No child has lived until they have been on a long road trip with nothing to do!

[-]

unbalancedcentrifuge@reddit

They call that raw dogging these days. Let me tell you the meaning of that phrase has shifted in the past few years!!!

[-]

bamaford@reddit

My tween says this all the time, and it means (to them) complimenting them too much.

What does it actually mean?? 😱

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Day2205@reddit

Interesting, always meant giving head around my way - the glazed look of the 🍆

[-]

External-Praline-451@reddit

So it's not lightly brushing them with beaten egg, to give them a golden finish in the oven?

[-]

New_Stats@reddit

Ok but pearl necklace still means the same thing, right?

[-]

lemmylemonlemming@reddit

I'm embarrassed to say the amount of years I listened to Pearl Jam without realizing what the name was in reference to.

[-]

TP_Crisis_2020@reddit

Wait till you figure out Limp Bizkit!

[-]

Did anyone else hear the alternate story that it was from Eddie's Native American grandma who made a jam laced with peyote or some other psychedelic? It was one of those "Marilyn Manson had his bottom ribs removed so he could suck his own dick" kinda rumors that everyone somehow knew before the internet.

[-]

Adrasteia-One@reddit

See I thought that was guys just messing with me. I couldn't tell if that was true or not, hehe.

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taleofbenji@reddit

It depends on if you're buying jewelry or cumming on a coworker.

[-]

nakedcellist@reddit

Why specifically a co worker?

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IpeeInclosets@reddit

Simething about thruples

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BasvanS@reddit

Must be the second, because who buys pearl necklaces anymore?

[-]

Shaved_Caterpillar@reddit

Only if you clutch it

[-]

SlackerDS5@reddit

Makes me wonder when people say things like clutching their pearls.

“Like a pearl necklace?”

My juvenile inner child laughs hysterically.

[-]

ArticulateRhinoceros@reddit

This one just icks me out. I don’t like it!

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winteraeon@reddit

. . . Do they know what that phrase actually means?

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AYearInOaxaca@reddit

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO6iTDRgT_1/?igsh=bmc5cHprZGtvMzFl

Sharing this clip from Shrinking via Instagram, only because I can’t find it on YouTube and, as someone who is more than 40 years old, I refuse to send a link to TikTok.

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lmstr@reddit

And Instagram is better? At least TikTok is well moderated and front lines of new content. It drives me nuts when people refuse to use TikTok and then make fun of the older folks using Facebook, your Instagram is my Dad's Facebook.

[-]

Summerie@reddit

and front lines of new content.

Oh, is that what we're calling that?

[-]

AYearInOaxaca@reddit

Are you sure you’re old enough to be in this sub?

[-]

lmstr@reddit

We are in our 40s not our 60s.

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Defiant-Difference17@reddit

gif

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dr_tardyhands@reddit

I'm pretty sure that's the joke.

[-]

throwawayfromPA1701@reddit

Oh, they know.

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NegativeBeginning400@reddit

My parents wouldn’t let me say something “sucks” because it came from fellatio. I think that this will have the same trajectory.

[-]

User_Says_What@reddit

I'll use raw-dogging to describe something. I've stopped myself from calling it "bare-backing" because that feels more sexual.

[-]

ArticulateRhinoceros@reddit

I definitely refer to being sober as “raw dogging reality”.

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Maleficent-Box4114@reddit

gif

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

I’m all for it lol, I use whenever it could remotely pass for the new meaning.

Ope out extra ranch packets though willl have raw dog those nuggies.

Even better now that my Son is 12. He knows

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merdub@reddit

To be fair, this is one of those phrases that actually still does mean the same thing, and I respect the kids for bringing it mainstream.

“Just handling my current situation without any sort of comfort-buffer to protect my already fragile mental health.”

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pisachas1@reddit

Trying to play game boy by street lights.

[-]

TP_Crisis_2020@reddit

Or the Konami handheld games.

[-]

pisachas1@reddit

The advent of backlit devices was a game changer.

[-]

SlapHappyDude@reddit

For 1 hour until the batteries die. Maybe your parents let you bring one extra set.

[-]

JoshSidekick@reddit

The batteries on the game boy were pretty good. It was the Sega game gear that ate batteries.

[-]

OldManTrainwreck@reddit

Well that unlocked some memories.

