Road Trip

                Two weeks ago, my kids and I went on a road trip.  Our trip lasted ten days.  We, meaning I, drove to Atlanta stopping in Washington, Charlottesville, Durham, and Charlotte to visit colleges (with the exception of Charlotte, there we just stopped there to visit friends).
                I have to admit, at first I was dreading this trip.  All I could think about was how would I survive being in the car for days with teenagers?  These kids have perfected the art of war at home.  I could only imagine what it was going to be like trapped in the car.  At least at home they can each retreat into their own rooms.  Where could they go in a moving car?   But, I have to admit, it was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be.  In fact, for the most part, it was actually fun.  It had been a long time since we did a road trip like that and I had forgotten how a long car trip could bring a family closer together.  When we left Brooklyn, my son whipped out the speakers and played music from the Pandora app on his phone.  Don’t you love technology?  We were singing like we were the black Partridge Family riding down I-95 in a silver Mazda SUV (I know I dated myself with that Partridge Family reference  .. oh well.  I know some of you remember that show.  If not, Google it.).  It was fun at first, that is until we got tired of the music he was playing.  Eventually, my daughter wanted to listen to the Hamilton sound track, which her brother and I are sick of hearing, and I wanted to listen to something a little more mellow than Nikki Minaj.  So what to do?  Herein lies the first of many lessons that I learned while road tripping with teenagers:

1. Make sure that every teenager has their own devise.  I don’t care if it is a cell phone, an IPod, or an IPad.  Whatever it is, each teenager MUST have their own.  They are only allowed to touch their own devise and cannot, I repeat cannot touch any devise that does not belong to them.
2. Also, each teenager must have their own set of working headphones so that they can listen to their favorite music or stream a tv show off of their devise without bothering anyone else in the car.  As the driver, you will truly appreciate everyone happily listening to their music/show while you blast the music you want to hear.
3. Make sure that everyone has a charger.  It will be the kiss of death if someone’s devise dies before you reach your next destination.
4. Make sure you bring as many plugs as needed so that you can charge any devise at any time (this for those of us who have older cars that don’t have chargers preinstalled in them).
5. If any child has to read a book for school and has waited until the last minute to do so, make them bring it with them on the road trip.  They will have ample time to get it done.
6. If any child has homework that they haven’t completed yet, they can bring it on the road trip too.  When they aren’t eating or sleeping, they can get it done.
7. Make sure there are enough snacks and drinks in the car.  No one need hungry teenagers.  It only makes them grouchy.  And finally …
8. Your kids may shock you.  Not only was I impressed with how well they got along with each other (for the most part), but they both expressed appreciation for not only the trip, but also for the planning that I put into it and money that I spent.  That shocked me.  Anytime I would ask my daughter if she wanted anything from the college bookstore, she politely declined saying that I had already spent enough money on this trip.  Even my son, the one child that I can count on to spend money like its water, out of the blue told me that he was going to give me $200.00 when we got home because I spent a lot of money on this trip.  I politely declined, but it warmed my heard to know that he was thinking of me, or rather, of my wallet. 

                So, if you are planning road tripping with your kids, remember the above.  It works for younger kids too.
                        So, Consider Yourself Warned!