??Driving through the night with my 5 year old and 7 year old

Ah, those were the days! I'll never forget: My brother was driving, my mom was in the car along with my daughter. If the accident was deadly I would have lost my mother, my older brother and my much younger brother, my niece and nephew and my daughter. Can you even imagine losing that many close family members?

This is illegal now. Get pulled over while your kids are laying in the back and you will probably get fined, possibly charged with endangerment. I know this is tempting and that we all did this when we were kids, but one has to decide if it's worth a huge fine or going to court over.

 

 

This is what we do and it works really well. I try to build in a few extra hours since we are usually going out of ny or nj, but no problems yet. Honestly I've had far more issues with delayed flights in the past than I have with driving to the port like this.

Umm, kids were always in the appropriate car seats or boosters, in the back of the mini van because it's not safe in the front. Lots of pillows made them comfy in their seats....

We're driving from Kansas City to Houston in a couple weeks for a cruise. My 8 year old is autistic and has literally never fallen asleep in a car (including as an infant) and we're driving overnight - the other 5 people are all adults, and most of us are night owls so it's not a big deal. We are planning on going a day early, though, so anyone tired will have time to rest...

That might even include my kiddo, lol.

We drive through the night a lot, most recently from KY to Orlando (our kids are 2, 5 and 8). Some of our tricks:

1) We find a dinner spot with a play place/jungle gym thing. Let the kids go crazy while my wife and I sit and have a quite dinner without the kids yelling in our ears. Chick-Fil-A are always a good option, because I think they all have a play place. Then, when you are done eating, get the kids their meals and let them eat in the car. This gets some of the energy out and then fills up their tummys, so hopefully they can sleep better.

2) When you get to SC (if it's way before you can start boarding), find a beach or nice park (I remember a nice park on the water last time we were there, but that was like 8 year ago). Let whoever did the most driving go off by themselves and take a nap in the sun while everyone plays some more.