[-]

BlackEngineEarings@reddit

Bro, if you weren't playing by the headlights of the car behind you then you were missing out.

This shits why I wear glasses now lol

[-]

magster823@reddit

I saved up to buy the attachable light for mine. IIRC it worked okay, but ate the batteries like nobody's business.

[-]

FoppyRETURNS@reddit

Squint harder!!

[-]

gimmeslack12@reddit

My man 👨🏻

[-]

AYearInOaxaca@reddit

I’d give you both awards if I had any to give

[-]

thagor5@reddit

56 here. I would read a book, play car games, and stare out the window

[-]

Top_Brilliant4935@reddit

Life can be this simple and beautiful at times: books take you on a journey, games give you adventure, and the scenery outside the window reminds you of the reality beneath your feet. Hearing you say that makes every day feel fulfilling.

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Vivid_Sprinkles_9322@reddit

We just got back from a road trip this evening where we went through a national forest. Almost 1.5 hours each way with zero phone service and even the car lost connectivity. So no map on the screen. Our son couldn't understand how thats possible.

[-]

Tiny-Reading5982@reddit

We were just in an area with no reception but luckily I have an 09 ipod in my car and I guess maps on the phone stays up with no reception, it just doesn't refresh.

[-]

JeffTS@reddit

I just did a long drive from NY to TN and back. I threw on some tunes on Pandora and sang most of the way.

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Arriwyn@reddit

I think the difference between a tolerable road trip compared to our youth is the ability to drive yourself and choose your own music.

I drove across the country two years ago for a big move from California to the Midwest. I was by myself with my cat in the car while my husband was in the U-Haul with our daughter. It is a much better experience IMO when you are by yourself and just driving and taking in the country as it changes. But good music is definitely a must!

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Tiny-Reading5982@reddit

I always had a Walkman but it sucked when my batteries died lol

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JeffTS@reddit

Oh, I wasn't by myself. My elderly mother was also in the car. While I kept the music to classic rock (as we knew it) and 90s rock alternative this trip, she's had the pleasure to experience Ozzy's Boneyard, Octane, and other XM Radio metal channels when I've had rentals for our past trips to TN. Lol.

[-]

ThatDog_ThisDog@reddit

Just took my kids on their first real spring break vacation with long layovers and 12 hour travel days and it required more devices than I want to admit.

As an only child and early professional unaccompanied minor, I worry they will have no creative resources at all.

[-]

Tiny-Reading5982@reddit

They got to go on a plane at least. Fancy lol. We all just hopped in the minivan for spring break.

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Arriwyn@reddit

Hello! 👋I too am an only child and flew as an unaccompanied minor across the country several times! Yes! My teen has no idea I didn't have the luxury of a smart phone with a connection to wifi or 5G for access to all kinds of entertainment! 😂 She will be going on her first trip by herself for an 8th grade tour of Washington DC at the end of May.

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mrdeviousmonkey@reddit

I want to join the club! My first solo cross country flight was from Amarillo to Anchorage, made a solo connection in ABQ, maybe 85/86?

Wasn't until years later I learned my dad put me on the plane and my mom was waiting and tailed me through the airport to make sure I made the connection.

She noted that I tried all of the payphones to see if there were quarters left behind

[-]

wrel_@reddit

How could you have nothing to do, when these exist at every rest area?? One of these bad boys and before you know it, we're at the lakeside cabin in Maine.

[-]

Status-Hovercraft784@reddit

I don't recall ever seeing these. Was this more an east coast thing?

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wrel_@reddit

Possibly? I am east coast and they were everywhere, and I remember them as far west as Pennsylvania, maybe Ohio. They are still being made, I saw them for sale on Amazon not that long ago.

[-]

IpeeInclosets@reddit

1. Your parents actually let you go in the gas station?

You had foresight to buy these things?

[-]

switheld@reddit

also MAD LIBS!!! that led to some very very funny car rides :)

plus the license plate game, the cow counting game (all of your cows died if you passed a graveyard on your side of the road), reading books, listening to my parents' music (50s and 60s oldies), listening to tapes or cd's on walkmans/discmans, fighting over who was taking up more space...there was TONS to do!

