1. I drove 5 hours with a 7 week old and a 2 year old. GOD AWFUL! I just did the trip again with a now 5 and 3 year old and what a difference. MUCH MUCH EASIER. At least now they can feed themselves.

Posted at 7:06AM on Jun 25th 2008 by Julie Underberg

2. It's a 4-5 hour trip from here to my husband (he can make it in 3). It's hell on Earth, two kids are always fighting when the third is trying to nap. I've made the trip alon a handful of times, and it's one of the very few reasons I wish I had a bigger vehicle. It's gotten harder as they've gotten older - the twins when babies would sleep in the car, making it quiet.

One thing I don't bother with is a lot of entertainment, usually just whatever toys are in the car. I'll open the moon roof cover if it's a sunny day with clouds, and I swear they can spend hours pointing out cloud shapes. Cam will stare out the window for the entire trip. Needless to say, my kids are very good at entertaining themselves - I don't have the luxury of entertaining them while driving on the interstate.

Posted at 8:30AM on Jun 25th 2008 by the goddess anna

3. It does get better. My kids are 8 and 4 and we drive from Atlanta to Long Island (18 hours) in one day. We do it twice a year and it is ok as long as you get used to the inane conversations of the 4 year old. And now he wants to play I spy all the time!!

Have you watched Jon and Kate plus 8? They wear ear plugs :)

Posted at 10:03AM on Jun 25th 2008 by randi

4. It does get easier. My kids are 4, 6 & 8 and we drive 11 hrs to SC every summer and to the in-laws 5 hrs away several times a year. The god-send is the DVD player. It really does make life easier. When my daughter was a newborn we drove the 1000 mi to Iowa so I could spend part of my maternity leave w/them. It was awful. We had a 4 1/2 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old potty training. I thought we'd never get there and I know we'll just cough up the $ for plane tickets twice a year for that trek. For the 11 hr SC trip we have found it's easier on all of us if we just divide it into 2 days - leave mid-day the first day and find a hotel, order pizza and swim til the pool closes rather than drive through the night. We are all a lot more relaxed when we get there.

Hang in there.

Posted at 12:02PM on Jun 25th 2008 by maria

5. When my oldest was 3 months old, we took a 3-leg road trip to visit family--each leg was 3-4 hours long, and she screamed the entire trip, sleeping for maybe 10 or 15 minutes during each driving session. I am soooooo glad those days are gone.

Now that our youngest, at 15 months, can face forward, the drives go a bit smoother. Both he and his 3.5 year old sister can watch DVD's, and I can more easily hand back snacks, drinks, toys, and pacifiers from the front seat.

Most of our road trips are about 4-5 hours long. We stop once, about halfway, either at a rest stop or a Starbucks (they have milk for the kids and clean restrooms!). If possible we try to leave either right at bedtime, or right at naptime so that we at least a couple of hours of guaranteed snooze time out of the kids. Having lunch or dinner at a restaurant with a big play place also helps them burn off energy before being strapped down.

I have 4 sisters and I remember several epic 2-day drives from Indy to Myrtle Beach. I don't know how my parents survived.

Posted at 12:15PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Kristi

6. Why don't you try leaving at night? Then they (and maybe even you) can sleep the whole way. I just tried this with my 7-month-old and it worked great. No feeding/changing/fussing, we both got to sit in the frontseat, and his sleep schedule stayed on track for the whole vacation, and we enjoyed plenty of both adult conversation and blissful silence.

Posted at 1:11PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Emily Campbell

7. Not having any children yet, I don't have any answers. :) But I do remember my family's drives to southern CA from Seattle every summer growing up. We had a huge old chevy truck that my Dad would lay out foam mattresses and my older sister and brother and I would sleep and play back there the entire time while my parents sat up in the front and could not hear us unless we banged on the window between the parts of the truck which we did if we had to go to the bathroom. As a child I thought the kids were the lucky ones - it was exciting to sleep in the back of the truck. But my parents really had it good - their kids were content and they couldn't hear them. :)

Posted at 1:54AM on Jun 26th 2008 by Elissa

8. Yeah, you think that's bad? I just finished driving from Sacramento, California to Pittsburgh, PA with my 3.5 year old and 2 year old. Dear old hubby got to drive alone for the entire trip since I can't maneuver his loaded truck and it has no AC. Talk about a nightmare trip, and my kids are super well behaved.

Posted at 8:51AM on Jun 26th 2008 by Sabrina

9. It gets much easier, don't worry. Soon, they'll be entertaining themselves and all you'll have to do is relax and enjoy the ride. Finding food can get harder if your kids are picky thoguh.

Posted at 4:49PM on Jul 7th 2008 by Mary