Works For Me Wednesday – February 11, 2009

We are about to go on a trip down South – 20 hours total of driving in a Malibu.  I’m grateful that my kids travel easily.  I think a lot of it is due to temperament, but I have learned some lessons about making our trip easier.  Today I’m going to share with you one very important lesson – snacks.

Yep, you read it correctly – snacks.  I try to not use eating as entertainment so that my kids don’t develop bad eating habits, but a long car trip is not the time to be dogmatic.  For some trips, I have bought snacks in individual packages but that gets a little pricey.  Most of the time, I buy several bags of sweet snacks (cookies, M&Ms) and several of salty snacks (Chex mix, Goldfish).  I put a small portion into a zipper snack or sandwich bag.  Then, the snacks get all put into a box or basket.  When we had a van, I would keep the snacks with me and throw them back at the kids when they asked.  Now that we’re in a smaller car, the snacks will be in a basket in the backseat.

I also use this technique of packaging snacks in zipper bags at home, but the main intent is portion control.  I measure out about 100 calories worth of snacks in each bag so that I can easily calculate how much I’m eating.  The good news is that the this trick works great for travelling!  I try to get snacks that are crumbly so that a quick vacuuming cleans everything in a hurry.  This time, I’ll also include some apples.  Generally, I avoid fruit in the car because it can make a sticky mess but the kids are getting older and are a little neater.

We also buy bottles of water and let the kids have only water in the car.  If they spill, it doesn’t make a huge mess.  Other things to help the trip go by include listening to audiobooks, making sure the kids have games (video and other), and frequent stops.  Last year, Mr. Math Tutor and I set up a “quest” for the kids on our trip.  They were given a code to break as well as clues to find a treasure.  The kids requested a “quest” again this trip.  I can’t give details, but suffice it to say that they will be quite occupied!

What works for you when traveling?  What other ideas can you share?  Enquiring minds want to know!  Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more great ideas!