Road Trip with Kids: The 4 Best Tips to Go from Surviving to Thriving

Road Trip with Kids: The 4 Best Tips to Go from Surviving to Thriving

Intentionally Well: Striving for present intentionality every day.

Going on a road trip with kids isn’t something that conjures feelings of rainbows and sunshine. I get it. Having your whole family crammed in the car for an extended amount of time feels overwhelming.

As you may know (or maybe not), we live in Indianapolis. Our entire family lives in Alabama. So, over the last three years, we have become accustomed to long road trips with our kids.

I am here to share with you all the things we do to make these trips not only bearable but also fun. Because we have gotten used to long road trips with our kids, this has opened up many other travel opportunities that we may have been overwhelmed by otherwise.

Author, Emily, taking a selfie in her van with 3 young kids in the background as they take a road trip to Michigan.
That time I drove all 3 kids to Michigan by myself!

Tip #1: Prep Expectations in Advance

If you are familiar with Intentionally Well, it shouldn’t surprise you to see preparation at the top of the list. Ha! I like to plan. Here is what I do. First, I talk often about the trip with my kids. I mark the dates of the vacation on my children’s monthly calendar which is always posted on our refrigerator. They really love counting down the days until we leave.

Additionally, I remind them the travel days will be spent in the car. I tell them over and over again that we