Travel Time With Children

Be advised that the following was written BEFORE seat belt laws, booster seats, and airbags! Car seats were not mandated, and our children played on the floor of our van where we had removed the middle seat and spread blankets! My husband built a wooden platform behind the rear seat of our VW van, outfitted it with a thick, cloth-covered foam rubber pad and pillows, and our children read, napped, and played there back in the days of the mid to late 70's!

Breastfeeding always made it easy to travel with an infant. We have taken numerous car trips around the U.S., a few plane trips, and a couple of train trips. I always tried to have plenty for the kids to do...books, games, small toys, etc.
Often I would purchase things at garage sales that were " new" to my kids and save them for trips.
One thing that I did many times was to make or copy outline maps of the U.S. and give one to each child. Then, as we spotted license plates of different states, they would color in that state. It was always interesting to see how many of the states' plates we would see on our way to New Hampshire, for instance, or on our way to Nebraska or New Mexico! Plus, it was reinforcing U.S. geography at the same time. As they got older we would discuss the states more in detail, its capital, history, and if we had been there before....and maybe read from the AAA travel guide.
In May of 1973, when I had three children ages 4, 3, and 1 1/2, I took them on a 24 hour train trip to Boston. I talked to them about it for three months beforehand, explaining each leg of the trip. What the train would be like, and how we would have to change trains in NYC. I took a very lightweight holdup stroller for the youngest, and carried our immediate necessities in a backpack. My mother made little backpacks for each child in which to carry some little toys. Our other bags were checked through.
Just to ensure that no one would get too far from me in crowded Penn Station, Donald placed wrist straps at the ends of ropes which were able to be attached to a belt around my waist by means of spring clips. This meant that my hands were free to push the stroller and that those children could hold on or walk near me without getting away! This device proved to be a godsend in the crowd we encountered on our way to our train. We had a great trip!
In the car, metal cafeteria trays made great lap trays for playing cards, coloring, building with Legos etc. Those little Hot Wheels cars or game pieces wouldn't roll off. We played lots of "Riddley, Riddley Ree! and spotting the ABC's on road signs and billboards, and Travel Bingo too.
As the children got older they would take turns sitting up front with the driver and following the map or TRIPTIK route we would get from AAA. It was always fun to count down the miles to our next destination!