[-]

MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit

You have no idea how happy these made me. Lol

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Individual-Schemes@reddit

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C-3Pcheep@reddit

Or this bad boy

[-]

SlapHappyDude@reddit

It's basically a video game

[-]

queenquirk@reddit

I loved these so much

[-]

dubl1nThunder@reddit

hours and hours of "by yourself entertainment."

[-]

Arriwyn@reddit

Ahhh the OG grandpa of the modern tablet! I had an activity book and a road trip kit of playing cards, markers, crayons and Mad Libs . It came in handy for the 8 hour drives from New Jersey to Ohio to visit the grandparents. 😃 My teen daughter wouldn't make it with such things! 😂

[-]

Milkweedhugger@reddit

These were at every gas station and truck stop along I75. My brother and I would get a few on the way down to Florida, then fight over them. Fun times.

[-]

GrizzlyAdam12@reddit

Driving for hours looking at these signs on the interstate through South Dakota used to be a rite of passage.

[-]

maggie320@reddit

I was the kid who would fall asleep. I remember getting pushed to the door because I fell asleep on my sister’s shoulder.

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Lebowski304@reddit

My mom and I went on a road trip with my grandparents in this like van/RV hybrid thing all the from Alabama to key west when I was like around 10 and I spent it playing with action figure, these little magic trick things, and buying a pack of $2 baseball cards I would then arrange in a giant folder by teams

[-]

jimmythesaint83@reddit

gif

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GarblingCumfarts@reddit

We had Gameboys, comic books, Walkman's, coloring books, and the lucky ones had a tv in their van with a vcr (I wasn't one of those)

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Its-all-downhill-80@reddit

I’m taking my 11 year old on a 16 day road trip. She’ll have a tablet with no service, and books. She’s going to learn to be comfortable with boredom real quick!

[-]

InvestmentMain8414@reddit

Be prepared for nothing but complaints and whining for a bit.

I for some stupid reason decided when my kids were 12 and 10, to drive non stop for 12 hours hours so my oldest could see my husband for oldest bday, rather than just fly us there (which I did prior for youngest bday)

The drive up was brutal with complaints. No amount of car games I played as a kid helped. Drive home they got into it...we played all the car games no complaints.

Kids are now mid 20's so my experience was really before tablets were a norm for kids.

[-]

Soggy_Porpoise@reddit

I have done similar things but I would break that up into 2 days of driving with stops for other fun things.

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Its-all-downhill-80@reddit

Together they’re a handful, but this is just with my older one. She’ll do some whining, but we’ve talked about this trip for 3 years. She knows it’s going to be big days with a lot of boredom (~8,000 miles) but that the payoff will be worth it.

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Minouris@reddit

I was never bored on long trips as long as I had books :)

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makeupwearsoff@reddit

I’ve done somewhat similar with my 7 year old. She only has books or can color if it’s less than 3 hours. More than 3 hours and she can use my tablet to watch PBS kids shows for half the trip. She has a pocket radio for music. She is really content staring out the window sometimes or takes a nap but has always been chill in the car.

[-]

mrsfosterfoster@reddit

Percy Jackson audio books would be great for your trip by the way!

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Dickrubin14094@reddit

The difference was we didn’t know any better. We didn’t have the technology that exists today suddenly taken away from us.

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themodefanatic@reddit

My family took a road trip in our families brand new car in the late 80's. From So Cal to Colorado/South Dakota. All we (me/sister) had were my dads old cassette tapes from the early 70's early 80's one walkman and some books. I think most of the time we slept on the floor of our new minivan.

[-]

Lethave@reddit

This is where Babysitters Club Super Specials came in clutch.

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jpowell180@reddit

I remember as a young child my family would make a trip from one side of the country to the other to visit grandparents, we did not have to wear seatbelts in the backseat, and it was a huge car, a Chevy Impala; I remember laying on the floor and looking up at the window to see the clouds in the sky and pretended that we were on a plane; I remember the asphalt smell of the oil wells in Texas, as we drove by, I remember drifting off to sleep only to feel a sharp object hit my eyelid, opening my eyes to find my little brother, sticking me with a broken piece of plastic from a clear McDonald’s cup, lol!

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pm_me_your_lub@reddit

I took my kids on a long road trip and made them put the devices away. They really appreciated getting to see the sights.

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More_Bluejay9938@reddit

Madlibs anyone?

