I paid for peace in the car

Hurray for happy travelers

Some may call it bribery, but I prefer the more corporate incentivizing. You see, on this last road trip I paid my kids $1 an hour for good behavior in the car. I started halfway through the outbound trip and only rewarded them for car rides lasting more than 1 hour, but they each made about $16 and I bought priceless peace for myself and Josh.

My hope was that the girls would save all of their dollars for a souvenir of some kind, but apparently money burns a hole in the pockets of the young. They would scan the displays at rest stop convenience stores, wide-eyed in wonder at all the items for sale. Z got to buy Gatorade (something I won't pay for) and sugar free gum and A treated herself to a box of animal crackers. Later they both sprung for single serve bags of Cheetos, a purchase they savored as they sucked the bright orange powder out from behind their fingernails.


In any case, I fully plan to make the road trip reward system a regular feature of our trips. I won't get pestered by whining or fighting in the car (and asked to buy junk every time we stop) and they can indulge themselves silly...or (hopefully) learn the value of a dollar saved.