The boy is 23 months old and non-custodial parent lives about 500 miles from son. Does any doctor / mental health / or other prof. person know what is the recommended periods of time for travel in a car this long of a distance. I.E. stretching breaks every two hours or not more than 4 hours driving without a 2 hour break, or not over 5 hours without an overnight somewhere? This schedule needs to be upheld monthly until this child is 5. I really need to know what is in the BEST INTEREST of the child - physically - developmentaly - emotionally. I am not interested in bashing either side, I am only concerned with what is best. Both parents need to bond with this child. Non custodial parent has not had much physical contact with child until the last few months but is not uncaring. Child is located in Nevada - non custodial in California. update : this travel would be each way poss. going 500 miles to non cust. for a week and travel back.
Just a mom's opinion... do most of the traveling during the night or other times when the child would normally be sleeping.
I don't have any professionals or stats for you... but just a bit of money & time sense from someone who travels all the time with kids:
Round trip airfare (especially on commuter flights, and later on with frequent flyer miles) between CA & LV will cost far less than gas (much less gas and hotel... when driving with kids expect to average 300mi per day), and be able to be accomplished in less than a day, while 500mi driving will take 2 days, and you'll have to then also pay for a hotel.
As the child ages it will also be possible for them to fly unaccompanied, especially as the actual flight will probably take less than an hour. Parents with unaccompanied children can get special passes to go through security and wait with and meet their children at the gate.
I believe it's every two hours for a break/stretch. My son has to travel 12 hours every other wknd and he's 8. 6 hours on friday and 6 hours on sunday. I meet the non-custodial half way; 3 hours.
I don't know of any professional guidelines on this subject. However, I do travel often and usually long distances with my four children so I feel comfortable saying that a long drive is much more stressful on the driver than on the children. We stop every 200 miles or so (about every 3 hours) for gas, walks and potty breaks. The rule I have used is no more than 10 hours in the car if there is only one driver, with two drivers we always just go straight through (our longest trip was 26 hrs one way). The kids have always done MUCH better with the straight through method--in their eyes it's only one day in the car instead of 2. Nobody wants to get back in the car on a long trip, personally stopping at a hotel would just prolong my being 'on the road', so I would recommend just getting the trip done as quickly as possible.
