How the Herd Survives Road Trips

One question we’ve gotten is how the kids are handling several days in separate vehicles.

The answer is: surprisingly well.

Normally, our road trips are pretty low-tech. The kids usually watch a movie everyone can agree on, read books, play cards, or spend hours making up games together. With four kids packed into one vehicle, there’s rarely a shortage of entertainment.

This trip is a little different.

Since they’re split between vehicles and don’t have all of their usual siblings available to keep them occupied, we’ve relaxed the rules a bit. Each kid gets some device time throughout the day to help break up the miles.

Thanks to mini Starlink units in each vehicle, everyone has Wi-Fi. More importantly, each kid has a Messenger Kids account, which means they can still chat with their siblings throughout the drive. It’s a win-win: they stay connected, and the drivers get a break from answering 20 questions every five minutes.

What has surprised me most is how they’ve used it. Beyond the occasional message, they’ve spent time sharing jokes between vehicles, challenging each other to virtual games of chess and checkers, and finding ways to stay connected even when they’re hundreds of miles apart.

As a mom, my favorite part is that I can check in on everyone without constantly texting Zed for updates. I get little snapshots of their day, random messages, and the occasional sibling conversation, all without having to ask where they are every hour.

Of course, screens aren’t doing all the heavy lifting.

The road trip games have been alive and well.

One favorite has been Guess in 10, which is basically a faster version of 20 Questions. Scott is particularly fond of the Disney deck, while Dax has established himself as the undisputed champion of the world geography cards.

We’ve also learned that Ana may be investing a little too heavily in sports and leadership development and not quite enough in general academics. During a particularly competitive round of “Are You Smarter Than Your Little Brother?” she suffered a defeat that Dax will likely never let her forget.

Other favorites so far have included the storytelling game, where each person adds a few words before passing the story to the next person, along with classic road trip staples like the license plate game and the alphabet game.

The miles are adding up, but so are the memories.