It’s well known that children can get restless while in the car, and need continuous entertainment to help pass the time, which can be difficult for any parent trying to drive and navigate. Research showed that almost 15% of drivers admitted to suffering a major crash as a result of being distracted by young children.
Mum of two, Emma Roberts (@organisedbyem) has taken to TikTok to share her foolproof plan to make journeys more entertaining for little ones, and safer for the driver. Her TikTok video on the hack, which has been viewed more than 14.5k times, shows how she creates ‘activity packs’ for both children, designed to ensure they have a range of things to do during the journey, while also giving them responsibility over what they do and when.
The packs generally include a mix of healthy snacks, treats and small gifts or activities to keep them entertained. Scrap Car Comparison spoke with Emma to find out more.
She said: “My youngest used to get really car sick and would sometimes get a bit anxious ahead of long journeys, so I found that putting together a little pack for her would help keep her mind off it.
“For activities and gifts, I get items that are low cost, fun and different to the things they already have at home. Little handheld games like a pinball game are great, basically anything that doesn’t have lots of little pieces that they could drop or lose. I also think it’s good to be clear from the off with the children what snacks they can have during the journey. Allowing them the chance to pick what they want and when, means that they have a little bit of responsibility – they learn that if they eat all their snacks in the first 20 minutes then they’ll have nothing left for the rest of the journey!”
Emma also made it clear that these packs can also be done on a budget, with the example journey packs featured in her videos having been put together for less than £4 per pack. Her favourite stores to browse for small toys and snacks include Flying Tiger, Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains, Wilkos and Primark, and she suggests heading to the party favours section as a great starting point.
As well as the activity pack hack, Emma also shared her top five tips for making car journeys as straightforward and distraction-free as possible:
- If you have siblings, try and keep their snacks and gifts the same or similar and make sure you give them the same number of items – nobody wants arguments!
- Create an emergency kit for the kids that you keep in the car boot - you can include spare clothes, medical supplies and activities (such as games or colouring books) in case you breakdown or get stuck in traffic.
- Plan ahead and look at quieter journey times. We’ve done a couple of evening drives back home from holidays in the UK so that we could get the kids ready for bed in their PJs and let them fall asleep in the car.
- For younger kids, make sure you have a potty in the car boot. They’re super helpful if you have to make any impromptu roadside stops!
- Make sure everything is in reach so you don’t need to keep passing them things – having their own bag of goodies in the activity pack hack will make them feel more responsible.
Dan Gick, Managing Director of Scrap Car Comparison said: “Emma’s activity pack hack is a really great example of how we can be creative on a budget, to help avoid parents getting distracted while driving on long journeys with children. We can often be tempted to sit our kids in front of an iPad or movie during a journey, but these can often exacerbate travel sickness, which can create more distractions, and only keep young passengers entertained for so long.
“When creating these packs, try to include a variety of activities, while also reducing the amount of input needed from parents by avoiding games with pieces that may be dropped, or things that children may need help with. This will help you to stay focused on the road, and travel from A to B safely. Trips away and long car journeys are part and parcel of the summer in the UK, and with many other holidaymakers also on the roads, we can all play our part to help look after the safety of ourselves and others.”
