What were you thinking? Why did you ever assume that your 16-month-old would a) fall asleep during the four-hour car trip and continue to snooze most of the way through it; and b) that if she was awake, she’d be content to just watch the scenery fly by and look at the books you packed while snacking on some crackers?

Man, were you wrong. Instead, said child cried, then screamed because she was stuck in her car seat without any entertainment (she chucked those books about 10 kilometres back and you didn’t think you’d ever need a portable DVD player). You had to pull over on the highway for a nasty diaper change, and after that, she really didn’t want to go back into her car seat.

There has to be a better way to road-trip, right? There is, thankfully — take these parent-tested travel tips and apply them to next month’s holiday excursion to Grandma’s house.

Get crafty about crafts

“Make sure all of the colouring items you pack are washable, as crayon of any kind is a no-no because it’s too hard to get out of upholstery,” says Allison Findlay, a mom of five in Red Deer, Alta. “The new water-filled pens with the specialty drawing pads are great because they erase as they dry and don’t mark or stain.”

Pack presents

When things get hairy, whip out a present, says Toronto mom Brenda Torrance, mother of two-year-old Mae. “Get a few toys from the dollar store and wrap them up so you can give them out when things get a bit crazy,” says Torrance. “But remember to save some for the trip back!”

Time your travel

For the Toronto-to-Halifax haul with two-year-old Cam, Nicole and Paul Methven stopped every few hours for 30 minutes to ensure that Cam had some running around time. “We followed that rule religiously,” says Methven. “And if he was napping, we’d just plow through unless we really needed to stop for gas.”

Mull over meals

When it comes to snacks and drinks, forget anything sweet and sugary, says Findlay. “It just makes them too hyper.” Findlay also packs more novelty food items for meals as well. “I pre-cook meals that can be eaten cold, like Pillsbury Weiner Wraps or even cold pizza instead of sandwiches,” she says.

Porta-potty

Between snacks and sippy cups, your potty training toddler will definitely need a bathroom break. Bringing your potty from home means you can pull over where you can, instead of telling Junior to “just hold on” while you speed to the nearest rest stop.

And if it’s a plane trip?

Pack a Portable

“We travel with a portable DVD player,” says Janice Vogtle, who took her four-year-old daughter Aiden to Hong Kong when she was 14 months old. Packing your own DVD player avoids any disappointment over which shows the plane actually stocks. “Certain airlines in Canada have suggested that they carry Treehouse TV, for example, and we’ve gotten on the flight and they haven’t had it,” says Vogtle. Plus, there is always the chance the in-flight entertainment will be on the fritz (it happens).

Music, music, music

“If we don’t travel with a DVD player, we pack an MP3 player and a pair of those noise-reducing headphones. Even at a fairly young age, we could put the headphones on her and play whatever music she liked,” says Vogtle. “It helped her fall asleep. And when she did, we just unplugged the headphones and left them on her.”

Astrid Van Den Broek was happy to research this story before she embarked on a road trip with her own three-year-old daughter.