Tailgating With a Toddler - Grandparents.com

The biggest mistake I ever made when traveling with our toddler grandson was stopping at a restaurant for lunch on a five-hour drive from Maine to Albany, N.Y.

After two hours on the road, he needed some time to run. Not wanting to feel like the Gestapo, I let him stand in the booth while waiting for a grilled cheese sandwich, which seemed to take hours to make. I maneuvered milk and fries to avoid spills as he converted his stored-up potential energy into kinetic. The ice water I dabbed on the resultant ketchup stain soiling my winter-white slacks did little to remove it. Now, I wear jeans while traveling with him.

Gone are the days when you could let a child stand in the back seat of a car or lie down in the "way back" of a station wagon like we did as kids. Today's kids are safely straight-jacketed into car seats that allow little wiggle room.

Peanut-Butter Picnics

As I thought of alternatives to restaurant stops, I recalled the picnics my mother packed for us as kids when we traveled long distances. We had a red-plaid, metal Scotch Cooler with ice cubes melting in the bottom. We ate bologna sandwiches, saltines with peanut butter, carrot sticks, homemade cookies, and sipped on lemonade poured from a recycled glass milk jug. It was not fancy, but seemed like a feast when we finally stopped at a roadside picnic area.

There weren't many fast-food restaurants then, and even if there were, my folks never would have sprung for a store-bought lunch for three kids. Our treat was a 5-cent, 8-ounce, ice-cold Coke from the red cooler that stood outside the gas station.

Now, when I travel with my grandson, we skip the restaurants and open the hatch of the van. Peanut butter sandwiches; thinly-sliced, peeled apples; and, cups of water hit the spot every time. It's easy and cheap, which helps with the cost of driving in these days of rising gas prices.

A remnant of a $5 rug cushions the floor of the mini-van — third seat removed. It repels most spills, protects the floor, and can easily be replaced. We can climb in the back or have our lunch outside on the grass. Of course, a van is not required for tailgating. Munching at a picnic table or eating while standing next to the car works just fine.

Unless we park in an overly-crowded parking lot, we can run, explore, and enjoy. We can laugh over spilled milk as long as it doesn't ruin the slices of cake. If it does, then we find a place for ice cream at the next pit stop. If he is too distracted to eat, then he can nibble as we continue on our journey, understanding that there will be extra clean-up at the end. After exercising, we are both more amenable to climbing back in the car.

Toddler Travel Tactics

Planning, timing, and a sense of humor when things don't go as planned all help. We try to stop briefly every hour to hour-and-a-half, and make one long stop for lunch. It's healthier for us to keep the blood circulating.

A stop at a city, state, or national park offers opportunities to walk, run, and play. The place doesn't have to be an amusement park. If you are watching your grandchild zip down the slide at a playground, that's all that matters. Human interaction — not easy or safe while driving with a child in the back seat — makes our time together special.

On rainy, snowy, or extremely hot days, flexibility is the name of the game. Buttons and knobs on the dashboard are fascinating to our grandson and can easily become the playground if we eat inside of a closed-up car. Close supervision is a must to protect us, and the car, and I try to avoid situations where I have to continually say, "No."

A few famous fast-food restaurants that cater to kids have inside playgrounds where sometimes we play first, and eat later. Shopping malls, with inside restrooms, and baby-changing stations — often located near highway exits — are less intimidating than crowded indoor playgrounds. We can even carry our lunch in and eat on the benches that offer shoppers a place to rest. Some have food courts or grocery stores where you can find a meal when packing a picnic lunch is not an option.

Traveling a distance in a car with a toddler — and keeping everyone happy — is a challenge even under the best circumstances. A little pre-trip research into science centers, zoos, or children's museums at which a stop along the way may be practical can help turn a trip from too long into an adventure. One tip: A picnic lunch hits the spot every time and has become a favorite activity for us — even when we're not traveling.