Surviving A Road Trip With A Toddler

And that’s the case when it’s just you and your significant other. Adding a toddler to the mix? That idea is daunting at best and an overwhelming nightmare at worst. However, there are still plenty of folks brave enough to take on the challenge. We are one of those families. 

Over the course of November 2020 to October 2021, our family has taken on three such multi-day road trips. Now that we are on our big adventure, there are even more to come. 

So how do you survive a road trip with a toddler? We’ve put together some tips on how you can do just that. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram @stillmanfamily_travels or @jebronstills.

Break up the trip into multiple days

The road trips that we’ve taken together as a family have all featured pretty lengthy drives. From our hometown of St. Louis, MO, we drove on separate trips to Perdido Key, FL (11.5 hours), Charleston, SC (13.5 hours), and Sunset Beach, NC (14.5 hours). 

As tempting as it might be to suck it up and drive straight through, we’ve had at least one overnight stop on each journey. This makes it so much easier on your toddler. Our little man doesn’t nap very well on car rides, so expecting him to behave for that long seems nearly impossible. Our patience only goes so far as well.

On our Perdido Key trip, we stopped for the night in Memphis, TN and enjoyed some barbecue at The Rendevous. On the Charleston trip, we stopped for a few nights along the way in Asheville, NC to take in some mountain views and beautiful hikes. On our drive to Sunset Beach for our first destination after we sold our house and hit the road to live the nomad life, we stopped for one night in Knoxville, TN, and another night in Charlotte to visit Adam’s work colleague, Walt. 

It’s also nice being able to explore a little bit during your overnight stays. Breaking the drives up means you don’t have to wake up super early and rush out the door. You can sleep in, well, as long as your kid(s) will let you and take your time packing up and getting out the door. 

During our overnight stays, we either try to find a reasonable one-night Airbnb stay, or we stay at a Marriott hotel using points we’ve earned (shameless plug for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card here using our referral link): https://www.referyourchasecard.com/252f/J2EOY3J3ZR)

Pro tip #1: Book a suite room so that you can put your toddler down in a pack-n-play in that room, while still being able to keep the lights on and hang out in the bedroom. 

Pro tip #2: Book a hotel or Airbnb with some sort of outdoor area to run around. After being cooped up in a car all day, that little one needs to stretch their legs and get some energy out!

Pro tip #3: Ask the hotels or Airbnb if they have a pack-n-play you can use. It’s one less thing you have to pack or carry into room. We always bring a mattress cover and sheet to use on these.

Stop at state rest stops

I know, I know. Rest stops aren’t glamorous by any stretch. However, if you plan ahead and stake out the first rest stop across a new state line, you can usually find a relatively nice place to stop. This is helpful for a few reasons.

First, the restrooms are pretty clean. After hours in the car, the last thing you want is to use a gross restroom.

Second, you can usually find a nice area to eat breakfast or lunch. We typically pack breakfast (granola bars, apples, etc) or lunch (deli sandwiches) in a backpack cooler for our road trips.  That way we aren’t eating too much fast food and we can get a little bit of fresh air.

Third, and most importantly for your toddler, they can run off some of that energy. That’s a lot harder to do when running into a fast food joint.  

Gifts 

This is a weird tradition that comes from my (Adam) family. I’m the oldest of four kids, and we usually went on an annual summer road trip growing up. Getting our son, Luca, to behave is hard enough, so I can see why my parents came up with this tradition for our road trips. As a way to reward good behavior, my parents used to give us gifts throughout the trip. We’d be able to unwrap a new toy, car game, puzzle or book every few hours (even using the halfway point of that day’s journey works). Say what you want, but it works. It’s a great way to incentivize good behavior and give your toddler something to look forward to.

We start with a decent number of toys packed for the journey, but the same old toys from home can get boring. Adding new toys to the mix goes a long way. 

Snacks

Now this is the most important item on the list. I can’t reiterate this enough. Snacks, snacks and more snacks. This is a no-brainer so I’ll keep it brief. But a hangry toddler is enough of a pain when you’re not on a long car ride. So make sure to pack plenty of snacks.

We’ll have our healthy snacks (apples, bananas, nuts, etc), but it’s a road trip, and what road trip doesn’t include unhealthy snacks too?! Some of our favorites are Cheez-its, pretzels and Twizzlers. 

Screen time

Now this is mostly a last resort, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. We do bring an iPad with us that we mount to the headrest of the back seat of our Subaru Outback. We usually download movies or shows ahead of time on Netflix or Disney+, shout-outs to Cocomelon and Disney’s Luca. 

We like to wait until our Luca asks to turn on the iPad. If he does, we then try to distract him with toys or snacks. Or just kinda ignore him for a bit. If that doesn’t work, we like to tell him we’re setting a timer for some length of time (can be 10, 20, or 30 minutes depending on his mood), and when that goes off, we’ll turn on the iPad. That way we’re not giving in to his screen time demands constantly, but it still sets expectations with him that he’ll get his iPad time, just not yet. 

If it’s approaching meltdown territory though, sometimes you just have to cave and turn it on. You have to keep your sanity!

Road trips aren’t easy with toddlers. But they are doable. Hope these tips are helpful. Again, if we missed any, please let us know in the comments or on Instagram @stillmanfamily_travels or @jebronstills. Safe travels!

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