If you thought you had already seen studies for everything, this may surprise you. It is an analysis of what it takes to get bored children in the car, very interesting if you are thinking of doing a long journey with your children.
An independent study reveals that, on average, it takes children about 27 minutes to get bored on a long car trip. It is in Australia where we find the children who arrive most quickly to this state, 23 minutes, however, in New Zealand it is where they last, 34 minutes. In Spain the average is set at 25 minutes.
The average time has been calculated based on the responses of about 3,000 mothers with children aged two to eight years and taking into account trips of more than 30 minutes, where the children had no entertainment such as a DVD player.
These are the data of the countries analyzed:
Australia: 23 minutes United Kingdom: 24 minutes Spain: 25 minutes Italy: 26 minutes Netherlands: 27 minutes United States: 30 minutes France: 30 minutes Germany: 31 minutes New Zealand: 34 minutes
"Side effects" of boredom in the car
Given that a road trip trip tends to last longer, it is convenient for parents to have varied resources to keep children entertained. Otherwise, we can meet in one of these undesirable stress situations or discussions:
- 60% of mothers say that "being together as a family" is the best part of a family trip, although it can be somewhat stressful.
- 41% think that being in the car with children is much more stressful than being in the office.
- 36% replied that they sometimes argue with their partner during the trip.
And how do parents manage when they travel by car with children? 74% invent games, 52% offer "rewards" and 24% lie about the arrival time, trying to make the journey shorter. I see the children in that typical scene "How much left?" "How much left?" "How much left?"…
I can understand the rewards, we have left some time to share a snack and spend some time entertaining with it. The reward can simply be when you snack or have something you like especially.
But the lie to them I do not understand, because for very little sense of time they have (for the little ones one hour can be the same as five minutes or five hours) the duration will be the same and the older ones will know that we have not said the true.
Tips for children not to get bored in the car
If we prepare a series of games and activities for the car the journey can be much less heavy, and we can put imagination and go to many tricks to avoid that boredom. Travel songs, games, I see I see, riddles, books (if they don't get dizzy)… they are just some of the resources we can use.
The DVD to watch movies in the car can be a great help, although many have doubts about its effectiveness or if it is worth placing it in the vehicle. It will also depend on the children.
A CD with children's songs It is hand of saint, in our case we do not have DVD but we do have a good selection of children's music and also audio-disco that they love to listen to. Of course, the soundtrack of our cars has changed a lot since we have daughters.
Lunch or snack time can be special, with some food you like, and if it is done resting, stopping the car in a suitable place to stretch your legs, go to the bathroom ... better.
If the trip is long, it should be done in hours when children can sleep (nap, get up early ...) so that they are not so heavy.
Of course, we remind you of the tips for traveling by car with children, to avoid dizziness and the most frequent mistakes that endanger children in this type of travel.
Taking into account all these tips we will do children take a little longer to get bored in the car, and hopefully not only remember the destination as something wonderful but also the journey to reach it. To put imagination in the car!
