We've done quite a few family road trips. We drove to Maine, and to South Carolina, and upstate NY, and (a few times) Virginia. We also had long hauls between Washington state and Montana, and Montana to Calgary. For many, many years, starting with a long drive to Bar Harbor when our youngest was only about 2, we listent to audio books. We called our rental house near Acadia "Villa Villekulla" because we were listening to Pippi Longstocking. We listened to The Mysterious Benedict Society, and The Penderwicks, and multiple Harry Potter books. It was great.
And it seems like we've come to the end of that era. We spent the spring break driving to see colleges in Virginia, North Carolina, and (very briefly) Maryland. I got a few audio books from the library (our car has a CD player). Because the kids are so much older now, I figured it would make sense to get more grown-up stories. Well, sort of. I had The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a book by Frederick Backman, thinking that both were quirky and funny (with some sad mixed in, in case of Backman). And for old-times sake, I got The Penderwicks, too (per my older daughter's suggestion).
Guess how many of those books we listened to as a family? Zero. Because the kids are at a stage when they have strong preferences and don't want to compromise. And, the older two have Libby apps on their phones. The girls shared headphones and listened to books by Gordon Korman (and then some Harry Potter on the final stretch). My son listened to a nordic thriller (The Chestnut Man) - he liked it so much, he said I should read it (I did, in a book form. I couldn't put it down, so I can completely understand why he just wanted to keep listening to it non-stop).
So, the trip was very quiet. I feel kind of sad about that. Not sure if this is inevitable (my oldest will be 18 in a few months!!!), or if I just need to work harder on organizing experiences that we can all share as a family, be it audio books, movies, hiking trails, or beach time.
What are your favorite family activities, either current or from your childhood?
We would see a couple of movies together on the big screen each year, so that when Oscar season rolled around we would know at least a couple of nominated films. And I grew up in a college town with a summer theater series, so we'd get to go see a light play or musical together most summers. Picnics with a little hiking also kept our interest even as teenagers.
ReplyDeleteThose all sound really nice! I can't remember last time we went to see a movie in a movie theater.... I think two of my kids would really like picnics with minimal hiking :)
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