March 5, 2013
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I Never Was a Boy Scout, But . . .
This weekend, as my husband and I were on our little getaway, I thought fondly back on the days when we traveled with a van full of young children. Our kids mostly enjoyed traveling, despite the fact that we didn’t have video games for them to play or movies for them to watch. I did learn to be prepared, though.
I posted most of these suggestions many years ago, long before most of you were reading my blog. It occurred to me that maybe some young mothers who read this might find some of these ideas helpful. When my kids were little, I learned to keep certain items in our van at all times. Since we have a van, it was easy to fit these things under the seats. If you have a different kind of vehicle, you might need to put these things in a corner of the trunk.
- First Aid Kit. Duh. A no-brainer. Plenty of bandaids, a bee-sting pen, antibiotic ointment, some wet wipes, etc. Also some ibuprofen or acetaminophen. It can all fit into a plastic food container. We have rarely needed our first aid kit, but when we did, we were VERY glad to have it!
- A few bottles of water. If you need to take some ibuprofen, you’re going to need water. Likewise if you get stuck in a traffic jam in July with no air conditioning in your vehicle.
- A plastic box containing the following things: paper plates, paper napkins, paper cups, plastic flatware, salt & pepper shaker, large sharp knife, and a thin plastic cutting board. Sometimes, you may find yourself stranded somewhere with hungry children. It may be a place far from a fast food joint. Or you may not be able to afford a restaurant meal. But if there is a convenience store or grocery store nearby, you can buy bread and peanut butter or other picnic food and turn your misfortune into an adventure for your kids. It’s a lot easier to feel adventurous if you have something to eat off of.
- A plastic box containing zip-lock bags with special toys in them. By “special” I mean that they are kept in the car and only brought out in true emergencies—such as being stuck in the waiting room at the doctor’s office for three hours. We had a bag of carefully selected Lego pieces that could make a couple of little buildings, some people, and a few vehicles. We also had a little miniature village complete with tiny buildings, fences, animals, trees, people, and cars. There was a set of little wooden gnomes that could be stacked various ways or used as characters in role-playing. And there was always a pad of paper and some pencils that could be used for drawing or playing hangman or tic tac toe. We also had a good collection of the Little Golden Books mini-versions (about 3 inches square) that sadly are not available anymore. The books had all the words and pictures of the larger versions but were so compact. We had hours’ worth of read-aloud material in a very small space. Now I bet you could have all that stuff on your Kindle. I also had some alphabet dice that we could make crosswords with or practice our reading skills.
- Pipe Cleaners. I would buy these at the dollar store and keep a couple of packages tucked away in the van. Pipe cleaners have saved my sanity more times than I can count. Pipe cleaners could keep my kids occupied for several hours. If they seemed to be losing interest, I would make suggestions. “Make a hat. Make something you would like to have for a pet. Make a bouquet of flowers.” I miss the pipe cleaner days.
Those are my suggestions for things to keep in your vehicle at all times. If you are a mother of very young children, I would like to add that there are two things that are handy to carry in your handbag all the time.
First, a small bottle of bubble solution with a bubble wand. I had a lovely little glass bottle that I bought at a craft fair, and it had a cord so I could wear it like a necklace. When the kids were tired/hungry/impatient/bored, I could always blow bubbles and create an instant mood improvement. Now you can get the little plastic bottles that they use at weddings. Inexpensive and well worth it when the need arises.
Secondly, I recommend getting a laser pointer that you can attach to your key ring. One that is intended for entertaining a cat is just fine. Toddlers are equally entertained by a laser pointer. And there is a bonus here. Not only is your child being entertained by chasing the little red dot—he’s wearing himself out, too! It’s great for getting kids to run off some energy instead of getting whiny.
Thus endeth the Mama Mentor child entertainment class.
Today was a big school day as I tried to catch up with what I have to do and help Jasper with his schoolwork too. And we also had our Literary Society dinner. I cannot wait until tomorrow afternoon when I can breathe a big sigh of relief!
