6 Ways I Keep My Car An Electronic Free Zone – Even In Holiday Traffic

sb10064838f-005No matter what you celebrate, the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is the season for travel.  December finds us scrambling to spend time with family and friends, out of obligation or just the chance to take a little vacation time while the kids are off from school.  That means a lot of driving — usually long distances — and a lot of traffic.  Most parents rely heavily on electronic gadgets and the newest apps to get them through those drives, but we run it old school.

Our car is completely electronic free — that means no handheld games, no iPhones, no iPads, no televisions in the back of any headrests.  Although it wasn’t part of the plan, we don’t even have a radio because it broke and they can’t fix it because it has a cassette player.  I told you we were old school.  Like Model-T old school.

This isn’t a humblebrag because my two-year-old and four-year-old watch lots of TV and play on our computer at home.  I’m not above distracting them with things, but we go electronic free in the car for two major reasons.

First, there is no one else to bother.  I am far more concerned about how my kids will behave on an airplane, because we all know how ornery people get on airplanes.  I don’t need someone trying to drug them, or screaming at me, or trying to banish me to a specific section by the bathrooms.  And as cute as it is, I just can’t bring myself to write little notes to my fellow passengers, especially when some of them are a-holes themselves.  In the car it’s just the two kids and their two parents.   If this isn’t the time to practice acceptable public behavior, I don’t know what is.  My husband and I just sit in the front trying to tune them out as much as possible.  I mean, they are strapped in and separated by the middle seat, so how much damage could they really do if we just ignored them the whole time?  When the complaints and the noise level get to a migraine-inducing, ear piercing level, my husband jokes that he wants to trade in our Jetta for a limousine with a privacy window so we could completely block them out.  How awesome would that be?

Second, I just can’t fathom buying expensive gear for my kids who will most certainly break it.  Or even if I owned them for my personal use (which we don’t) why I would hand them over to my kids to change settings, ruin with fingerprints and fight over?  That’s right because my kids fight over every little toy.  So buying one iPad isn’t enough, I have to buy two?  I can barely stop laughing at that thought.  I am just way too cheap to even consider that.  I guess I could talk about setting limits and sharing, but if I have to do that so many times over a three hour drive, why would I bother?

My solution is to keep the car electronics-free.  Of course that doesn’t mean distraction-free, because I am human and, even growing up with two little brothers, I have my limits.  On our 100 mile journey to my parents’ house for the holidays, I will have a handful of tricks up my sleeve to get through the traffic jams and longer-than-usual drive.

 

1.     Sing-a-longs. 

(Images: getty)
(Images: getty)

Before the radio broke in the car, the radio was my number one distraction.  I had mixes to satisfy our every mood and whim.  We all sang with such fervor that the time flew by.  Even with the busted radio, I bet these long Christmas drives will include a lot of carols.  My kids have learned a whole slew of new songs practicing for their Christmas party at school including Feliz Navidad, which I’m pretty sure goes on for 47 hours.

2. Snacks.

(Image: getty Images)
(Image: getty Images)

I know this is cliche, but snacks go a long way.  I’ll have apple slices, chocolate milk, bagels with cream cheese (which they eat morning, noon and night) and probably some Target brand fruit snacks.  I make sure we get in the car with empty stomachs and hand it out piecemeal.

 

3.     Books. 

(Image: getty Images)
(Image: getty Images)

My son can actually read and my daughter is getting really good at making up her own stories as she flips the pages.  We have some old favorites that we keep in the car and I try to have a few brand new $0.99 store gems tucked away as well.

4.     Role Play.

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Right now my kids are really into creating little worlds with their stuffed animals.  They role play as teachers and parents to their cotton-filled friends.  We listen to them mimic back what they hear at school (always so sweet) and what they hear at home (ranging from hilarious to horrifying).  When they get bored we always tell them to pull out their friends and play a game.

 

5.     Games.

(Image: getty Images)
(Image: getty Images)

We play all sorts of games in the car, from naming songs we like and singing them, to a weird version of Red Light, Green Light where we act all crazy, shaking our hands and making faces until the count of 3 when we freeze.  Yes, this gets old quickly for the adults (NEVER for the kids) but it will get you through the rough traffic spots when they just know you aren’t moving.

 

6.     Eavesdropping.

(Image: getty Images)
(Image: getty Images)

Never underestimate the interest your kids will have in listening to the adults speak.  My husband and I talk about all the sorts of ridiculous and hypothetical ”I have so much free time, income and energy I didn’t know what to do with myself” kinds of talks we had before we had kids.  From the backseat, they want to absorb every detail if you sound like you are really engaged in a conversation that they aren’t part of.  The absolute quietest it ever gets in my car?  If I take out my phone and call someone else.  After I hang up they want to know who I was talking to, what they said, and why I said we’ll see you in two hours when we’re supposed to be there in one minute.

I’ve thought about buying the handheld TVs and letting them watch shows on the frequent trip to my parents’ house but so far I’ve held out.  I’ve really been tempted knowing that we have multiple long drives planned for the week of Christmas, but I’m getting sort of bold these days.  In fact, I used to bring a lot more distractions, hoping to occupy their every single idle moment, but as they get older I’m kind of enjoying the stand-off.  Go ahead, have a tantrum, I tell them with my eyes.  I’ve got ibuprofen in my purse.

(Images: Getty Images)

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