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lsp2005@reddit

Did you play the license plate game? I spy?

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BarrelFullOfWeasels@reddit

Alphabet game, and then get stuck on Q or X and give up.

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sundayfunday78@reddit

I Spy - and my sister always cheated😖

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tMoneyMoney@reddit

We played “see how many times you can kick the back of dad’s seat until he starts yelling.”

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sberniem@reddit

Came here to ask this also. We did. And slug bug.

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plac3b0guy@reddit

I finally saw one the other day.. Feels like it’s been years

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throwawayfromPA1701@reddit

My mother would make us do math with it and get mad when we weren't fast enough.

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Coomstress@reddit

Or fighting with your sibling.

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Merkela22@reddit

Meh, I always had books and drawing stuff. My kids also take books. No electronics except to play music.

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DeadheadCaniac@reddit

We have a bunch of different games. We play the alphabet game a lot, but still bicker about the rules. Our current rules are license plates are not allowed and you can only use one letter from any sign.

Around the holidays we play the Christmas lights game (white lights vs colored). The flag game is fun too. We often get eye rolls from our kids but they always play along because what else are you going to do?

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Frequent_Alfalfa_347@reddit

Noooo! The best was when you got the “School bus stop ahead” sign at the beginning of the game. One sign — 5 letters! It was awesome!!

[-]

desrever1138@reddit

Our current rules are license plates are not allowed and you can only use one letter from any sign.

My sisters and I played by these rules back in the 80's lol. Unless we were in a really barren stretch of roadway where we would allow license plates.

[-]

CharlesUFarley81@reddit

In a station wagon in the very back staring at the car behind you trying not to make eye contact saying "I wonder what all these signs say"

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three-sense@reddit

We played road bingo

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desrever1138@reddit

We played the alphabet game. (Or just read books while the sun was still up)

My wife and I introduced our kids to the alphabet game and we still play it on road trips even though they are grown now.

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three-sense@reddit

That was fun too. Some of my older family members would make personas with stuffed animals, and do quizzes and stuff. Keeping in character for hours on end. The older I get, the more impressive I find that.

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suddle@reddit

I LOVED these. So fun!

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pc81rd@reddit

I still have some!

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DeadheadCaniac@reddit

We still do!

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cybah@reddit

wow.. there were cards?!?

We used to just count license plates. Had a notepad to write/tick down how many we saw from each state.

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three-sense@reddit

Yep. My favorite part was the little red/transparent tab to mark each space, and that they could be used over and over.

[-]

HealthAccording9957@reddit

I make my kids do a 16-20 hour drive in one shot with no electronics twice a year. Gotta keep up tradition!

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

I used to pass the time by pissing my pants. Not on on purpose though.

Also befriended a fly on a cross country roadie once. By brother killed it, then I got my revenge by “accidentally” stabbing him with a pencil. Just in the hand, low damage but the message was sent.

[-]

herseyhawkins33@reddit

Shoutout to the license plate game lol

[-]

alphacreed1983@reddit

I’m soooo happy for the generation that never had to experience this. It was like dental work without Novocain

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Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

We're a family of theater kids, there's always something to do. We all know our parts too.

[-]

themrsfreeze@reddit (OP)

I wanna be in your car!!

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

Cool, you've been assigned Sonny for In the Heights, and the delegate who says "who the eff is this?" In Hamilton.

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Individual-Schemes@reddit

No child has lived until they have flipped through every page of the Thomas Guide!

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Automatic_Beat5808@reddit

This is the reason I know so many models of cars. Me and my siblings would play Guess That Car! There was also a semi edition.

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Old_Association6332@reddit

The one saving grace was that both my parents had good taste in music. All those music tapes were the one thing that made those long trips a little easier

[-]

brendan215@reddit

Wrestling mags, a copy of SI, the new Rolling Stone, huge slim Jim with a big ass Slurpee and a brown paper bag of soft pretzels meant I was good for 2 and a half hours in the car. Anything near 2 hours 40 minutes and I'd puke in the car. That was the farthest we'd really travel by car but it was usually a station wagon and I was in the back back which was bad news for my brother and cousin or two cousins depending whoever called "not it" first.

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Suns_In_420@reddit

I always at least had a book or magazine.

[-]

merdub@reddit

Excuse you, my parents brought me workbooks of math problems to do on road trips….

