There are few things worse than… (okay, wait, lots of things are worse than what I’m about to say. War, famine, terminal illness… it really is just a figure of speech okay?)… being stuck in a Bank Holiday traffic jam with small children, having run out of snacks and everyone needing a wee. Firstly, NEVER RUN OUT OF SNACKS! In any scenario. Under any circumstances. When you have kids under the age of, let’s say, eighteen, just don’t let that happen. But even if the snack bag is fully stocked, when is the best time of day to drive with young children?
We’ve been quite lucky in that we have generally gone on holiday no more than a three to four-hour drive away, and have only experienced fairly minor delays during those journeys. We have discovered, however, that as the children have got older (they’re now four and six), driving at night is so much quicker and just so much nicer. A typical daytime drive up to the north of Northumberland from Manchester (I grew up there so we do this drive regularly) would involve at least one, if not two stops (definitely two stops when they were really small) including a longer stop-off for lunch.
Our children, especially our daughter, have never been particularly early risers since they started sleeping through the night, and neither are we. This means that we rarely manage to leave before around 9/9.30am, and the journey feels as though it takes most of the day when we set off at this time. If we do decide to make the trip during the day (and sometimes I’ll do it on my own with the kids), we like to make a day of it, often choosing to stop off somewhere interesting along the way. We will usually choose to have lunch at a garden centre or a nice pub/restaurant to avoid busy, soulless service stations. We’ve been known to scour the internet for places with soft-play areas (some garden centres do for example) or outdoor play areas, so the journey itself doesn’t just feel like a wasted day in the car.
So yes, my view is that if you’re going to drive with small children during the day, you may as well take your time and make worthwhile stop-offs that everyone will actually enjoy, with good food and something to entertain the kids (of course a homemade picnic does just fine as a cheaper lunch option). Or you can set off really early in the morning (we never manage this) or in the evening once the kids are fed, in their pyjamas, and ready to sleep most of the journey. The latter certainly seems to work best for us these days, although our son never travelled well at night until recently, so I would say it’s a case of trial and error. Now that they’re a bit older, we know our kids will happily sleep most of the journey and that my son won’t start screaming his head off anymore if he does wake en route.
All babies and children cope differently with long periods of time spent in the car. Some will be fine any time of day or night even when they’re babies, some will have an immediate and violent hatred of even the shortest car journeys, and some will be immediately and violently sick as soon as any vehicle they’re in starts moving. Our daughter went through a brief period of car sickness, for which we found over-the-counter children’s motion sickness tablets worked a treat.
Only you will know what your children’s tolerances are in the car at each stage of their development. If they’re currently a nightmare in the car for whatever reason, adjust your driving schedule accordingly, take all day to travel even a fairly short distance if need be and tell yourself, “This too shall pass”. It will get better. If your kids sleep happily in the car (or happily enough), I urge you to give driving at night a go. A much quicker journey on quiet roads and the chance to have uninterrupted conversation with your partner — or to listen to a podcast or audiobook if you’re on your own with the kids — is just golden. Don’t waste the opportunity!
The best time of day to drive with young children is at night, if possible.
Links and Resources
https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules
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