Call me nuts or call me old-fashioned but I am a firm believer that screen-free travel with kids is possible. And beneficial. You know, it’s funny. I wasn’t a teen in the Internet era or the cell phone area but I still did have an addiction. Yes, I admit it. I was addicted to my walkman and eventually my discman. Sounds hilarious now, doesn’t it? But the struggle was real. When I would travel overseas, I would have been lost without them. When I think back to my memories of visiting different countries I remember the bands I listened to while I was there. I won’t mention which ones because not only will that date me but it will reveal what a heathen I was back in the day! If not careful, a teen will identify too much with a band, a song, or a genre. They feel like they can relate to the singer and what feeling does a teen want more than to be able to relate? If only they could understand that the ones writing the songs, no matter how seemingly genuine they are, only do it for money and not because they truly relate to those buying their music.
Do I sound harsh? Maybe. But what your children are looking for are memories made with their family. WIth their parents. With their siblings. With you. Though they may fight with one another or give you an eye roll once in a while, what they ultimately want is quality time with their family. Instead of allowing our children to isolate themselves during long car rides, allow them to get to know one another. To get to know you. Even if it is just a half day drive across the state to visit Grandma, make the most of it. Put the screens down and deal with the issues as they come up. The fighting, the whining and the struggle is only temporary. The memories that can be made while driving, these are real.
In about a month, our family of seven, (children ages 1-12) will embark on our third 1,700 mile trip in a year and a half. How do we survive screen-free? By not allowing them. No phones, iPads or DVD’s. We listen to audiobooks. We bring lots of fun snacks. We bring new, fun and exciting books for the kids to read. We bring activity books for the toddler and we change out interesting car seat toys for the baby. Our children are engaged. When we drive through a city, they remember it. When someone mentions the city of Atlanta, it is not just a name of a capital in a list of states and their capitals. My eleven-year-old remembers what the city looked like as we drove through it. He remembers the crazy traffic. He remembers me telling him that the Olympics were held there in 1996 and he remembers seeing the Olympic symbol proudly displayed along the highway. Though we may not have stopped there, he has a memory other than beating level five of the hottest new video game.
Even if you think going screen-free sounds crazy, try it. Try it and see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised!
