Easy Car Ride
This Week —
After more than 20 years in NYC, my husband and I caved in and recently bought a car. The pandemic nudged us in that direction as we were no longer keen on taking the subway, and we also wanted to start road-tripping out of the city on a regular basis. Tootling around the area with a car has taught us a lot about navigating traffic, packing the trunk efficiently, and most importantly, avoiding DEFCON 1 meltdowns in the car ride with the Elf. And that’s where music always saves the day!
Listen to —
Our car ride playlist comes in handy when you want your kids feeling happy and upbeat while traveling, but not so wired that they try to Harry Houdini it right out of their car seats. This playlist is jam-packed with sunny piano waltzes by Chopin, fun baritone arias by Mozart, swinging brass tunes led by Wynton Marsalis, and chill melodies played by Anat Cohen and her ten-piece band.
Wheels on the Bus (oh #$% no) —
For those times when your kiddos are two seconds away from a backseat breakdown but you’ve still got a ways to go, here’s a singing game we invented with the Elf. Using the melody from “I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas,” everyone in the car takes turns replacing “apples” with another food and “bananas” with the place you want to eat it at. For example: “I want to eat, eat, eat donuts in the dump truck.” You can set different challenges such as matching the first letter of each or naming countries with their respective local foods. It can get silly real fast (I once regretfully belted out “tiramisu in the toilet”), but it makes the minutes fly by—just like this playlist!
Don’t have Spotify? Listen on YouTube!