Keep-Your-Child-Awake-in-the-Car-Theory

Having a child take a nap in the car brings about two main theories...

ONE: You WANT your child to sleep in the car so that they will be well rested when you get to your final destination.

TWO: You DON'T want your child to sleep in the car because then they will not get a long enough nap, which turns into extra crabby kid, and pull-your-hair-out mom. And, transferring a sleeping child from car seat to crib pretty much never works.

In order to reach the goal of THEORY #2 (no nap), I will do whatever it takes to keep my child awake.

In random order:

*turn up the music

*sing loudly

*sing with a British accent just to mix things up

*sing with a deep voice just to be annoying

*tickle toes

*ask my child where their nose is, toes are, etc.

*sing "if you are happy and you know it, clap your hands" to get child involvement

*lie and say we are almost home, when in fact we aren't even close

*open the windows

*start clapping

*give them a toy to play with

*ask my child to recite animal noises

Half of the time, this works. The other half of the time, I have a sleeping kid in the car seat and I just made a fool of myself in the meantime. :)

(Are you laughing because you do this too??! Hopefully I am not alone).