And then wondered why I was carsick.

[-]

rundabrun@reddit

I used to play that little handheld football game in the car.

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supergooduser@reddit

My parents loaded me up on comics and I remember listening to my walkman a lot. In hindsight the walkman was probably a godsend for them and money well spent.

I also remember sleeping a lot.

[-]

fartingisfunUSA@reddit

The xennial (late Gen X) parent that I am..I made my 3 kids ride 12 hours via car with NO Ipads on purpose.

Stare out the window and use your imagine like I did mo fos!

[-]

Turtlegirlh@reddit

Old school game boy waiting to drive by streetlights to play

[-]

tarmgabbymommy79@reddit

My daughter and I are going on vacation, we have a giant list of activities. I've told her we will be making many stops in the drive down. She still moans every time I mention the vacation because "oh five hours of driving!" (broken up with many stops.)

[-]

ArticulateRhinoceros@reddit

I have Dookie, as well as Third Eye Blind’s and Garbage’s debut albums burned into my soul, because that’s all I had with me on what was supposed to be a 4 hour drive to the Grand Canyon with my family as a teen, but turned into an all day ordeal once my parents realized they had gone for nearly 5 hours in the wrong direction!

[-]

tevamom99@reddit

My mom hated my dad’s driving and always sat in the back. I got to sit up front and my dad had me look out for cars on my side so he could weave through all the traffic. Some of my fondest memories of my (late) dad were those trips :)

[-]

cybah@reddit

Are we there yet?

[-]

tevamom99@reddit

I had a tape called “Are We There Yet?” that my parents played on road trips. Had that song and a bunch of other goofy kid songs

[-]

triggeron@reddit

just check the google map on yer phone!

[-]

Vlad_REAM@reddit

The amount of car fights over who gets to charge their device is insane. Actual fights, car pulled over the whole deal. They're my step kids so I try as much as possible to stay out of it but damn it's annoying.

[-]

AlienDelarge@reddit

Our current family hauler has a USB-c port for every passenger along with cupholders for multiple giant beverages. Its amazing how much thats changed over the years. My parents had an '87 Voyager growing up and it had power nothing aside from the cigarette lighter.

[-]

Mind-of-Jaxon@reddit

At best let them use the original game boy with no backlight and only the pair of batteries that are in the thing.

[-]

makeupwearsoff@reddit

My dad once drove me and my sister from NY to VA, with one James Brown cassette tape to listen to. We used to tolerate that trip with our grandparents every summer with just the radio but had a lot of stops to break it up. Non stop James Brown was seriously brutal.

[-]

Elrohwen@reddit

We drove from eastern NY to MI last year and never gave my 5 year old a screen. He did have books and some other activity things but for the most part he just sits and chills and sings along to the radio or listens to Car Talk with us. This summer will be his first time on a plane and I’m willing to do screens just for everyone else’s sanity but we’ll see if he even needs it

[-]

LLPhotog@reddit

I was once taken on a road trip from Philadelphia to Atlanta by my parents. I was the only kid on the trip. All I had was some music. Couldn’t read or write due to car sickness.

That trip sucked so hard. When I look back, all I remember was wanting to die of boredom. I don’t call that living and I would never subject another person to the melancholy.

[-]

mookpa2@reddit

I always had something to do. Add up rego nos and find imaginary meaning in the letters

[-]

Spartan04@reddit

Even in the 80s we didn't just stare out the window. We'd read, or listen to music on a Walkman, or play travel games.

That said, why force kids to suffer. Being in the car for long hours sucks (especially as an adult, I can't do long road trips anymore), anything that helps pass the time is good.

[-]

Deep-Grape-4649@reddit

I realized later in life that not everyone can read in a car. I used to love reading, starting out the windows and hoping we’d get a hotel with a pool!

[-]

OtherlandGirl@reddit

I always read on those trips. I know most people get carsick that way but it never affected me that way.

[-]

OutOfEffs@reddit

Yeah, I never left the house without multiple books bc what if I finished one while I was out?

[-]

TheSentientSnail@reddit

Omg those weird thick ?wax? cardboard things with a clear lucite sheet overtop. You used a clipped on molded acrylic 'stylus' to carve lines and draw a picture, then pull up the plastic and it would 'erase' itself so you could start again. A lot of them were somehow neon? or phosphorescent?

