The key to a peaceful car ride with kids

I have an announcement: audiobooks saved my life. Ok, well, if not my life, then they have saved my sanity. As you know, I have a toddler, and historially-speaking, her developmental milestones are usually delightful, exciting, and the sorts of things I rush off to email my mom about (grandmothers will eagerly lap up all the details).

Lately, however, she has been reaching some milestones that are slightly less charming. (See my earlier "three-nager" post.)

The news in our house lately is that she has recently started asking "are we there yet?" in the car. My rookie parent mistake was thinking that "are we there yet?" wouldn't begin until we had traveled some reasonable distance, say, two hours.

Oh, no. Ha. The child started asking before we got to the top of our block.

So by the time we had driven 5 hours, my husband and I were grinding our teeth. After exhausting all our synonyms for "no," we started in with sarcasm: "Yes, we are there! We're ordering pizza and watching TV in the hotel! Isn't it fun!?" (Rookie-parent mistake #2: toddlers don't respond well to sarcasm, even when it's the last resort of a parent nearing madness.)

After a little light-hearted complaining to my mom, she came back with an idea that has changed everything about car trips: audiobooks. I know the veteran parents out there are rolling their eyes at my ineptitude, but for anyone reading who has endured what I describe, get yourself immediately to the audiobook retailer of your choice. (I will add that watching videos on a mobile device is not an option for us, as my daughter will vomit if she so much as glances at a movie in the car. So we were really at a loss.)

It's simple: if you have a fussy toddler, audiobooks will restore the peace, at least for a little while. But you may also end up listening to, say, Winnie the Pooh stories for five hours straight. And don't even think about putting in disc 2, because the child has gotten used--and is 100% committed--to the stories on disc 1. But still, it is so, so much better than "are we there yet?"

A side benefit (in addition to no longer doing silent screams while I drive) is that I have developed a deep familiarity with Pooh, which I had not read since childhood. And seriously, I am totally into it. If you didn't know, Winnie the Pooh stories have a delightful dry, English wit. My husband and I were laughing out loud at the jokes as we drove!

We have another holiday season coming up, and I for one am looking at another 14 or so hours of car time. If you're doing the same, I suggest you look into audiobooks (try the Scholastic store!). Good luck out there!