Mark

Moms who are driving two or more children to and fro could end up going crazy! So moms - HOW DO YOU SURVIVE? WHAT ARE YOUR SECRETS?

Do you allow your kids to eat in the car? Do you skip dinner? How do you get your husband fed with all the "travel time" between events? How do you jugle multiple "little people" schedules?

We want to know!

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Mark Strohm, Jr.
Thrifty Times

Zippy

Oh boy - well, I've been doing it for a few years now, but I'm not sure how. I just do.

I guess the first trick is to be very organized. (That's another post in and of itself.) The more routines you have, the more time you'll have for "flexibility."

If its a day I know I'll come straight home from work and start driving people around, I'll start dinner in the crockpot or make a cold pasta salad before work or plan something very quick like grilled cheese / broccoli sandwiches or scrambled eggs. (And surely, most husbands will understand if you can't cook for them every night.)

In general, I try to plan a week's worth of dinners at a time so I know I'll always have the ingredients I need, and there's none of that "It's 5:00. What should I make for dinner? Hmmm... Domino's Pizza?" I can make the more time-consuming meals on the weekend or on less busy nights.

I try to schedule other errands that are on the way so I'm not making extra trips. Depending on how much time there is between drop-off and pick-up, I might go to the gym or go grocery shopping. I always keep a book or magazine in the van so that if I have 15 minutes of waiting, I can read. (I love to read, but don't have much time for it anymore.)

Some of the best conversations I have with my kids are in the van on the way to someplace.

I realize this is sort of vague - if I can help with more specifics please let me know.

Struick

I had the best conversations around the dinner table.
Most families have no dinner tables these days.

Boanerges

Yep me to brother Struick - I believe it's that captive audience thing!
One thing we do around our house when we know things are going to be busy is make meals double sized and freeze 1/2 that way when the heat is on we can pull out a container of red beans of meatballs etc and with little or no effort have dinner. I also make sure everyone is on their toes helping with chores- mom and dad love to take our kids places but it takes teamwork and planning to make it all happen.This is only partial relief from all the stress and stain of alot of zig zag driving but every little bit helps.

Zippy

Not to worry Struik, there is plenty of good conversation to be had around the dinner table at the Zippy household. (or breakfast table - one way or the other.

The thing is, I don't usually have dinner with just one of my kids at a time - so if I'm driving them somewhere and its just me and that one particular child, the two of us can have an uninterrupted conversation. It's great.

I absolutely agree about having kids help with chores. We're a family, we all use the house, so we all contribute to the upkeep. That's part of the "routine" I refered to earlier.