When was the last time you spent multiple hours with your family, distraction-free? Road trips provide just the opportunity. Enjoy these 7 ways to encourage family connection on the road.
I know a lot of people feel like spending 10+ hours in the car isn’t their idea of a fun family vacation.
“Are we there yet?” Sibling fights. Bathroom breaks every few miles. The list goes on…
As a family of six, traveling by road is the most economical way for us to get out and explore, and we’ve been on some long road trips together. We have our moments, but in the end, these trips are always remembered fondly and we’ve learned a lot from the hours spent in the car together.
On our spring break travels from Yosemite to the California Coast, traveling by RV reminded me of all of the up sides to family road trips. In the RV, I loved having the chance to sit in the back with the kids, rather than sitting up in the captain seat. The kids and I played cards, cuddled, watched movies, and laughed together for hours on end. It made the hours on the road pass by quickly and provided so many opportunities for connection.
I’m fully converted to the benefits of RV travel. 🙂
Thanks to Outdoorsy, an online service that makes it easy to rent a recreational vehicle from an owner near you, RV travel is more accessible than ever for families. We picked up our RV from the company Heightened Path RV Rentals in Phoenix, Arizona.
But no matter your seating arrangements, road trips provide a rare opportunity to interact with each other for a sustained amount of time. There’s no wifi, no friends or activities pulling your kids all different directions.
If you can get past the hiccups—from traffic detours to a cranky kid—you can really use road travel to build those family bonds.
7 Ways to Encourage Family Connection on Road Trips
Reading
I love the feeling of diving into another world through a good book, but what I love even more is doing it with my family. By listening to audio books in the car, the story becomes something we share, and we learn life lessons and stretch our imaginations in the process. Here’s a great resource from Modern Mrs. Darcy: 40 Favorite Audio Books for Kids.
Conversation
With the kids strapped into the car, you have their undivided attention. 🙂 Make it a point to have some meaningful family conversations. Even just taking a few minutes to share a story from your childhood or a grandparent’s life will bolster your intergenerational family identity.
This list of conversation starters for the dinner table can be applied so well to your time on the road.
Games
Playing games together is always a fun way to pass the time and laugh together. My kids love to play Road Trip BINGO, and I really appreciate that it keeps them engaged with the world around them as we pass through it.
Other favorites of ours include the alphabet game, the license plate game, twenty questions, and—my personal favorite—”Would you rather?”
Music
Music is a huge part of our road adventures. I usually leave it up to our oldest to put together a playlist for our trips. We listen to it over and over again, and more often than not, one song will become our theme song for a specific trip. I still remember the song we connected with on our trip from Canada to Arizona, and every time we hear it now, it brings back the excitement and jitters of moving to a new place.
I think music has such a strong power to connect us with memories. It’s an amazing tool for parents wanting family travel to leave an impression on their kids.
Down Time
Time apart may not directly strengthen our connections, but it allows us to bring our best selves to the group when we’re ready. That, to me, is worth everything.
When siblings (or spouses!) are in close proximity with each other a for hours at a time, disagreements are bound to arise. Encouraging everyone to have some alone time is essential for building connections on the road.
This is one thing that was SO great about traveling by RV. We had so much room to spread out and take a quiet moment when we needed it.
So how do you make space for alone time in a vehicle? Try switching spots at rest stops along the way so the kids are sitting by someone new. Bring electronics and headphones so your kids can enjoy some time to tune out and recharge. And of course, I like to encourage naps! (Sometimes by example…) 😉
Attitude
The most frustrating times I’ve experienced on road trips is when the ideal I had in my head just wasn’t a reality. The kids will fight; you will get on each other’s nerves; you may have car troubles; and you may have traffic or weather delays along the way. Expect these moments, and don’t let them bring you down. They’re all part of the overall experience. No family road trip will go off without a hitch; it’s how you react to these imperfect moments that will set the tone for your vacation.
Re-live Road Trip Memories
For our family, travel experiences don’t end the moment we get home.
As parents, we work hard to provide meaningful experiences that we want our children to remember throughout their lives. Exchanging photos, posting them to a shared photo stream, putting together a slideshow—all are excellent ways to reinforce your memories so that they stay with your children for much longer.
I especially love to document our travel with photography {8 Travel Photography Tips to Help You Capture the Heart of Your Experience} and make a vacation photo book that we can look through again and again.
You may also consider encouraging your kids to journal about their experience on the road when you get home or even give the kids a journal while ON the trip to record their memories as you go.
If you’ll be hitting the road this spring or summer, I hope these tips and resources help you create the most memorable (if imperfect!) road trip your family has taken yet.
Learn more about Outdoorsy and check out some cool RVs to rent for a holiday by visiting Outdoorsy.co. Get personalized help by calling 1-415-930-4841, chatting with a member of the team on the site, or emailing [email protected]. They’d love to help you plan your next Outdoor Family Adventure!
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Road trips are great for family bonding and should be used to the fullest. Yes, there will be difficult moments and it never goes perfectly but those are memories to be cherished.