Quit 'yer complaining, when I was 4 months old my parents drove to Houston TX with me in the backseat. 2 straight days of driving with a baby in the back. That must've been hell.
As others have suggested, DVD player or iPad and the three hours will fly by. We just did a twenty hour flight with our three year old - we had iPad and some toys for her and she handled the situation as if she travels all the time
Back when I was a lad, the kids would be shoved in the back of one of these bad boys. Forget DVDs and iPads. Real excitement is staring out the back of a station wagon anticipating oncoming traffic ramming into the back. Kept the kids entertained and a solid 8 ft from the adults.
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Another thing that could help, is go to the dollar store, and buy some toys/activities that can be taken out of a backpack during the trip.
Make the items a surprise that they can discover on the way. Coloring books, sticker books, puzzles, toys, etc. Maybe even include a few treats too.
My kids can spend a good hour on a sticker book alone. (4 and 7 years old)
For the sticker books, you can pull out the stickers, separate them, and tape them to the associated pages, so the kid doesn't get frustrated asking "where does this one go" every two minutes.
If the kid will wear headphones, they can save you from having to endure the movies on those DVD players.
I laugh at our dependence on electronic gadgets as well. we always kept ourselves entertained. My first cross country trip was at age 6 months. Dad took out the backseat and threw a mattress back there for myself and my 2 year old brother. Screw car seats.
Maybe she doesn't want to go and just made up a bad excuse...it's doubtful any parent of a five year old would have trouble with a relatively short drive like that.
Another thing that could help, is go to the dollar store, and buy some toys/activities that can be taken out of a backpack during the trip.
Make the items a surprise that they can discover on the way. Coloring books, sticker books, puzzles, toys, etc. Maybe even include a few treats too.
My kids can spend a good hour on a sticker book alone. (4 and 7 years old)
For the sticker books, you can pull out the stickers, separate them, and tape them to the associated pages, so the kid doesn't get frustrated asking "where does this one go" every two minutes.
If the kid will wear headphones, they can save you from having to endure the movies on those DVD players.
Good advice on this one, the key is to make sure they don't get to touch any of the stuff you get for the trip beforehand, lasts longer that way.
When my son was 5 he couldn't do a 3 hour trip either. Every kid is different and develops different skills at different times so no need for guilt trips, now my kid will sit for a long drive no problem, often without any kind of games or anything.
When he was younger we would usually stop in the middle of the drive for a picnic at a park and then he could go play and run and burn off the energy.
Instead of a DVD player we just loaded up the iPod or now iPad with a ton of episodes of a show he hasn't seen before (Charlie Brown was the last one, he loved that) and a few different movies and music.
Or there's always Nyquil.
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