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Have A Pleasant Trip With Your Children |
By:
Daniel Brown |
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You're planning a long trip and the children will be going. Maybe it's a visit to your sister or a summer vacation. You know you will have a good time when you get there but the car ride, well that's a different story. You've done it before and the memories... Well let's just say you survived.
You're already beginning to picture the scene. The whining and fidgeting soon turn to arguing and other childish pranks. At first you shrug it off but soon you are ready to scream. Everybody is upset.
The top complaints were:
23 of "Are we about there?"
14 of "my brother's (or sister's) bugging me"
11 of "I want to eat, now!"
13 of "there's nothing to do"
If only there were something they could focus on for a while! A little entertainment would work. A portable television might work but there are lots of dead spots along the way. Songs will work but they are too short to keep the young attentions for this many hour journey and reading books just isn't practical on the bumpy roads.
I've got a better solution for you. Find yourself a cd player or even better a mp3 player like an iPod or the like. In late 2006 a SansDisk 2 Gigabyte player cost only 80 dollars. That's what I'm using. I've seen ads for some players as low as ten dollars. Be sure to bring this with you after you do the following:
1. Get on the web and go to a store selling downloadable audiobooks.
2. download a couple of audio books.
3. Attach the mp3 player to the computer.
4. Using a music player, select and sync the audiobooks to the mp3 player.
A word about the audiobook's length is in order. Although a full length unabridged audiobook can be over ten hours long don't expect the young ones to complete it all at once. Their attention span will not stretch this far. Many children's titles are much shorter and can easily be completed during a trip. Try a full dramatization for a little added interest. The peaceful atmosphere while they are listening will make all your effort worthwhile.
This is what may just happen. Imagine getting to your destination while the kids are in the middle of an exciting adventure story. You may be hearing something like, "Can you drive a little farther, I'm not quite done yet." You get to decide whether to honor their request or just wait for the trip home.
You get out of the car and realize, this was much better than before. Arriving with a positive attitude makes things so much more enjoyable.
Now not everyone will find that this works for them. Go ahead and try it anyway. Who knows how much fun it could be for all. Try a shorter work like "Treasure Island". It's fully dramatized and should hold their attention for quite a while.
About the author - Daniel Brown is the father of two active boys. He also operates an on-line audiobook store where you can download children's audiobooks. Click here for other unique 'travelling with children' articles.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article53720.html |
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