The holidays are here folks. There’s no denying the fact that Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is in less then 40 days. With the holidays for us military people comes “going on leave”. Within the next week many stateside military families will pile in their cars or SUV’s and make the trek to visit family in different states.

As a mom of two I know the anguish joy that goes into keeping the kids entertained , calm and having an all around successful ride to your destination.

To help you avoid some of the mayhem I am sharing some of my tried and true tips that my husband and I have used when traveling with our family.

Utilize Your Local Video Rental Machines

Those local video kiosks where you can rent movies from are a lifesaver. For instance with Redbox you can rent from any machine and return to any Redbox in the US. This means you can pick up new DVD’s on the go for the kids to watch when they have worn of watching the current ones. DVD’s and portable DVD players are lifesavers on road trips.

Prepare Snacks In Advance

One thing I do is buy some cheap little sandwich bags and put several little snacks in each such as cookies, grapes, and small cut sandwiches. I then take a large freezer ziplock bag( one for each child) and put a set of snacks in each one. I then allow each child to hold onto their bag and when they get hungry they can go in there and choose what they would like. My kids loved this and surprisingly they didn’t eat up everything just because they had access to it. While this may not necessarily work with toddlers it works well with kids 6+ and up and is a nice way to teach self control.

IPads, Kindles and Nooks Oh My!

When I first got my Kindle and my Ipad, I wouldn’t even let my kids breath on it because of how expensive and delicate those items are. It wasn’t until we took a road trip and my daughter asked me could she read on my Kindle Fire. It was at that point that I realized instead of lugging a ton of books with us in the car I could download not just grownup reading material but lots of free kids books. For IPad users they have tons of educational games for little ones that I can ensure you will keep them quiet for hours.

Make Them Tinkle

I don’t care if they say “they don’t have to go to the bathroom”…make them go! The minute they say they don’t have to go and you pull off is when they will have to go !

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Kia Motors

Night Time Travel

If possible and if the driver is comfortable with it, leave for the start of your trip at night. It’s a simple concept the kids will be tired, the car ride will soothe them (I hope) and they will go to sleep. By the time the morning comes they will be refreshed and you will almost be at your destination.

Lastly Stretch Stretch

If your husband is like my husband he just wants to get where we have to go and acts like we are supposed to drive 800+ miles straight. Unfortunately for him I have a mouth on me and I usually demand that we stop a few times to all take a stretch and tinkle. It’s not good to sit in the same position for long periods of time anyway. So tell hubby to pull over and let those knees pop and let the kiddos shake some of that energy off.

What are your road trip tips?

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Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market. She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.