First Trip

When I hear the word "travel," my ears perk up like a racehorse in the starting gate at the Belmont Stakes. As a child, my family took regular vacations, many in the car to visit friends in California. Of course, we kids crawled all over the back of our station wagon with books, games and lived to tell about it. In today's world of carseats, seat belts and DVD players for the car, kids spend most of their traveling time confined and thus the same fighting ensues. Does that ever change? I feel certain that my kids will not remember the "Mommy, she's touching my carseat," or "She's singing." Really? No wonder my parents stopped every hour during our trips - I vividly remember stopping on the side of the road once in a desert and my mom telling us, "Everyone out. Run around - I don't care how hot it is. Today that would've been considered abusive but it was really about my parents preserving their sanity during a three-day car ride with four kids under 7. I would guess I would push my kids out of the car no matter where we stopped. The heck with drive-through fast food - they're getting out no matter how long it takes to buckle them back into their seats.