You can save your sanity for $100

July 21st, 2010

You can save your sanity for $100

And it doesn’t even involve a therapist!

We recently went on vacation. With three children under the age of ten. With a twelve hour drive—both ways.

This seemed like a good idea at the time, but as we closed in on the actual date, thinking about the drive made me think I’d had a major lapse in judgement. In order to ensure we all made it to the beach (and back), I was going to have to put a plan into place.

So we checked out 20 DVDs from the library. And downloaded a slew of free apps to our phones and iPads. But (weirdly) our kids get a bit sick of media after a while, so I needed to hatch a secondary plan.

Part two of my plan was to bring out one new entertaining thing every hour of the drive. Each hour I would unveil some thing they could fiddle with for at least fifteen minutes.

This seemed like a really great plan until I did a quick calculation of everything in my cart at Target, and I had a small heart attack. So part 2B of my plan was a challenge myself to find one thing to entertain three children each hour for a twelve hour drive, both ways, for under $100. (That’s 24 things, if you’re counting.)

I am proud to announce my victory, thanks to Target, Michael’s, and United Arts & Education. We’re back home, safe and sound, sanity intact.

Terry

July 21st, 2010   7:29 pm

Sounds like a Robert Sullivan novel: “Cross Country: Fifteen Years and 90,000 Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to Kill an Elephant.” I’d ask if you’d read it, but I’m thinking you’ve LIVED it.

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