Hi Moms!
We travel back home to where we grew up about twice a month. It’s a 5hr drive, one way. We wondered how to do time-out while traveling. At home, we have a time-out spot for our 2-year old. He knows he has to stay there for 5 minutes before we let him up to play again. This is very affective at “curing” his un-allowed behavior home. But what do we do when we are in the car? Sometimes we drive at night or it’s too cold to get out and do time-out outside. We usually leave during nap time or travel at night time. We also stop often so we aren’t necessarily trying to correct behavior due to being in the car too long. Inviting any suggestions on how you would do time-out while traveling.
Thanks so much!
Traveling by car is a real challenge with such young kids. You have to keep them entertained and we all know that two year olds have the attention span of .25 seconds! Videos, silly sing alongs and new...fun toys work for a trip about the length that you mention.
L.,
Thanks for this question, I love to see mom's being consistent with their children.
We have a problem w/ our child not buckling up. He fools around in the back of the car while everyone's getting in, and when it's time to drive, he's sometimes not even in his seat yet. I started putting him in time out when we got to the destination, I have a time out spot at our regular park or if we're going home, but mostly I just need to find a corner or blank wall, you could do that at a rest spot before he gets to run the wiggles out.
This is just a tough age, and the most important thing is for you to never back down, and it sounds like you're understanding of his traveling limits.
My favorite thing for car trips is a potable DVD player! By the time they're 3 they'll watch Dora for hours. Also, you can use scrap paper and print out coloring pages of his favorite characters. I just do a google image search. Put it in a 3 ring binder and get a box of colors. Way cheep and custom built. You can get a new "book" for every trip. The thing that works the best is singing together. Also, children love their parents attention so play I spy with him.
Good luck, and happy traveling!
What if you take a toy away if he misbehaves while in the car? Or if he watches movies then he doesn't get a movie for 5 mins. See if that works. Good luck
I don't know how it would work with a 2 year old, but I do the opposite of "sit on your hands" - "Raise your hands in the air where I can see them." They tire out quickly, so you might adjust the time for a youngster.
We have our kids sit on their hands for a set amount of time. (If your hands are under you, it's hard to do anything with them)
We do a fold your hands on your lap, no video, no talking (them, not us), no games, complete silence for the appropriate time. Having to be quiet is a bad, bad punishment....so it works!
I tell my kids they are in a time out in the car and cannot talk for x amount of minutes or around town I tell them they cannot talk until we get home. Your son is pretty young, so you might have to help him through the time by periodically telling him how much longer he has to go.
A good time out in the car is having them put there hands over there eyes for how ever long they are in age. It works great with my kids and it doesn't punish anyone else that wasn't involved. Isn't it so fun raising kids. ;) Kids are great. :)