I can hear the plastic tearing sound. 🫪

[-]

PuppyJakeKhakiCollar@reddit

I loved long car rides as a kid. My grandparents lived about 2 hours away and I would just put my Walkman on and stare out at all the farms and forests as they went by (sadly a lot of those farms and forests are no longer there). I would make up stories in my head, imagine running away to live with the animals in the woods, and think deep kid thoughts, lol.

As an adult I hate long car rides because I'm usually the one driving and traffic has become so insane, along with terrible drivers.

[-]

Steel1000@reddit

TIL that 2 hours is a long car ride.

[-]

MNJayW@reddit

Fellow Midwesterner?

[-]

Steel1000@reddit

Ope! Ya got me!

[-]

platypus_farmer42@reddit

People have forgotten how to be bored.

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Texas_Kimchi@reddit

I spent mine throwing up.

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Jonestown_Juice@reddit

I always read on the car trips. Comics and regular books. The Dragonlance Chronicles on a trip from Houston to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the top cabin of my grandparents' RV. I also always had a drawing pad. I was never bored.

[-]

No_Raisin_250@reddit

For excitement we stuck our heads out the window like dogs do 😅

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f4ttyKathy@reddit

We would "fly" our arms up and down until my dad told us to cut it out lol

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gottarespondtothis@reddit

I just tried to sleep for as long as humanly possible.

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EmmalouEsq@reddit

I was an only child, too, so I had books and maybe electronic games. Now my kid can watch Gumball on the way to the grocery store. I don't know what my son would do if he was actually bored.

[-]

Fun-Alps-8943@reddit

I once accident gave my brother a black eye and he was notorious for setting toothpicks and the paper wrappers they came in on fire in the back ashtray. They had cigarette lighters in them too. Happy to report we are both in our 50s, happy and well adjusted people. Lol

[-]

PoulsenTreatment@reddit

I used to read paperback books I bought. My daughter now reads graphic novels on a color e reader or limited tablet time.

For one trip (just 3 hours) we banned the tablet. She just read books and played uno with her mom.

Kids can survive without the electronics

Adults too.

[-]

Bloomer328@reddit

We're a middle class, Midwestern family with 4 kids so we drive to every vacation. We've taken so many long road trips all over the US. Sure, some things are annoying but I know that we're building core memories and love that time while my kids are held hostage for two/three weeks for lots of family togetherness

[-]

bh0@reddit

I remember we had these car make bingo things and one of them was Datsun which had long changed to Nissan before this bingo thing happened. We never won hah!

That and Game Boy batteries that lasted a couple hours and that was it.

[-]

jazzbot247@reddit

At least give them a Walkman.

[-]

salsanacho@reddit

We do \~7hr drives up to the Bay area every year, kids do it screen-less... lots of sleeping, chit chatting, goofy antics, etc. We also do \~12-16hr flights overseas but we're not monsters, the kids watch the in-flight movies the whole time.

[-]

Longjumping-Bell-762@reddit

I’d pack my Barbie family into their car so I could play road trip. I always ended up making them fight.

Also my mom once gave me “the talk” on a road trip. She told me she chose a time when I had no means of escaping.

[-]

diamondsnrose@reddit

My brother and I entertained ourselves with Dutch Ovens for a 1600 mile (one way) road trip in the 80s. We had just learned what they were. This was when we could wander around the back of the van like it wasnt a vehicle cruising at 85mph.

I have done the same road trip w my kids and I sometimes can't imagine how horrible 1600 miles of Dutch Ovens must have been. But, also, I sometimes think that if the Dutch Ovens were quiet Dutch Ovens maybe they're be welcome.

[-]

Ivy7424@reddit

I had a whole roadtrip “kit” that, looking back, was basically school work disguised as games. My dad liked to “go for a drive” on Saturdays so a preplanned kit was necessary because those drives could be HOURS or days, there were a few times we just bought new clothes and swimsuits and stayed at a hotel.

[-]

selftaughtgenius@reddit

I read hella books on those road trips. I never get motion sickness though so there’s that.

[-]

eight13atnight@reddit

Last year they called this “raw dogging” it.

That was also something different for our generation.

