If you've ever felt like you spend more time in the car chauffeuring your kids around than pretty much anything else, you might be right. According to a recent survey from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, American drivers spend 17,600 minutes behind the wheel each year. And something tells us if moms alone had been polled, that number would have been even higher to account for endless soccer practice runs and last-minute trips to the store for clay for that ridiculous school project due tomorrow (of course!).
And just as kids change as they get older, so do car trips with kids. One minute you're trying to get the infant car seat to latch into the base without that loud CLICK waking the baby. The next you're driving your daughter and her best friends to a quinceañera and wondering where the time went.
So what's in store for you? We asked moms to share how much car trips with the kids have changed as their kids have grown. Their hilarious stories may sound familiar:
"My kids can reach each other now when they start swinging [at each other], which we've had to firmly declare as 'not a game we are allowed to play in the car!'" – Whitney C.
"I used to turn music up so I could concentrate on getting home safely when they'd cry, and I couldn't help. Now I turn the music up so we can annoy my pre-teen son with our loud singing to the Frozen soundtrack." — Christie H.
"My son knows how to use the window now. He has started rolling the window down [at stop lights and in parking lots] to talk to people. At the donut shop [in October] he randomly rolled the window down and told the woman 'Merry Christmas!' The window lock is now on 24/7." — Jillian B.
"Babies can't understand swearing, and that's a good thing because now my kids are 5 and 2 and every time I, um, verbally respond to someone cutting me off, my kids yell from the back seat, 'Bad language, mom!'" — Ashley A.
"My 3-year-old is always yelling at me from the back seat to turn the music up, down, off, on or change the song. I have become a mobile DJ." — Tara C. W.
"We used to go for leisurely drives when they were toddlers. It was relaxing to buckle the kids into their car seats to keep them contained and content for a while – as long as we kept their favorite tunes playing, of course. These days, we have no time for Sunday drives because we instead drive to hockey games, or birthday parties, or football practice, or all of the above!" – Amanda G.
"They fight a lot more now in the car (ages 8 and 10). So if they start fighting, I switch the radio to [the news] and don't put their music back until they stop!" – Jaya
Looking for a premium ride that will grow with your family? The Buick Envision offers comfortable accommodations and thoughtful features for families with kids of all ages.
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