't mean you can't curate a movie hour of your favorite scenes, to give them a taste of what the adventure ahead means for you.
2. Tell them your stories, teach them your songs and silly games. Start this in advance of your trip, to get them excited. When you're finally on the road, you can all sing together the "vintage" songs that resonate with your childhood experience. Beats the Barney theme song for the millionth time in a row.
3. Bribe them with a state quarter map. Seriously! Coin collecting is a classic hobby. Your little mercenaries can profit while learning about the states you're driving through. State quarter maps are cool, anyway, a souvenir (and an investment) they'll love.
4. Pack a canvas bag for each child filled with age-appropriate treats like crayons, markers, pads of paper, bandanas, hand-held games and small toys. Let them pull out a new one every hour. If you're really on your game, wrap each little treat individually. The delight derived from a steady influx of presents to open can't be overrated.
5. Pack healthy snacks and drinks. Road food seems great at first, but in the end, it's nobody's friend. It costs too much, makes someone sick, and certainly doesn't grow strong bones and healthy bodies.
6. Make lots of stops along the way! Fill up that state quarter map! Take lots of pictures! Are we forgetting anything? Hit the road, Jack, Jane and Junior! Drive safe and have the time of your lives!
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