Road Trip with CARSICK Kids

The family vacation we took a couple of weeks ago required a 6 hour road trip. That’s not too bad right? Expect as you can tell from the title of this post … 6 hours in a car could be HORRIBLE!

In our family we have 4 car sickies. (That’s 100% of us if you’re wondering.) Hubs and Big M get nasty headaches. I get a tummy ache and poor Little M throws up. 🙁  It’s really no fun at all.

We were determined to make the car ride just as fun as the rest of our vacation and I am happy to say it was a success!!!

Road Trip Games & Activities (that don’t require reading)

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We’ve all figured out little tricks to keep from feeling sick BUT that means no reading, no writing, no drawing, no board games. BLAH! Of course I found a ton of great car activities on Pinterest, but I needed something that wouldn’t force us to use the “carsick kit”.

• Listen to a book. A long car ride is a great time to listen to a long book. We really enjoyed The Patchwork Girl of Oz and had Magic Tree House Collection: Books 1-8 ready to go as a back up.
• Would you rather? When silliness was taking over, whether we liked it or not, I controlled it a bit with this game. Would you rather ride a giant pink bunny or to surf on a crocodile?
• I’m thinking of… We started off with one clue. If no one guessed it we’d move on to clue number two. Adding clues until someone could figure out what we were thinking.

Packing for a Road Trip with Carsick Kids

In our car there is a “carsick” kit ready all the time. I keep everything in arms distances from me. Even though we don’t need it that often, I am ALWAYS glad that it’s there when we do! (Sorry this part is a bit gross!)

• Something to throw up in. Plastic bags work great for this and I can seal them up when my poor little sicky is done throwing up. Little M was able to throw up in one of these by age 3 without making a mess. 🙁 (I keep these in the pocket behind the passenger seat for easy access.)
• A way to hide the throw up. Even if we only have to drive two more minutes, staring at vomit is disgusting. We have small paper bags to slide the plastic bags into. No more visual! (I keep these in the pocket behind the passenger seat as well.)
• Clean up. Baby wipes are great for quick clean up. Since I have no baby, I keep some in my glove box.
• A Way to Freshen up. We always have water in the car, so I have Little M take a few drinks. Then I let her chew some gum. You could probably use mouth wash too.

Road Trip Remedies that Worked for Us

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• Homeopathic medicine –I’ve always used Boiron Cocculus Indicus (For Motion Sickness). It works really well for me. I keep it in my purse and take it first thing when we get in the car for a long drive. (Little M doesn’t like the taste, so we had to find something else for her).
• Wristbands — I went straight to my Facebook readers for help on this one! As usual you came through for me. each of the kids wore a Sea-Band Child Wristband both ways and we didn’t have a single carsick issue!
• Make Stops — We left about 3 hours earlier than we really needed to. It made it so much easier to stop “just because”. We got out and let the kids take pictures of windmills, we explored Amboy Canyon from a distance (which is very cool by the way… if you’re ever in Southern California), we stopped to eat breakfast and lunch. Of course all the stopping made the trip extra long, but I would rather be in the car longer with happy kids.

Tell me about your road trip experiences!