Battle Story #5 The Infamous Car Ride

I've been writing some negative stuff lately and just thought I'd share another win with my High Functioning Lifers.

Tigerlily used to make every car trip, a highway to hell. The moment she was put in the car seat she would start screaming. By the time we started daycare, I absolutely dreaded getting in the car with her.

 I'm not exaggerating here folks, Tigers scream is ear splitting, Her screams are so intense that I once had a friend actually apologize, for every judgemental thought they had ever had about my parenting and coping skills. I mean unless you are subjected to it, its pretty hard to fathom just how much pain my kids shrieking can generate. They admitted that they had no idea how bad it was... until they had to deal with it, that they had never heard anything like it, and that I am way more patient than one might suppose, based off my FB b*tching. (Yes, I've always b*tched  online eh!)

Now I admit, I don't like to drive, I find it stressful and I'm not particularly good at it. Now add a screaming demon to the mix and you can see why I would avoid any unnecessary trips with Tiger. The kicker is I lived in the country and it was 20min to an hour to get anywhere and I had to drive everywhere back then. It just plain sucked. It got so bad that I would have to stop and get out of the car so I wouldn't lose my mind.

I just couldn't figure out what her problem was. I tried playing music, singing rythmes, telling stories, giving her toys, snacks, treats, a mirror, fidgets, a new car seat, another new car seat, windows down, windows up a combo , heat up, air conditioning on, sun visors, shades for her, a blanket, a stuffy, a binky everything and anything to get her to stop screaming in the car.

Finally I tried a new vehicle, I put her car seat in the middle of the back seat of a great big truck.

Guess what, she stopped screaming, mostly. I still needed to keep the car cold, and the music off BUT the screaming was seriously curbed. I didn't have to pull over anymore. My theory is that once she could reconcile the sensation of moving with being able to see us moving through the windshield the sensation was less disconcerting or easier to reconcile within her own mind.

Now I don't want to overstate this win. Car rides with Tiger still suck the life out of me. Instead of screaming now she b*tches at me ( wonder where she gets that from ?). She still has a low threshold for car time but we can go about an hour without her meltingdown, which gets us to most places we need to be.


The High Functioning Life, driving with earplugs in is not recommended.


HFL Mama.