Spend More Time With Your Family in 2016

We choose New Year’s resolutions in order to help us focus on adding more of what we feel is missing in our lives and for some people that might be family time. For parents, driving children around can sometimes feel like more of a chore than a time to enjoy time with your kids, but below are three simple ways you can make car rides a positive and rewarding time spent with your kids.

Conversation

Occasionally turn off the music and start up an engaging conversation. Shift between personal and impersonal topics to ensure that your kids don’t feel like you are “grilling” them for too many personal details.

Road Trips

Plan a quick and simple road trip every couple months. Quick getaways can do a lot for family bonding and by keeping it simple, it is a goal that is attainable for everyone. A couple hours spent in the car can be a great way to get into good conversations.

Music Selection

What to listen to in the car can be a bit of a struggle for some families. Kids feel more “understood” when they can be themselves and choosing music they like is a part of feeling accepted. For short everyday trips, you can trade-off car rides.

For road trips, if each person has an iPod and a way to play it through the car speakers, you can do a “one-to-one,” which means that for every song one person picks, they other person picks another. This is a good alternative to each person playing their music for a long duration of time because it’s easier and more likely that a kid will disengage for the trip where their music isn’t playing.

Need a family car? 

Rob Lambdin’s University Dodge has a great selection of Dodge Grand Caravans and Dodge Journeys. Not only do these cars have seating for seven passengers but they are reliable and safe. Come test drive one today.