Road trip planning for your family during this travel season can be so much easier if you keep your children safe with these tips!
Thank you Maxi-Cosi for sponsoring this post. Keep your little adventurers comfy, safe & stylish with the Maxi-Cosi Magellan 5-in-1 car seat!
Road Trip Planning: Tips For Traveling Safe With Toddlers
It is that time of year, mamas, for days filled with vacations, day trips and lots of road trip planning! It’s fun, it really is. These are those cherished moments that we wait to experience all year round with our families and they finally come to fruition. As you all know, we’ve moved to Pittsburgh, but Chris is staying in the city for 6 months (work, Army training), so that means lots of road tripping days ahead and back and forth between New York and Pennsylvania. You could call us road warriors and you would be right. To help you all with your road trip planning in the safest way possible, I’ve got some tips that we’ve learned along the way.
Road trip planning safety tips
Here are a few practices that we have applied over the years to make the road trip experience more enjoyable for the whole family!
Have a safe car seat.
The Maxi-Cosi Magellan 5-in-1 Convertible Car Seat has been such a saving grace for us! The new 5-in-1 convertible car seat that accommodates children from birth to age 10 (5lbs. to 120lbs.) and easily transitions between five modes of use: Baby Rear-Facing, Toddler Rear-Facing, Toddler Forward-Facing, Child Forward-Facing and Belt-Positioning Booster – makes it the only car seat you ever need! We love how it is the only convertible car seat equipped with Maxi-Cosi’s patented Adjustable Side Impact Protection, which creates a customized fit for all growth stages and ensures maximum protection in the proper position. All of these amazing details play a role in why we’ve chosen this car seat for our wiggly toddler!
Be strategic about your stops.
I always try to do a little bit of research on our route ahead of time, especially since Blake hit the toddler years. We need to have stops that allow her to run around and super engaged, to counter all the boredom of sitting in the car for hours.
Take precaution against motion sickness.
Little ones can get sick in the car so easily, especially if they are like mine and more used to riding in the subway than in a vehicle. Keeping a peppermint lollypop handy is great, bland snacks and even having a peppermint air freshener in the car has helped us through some not so pleasant moments. And we also love how the Magellan 5-in-1 Convertible Car Seat has a cup holder handy (cold water always helps us with motion sickness, too) and being designed with comfort and style in mind, the premium fabrics are machine washable – just in case there is an accident.
Snacks, snack, snacks.
Pretty self-explanatory here, but I often overlook because I know we’ll be making stops. Keep the basics handy so that you have something easy to grab if you’re in a pinch!
If you’re feeling adventurous…
If you are willing to probably clean up a bit of a mess, I want to share a little trick with you that will keep your kids occupied for hours that I’m stealing from my sister who recently drove from Ohio to Florida with 3 kids. After being fastened into their car seats, she gave the two little ones a small cookie sheet to put on their lap and then they each got a container of play dough – instant fun!
Looking for more travel tips? I’ve got you covered!
- How to Travel With a Baby (Seriously Overlooked Tips)
- How to Be More Present While Traveling
- How to Cultivate Adventure With Your Family
- Packing Tips For Travel
- The Promise All Moms Should Make This Summer
- Things to do on an Epic Road Trip From Austin to San Antonio Texas
We’ve seriously been loving the Maxi-Cosi Magellan 5-in-1 Convertible Car Seat and it’s played such a big role in our road trip planning. You can find the Magellan at the following retailers (retail price $349.99): Amazon, Target.com, Buy Buy Baby, Nordstrom.com, and Albee Baby. I hope it will be in your vehicle when you hit the pavement!
XOXO,
Allison
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Great ideas! I love a good road trip with the little ones but preparation is definitely key. I’m liking the cookie sheet and play dough idea.
One of the things that we’ve done that has provided hours of entertainment is to get a metal lunchbox (I picked ours up at Hobby Lobby) and fill it with magnets. You can even print your own designs on magnetic paper to make the magnets more personalized. It used to keep my littles busy for a long time on road trips or airplane trips.
Great tips! As a mom of 5 boys, I definitely agree that snacks are a MUST on any road trip! Staying safe, keeping them content and entertained, and keeping everyone happy are all musts.
I have traveled a lot with kids and I can tell you that this is a great post! You have a lot of points that I try to do whenever I travel with a child! With Christmas almost here this post is perfect!
You daughter is the cutest!! I used to have one of these for my son when he was little too!!
We had a car seat with this brand and it lasted forever! Good recommendation!
I agree on the snacks!!! Can’t make a road trip without them. But I do limit the drinks, LOL
I wish this car seat was around when my kids were little. Great tips about staving off motion sickness. I and both of my kids get it. My son’s motion sickness was really bad.
Thank you for your traveling tips. Traveling with kids can be so hard. They need our full attention every moment of the trip. And having snacks is essential!
You daughter is so cute!! I used to have one of these for my son , when he was younger! Loved it!
Snacks and movies were always our go to when the kids were little. It was so good to know that it would keep them entertained during our travels.
The thing I learned was my kids’ little bottoms got sore from sitting so long. They really needed to move more than I did.
Snacks are a must for a good trip. Driving with kids must be tough