[-]

lmstr@reddit

No Gameboy? Batteries eventually die of course, or it gets boring to play the same games over and over.

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Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit

It breaks my heart that cars no longer have a giant back window "dash" for kids to lay in and stare as the world goes by. I rode almost the whole way from Grinnell Iowa to Houston Texas in the back window dash of my parents 1982 Oldsmobile Regency 98 2 door diesel. That car was like a lazy boy display on wheels. You could lay up there flat on your back and stare at the sky the window was so huge.

Other than staring out the windows, mom gave me a notebook so I could draw and write down all the different trucks I saw.

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Tsquare24@reddit

Me and my sister would play gin rummy.

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dragon34@reddit

Mad libs. That is all

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FoppyRETURNS@reddit

👆👆👆

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FoppyRETURNS@reddit

A 14 hour drive with nothing but CDs and your father's 'war stories' are among the most memorable parts of life!

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After_Preference_885@reddit

My Gen z kid is almost 30

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R0botDreamz@reddit

Staring out the window counting satellite dishes. That was a big deal in the 80s.

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Adrasteia-One@reddit

We would play the trucker horn pull game each time we passed a car. We would see who was the first one to have a driver respond with the pull motion. It only worked a few times.

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zombie_overlord@reddit

My parents would get us one of those magic invisible marker activity books. Those were fun.

My 4yo daughter and I went on a massive road trip from OK to OR and back. She had a tablet, but no reception half the time. She did get to enjoy the scenery. I'll never top that trip. It was incredible.

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view-from-the-edge@reddit

When my kids were little I made them binders with a map of our route, mazes, road bingo, coloring pages, blank paper, and other simple games. As they got older I'd update them with word searches, harder mazes, more games -- all free on the internet. Each binder was personalized for each kid. I'm not a super crafty mom but that felt like a huge accomplishment to me, lol. We did that until 10 or 11. They're now all in highschool and still talk fondly of them!

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chris84126@reddit

With no AC and only an AM radio. I knew people who even had no radio and lived down 20 miles of gravel, they were kinda strange.

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threebeansalads@reddit

My Gen Alpha kids get nothing on road trips that is electronic. We have road trip music mixes, paper and coloured pencils, books, markers, some of those old books with the clear marker that colours all the parts like mystery water paint, some stuffies and a few travel style games the kids play in the back. We stop at gas stations for road snacks and we ALL absolutely love road trips! I’ve never allowed my kids to use iPads or anything.

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desertdweller2011@reddit

and have an older sibling or two sing ‘99 bottles of beer on the wall’ until you get so annoyed your mom has to intervene…. anyone else? 😂

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Tight_Day9668@reddit

My parents used to throw me & my two brothers in our little teal 2 door, 4 seater (5 seater if you count the backseat metal dip with carpet where I had to sit), truck. They’d throw in the turtle shell & latch on the camper.

We’d stop at every Stuckey’s we could find for gas, bathroom, snacks, thimbles, spoons, & shot glasses. My brothers & I didn’t kill each other some how & I’ve gotten to see 47 of the 50 states.

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lemmylemonlemming@reddit

I spy with my little eye....

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koei19@reddit

Let's be honest, it's not just kids that need this. Most of us spend way too much time distracted by our phones too.

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wildplums@reddit

That’s what my kids do every trip!

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folksongcat@reddit

We used to drive 19 hrs to go to Disney World. I think we finally started flying when I was in my late twenties. I read most of the way.

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echosofverture@reddit

To be fair I did have an og gameboy for car trips.

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AlmondSprite@reddit

I have a Gen Z and Alpha. In 2021 I took them on an 8-week roadtrip (originally scheduled for 10 weeks) to a bunch of National/State Parks/Monuments, museums, rodeos, botanical gardens, farmers markets. My husband stayed behind for most of it, flying in to rendezvous with us at certain points of the trip. They did great since we had an adventure everyday to break up the drive. Plus we weren’t only on the road. We’d stay in one place up to 10 days at a time.

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gimmeslack12@reddit

Ever play gameboy by street light?

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Matchew024@reddit

Yes! Not easy fighting Goro.

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SubstantialRemove967@reddit

Walkmen. Those little handheld electronic games in the impulse aisle. BOOKS. Backseat-rot. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Source: "Summer vacation" every year driving 16 hours straight through from CT to OH.

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