5 Essential Car Accessories for Toddlers
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Traveling with toddlers can be challenging — especially if you’re the only adult in the vehicle and need to devote the majority of your attention to the task of driving. Here are five helpful gadgets to make commutes and road trips easier and less stressful for both you and your toddler.
Backseat organizer
Keep your young one’s gear, snacks, and toys secure and within easy reach on trips with a backseat organizer. This one, available from Amazon for under $24.99 at the time of writing, has a tablet holder as well as eight mesh pockets. It’s also easy to install and clean — two musts when it comes to daily life with toddlers.
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Car mirror
If your toddler is in a rear-facing car seat, a car mirror is an essential accessory. This simple backseat mirror has a stable design that straps onto the headrest so your little one can see you and you can see them during the drive. Though, you can also upgrade to a dual-mirror system like the one pictured above to avoid straining your neck as you monitor your child from the driver’s seat. The parent’s display screen mounts to the dashboard and syncs with a camera placed above your child’s car seat so you can view their behaviors while keeping your eyes on the road ahead.
Sun shades
Protect your toddler’s eyes from harmful UV rays — and keep the cabin area darker and more conducive to naps — with some sun shades. This four-pack set, currently available from Amazon for under $10, gets rave reviews for its easy-to-use design. Two of the shades are 20×12 inches while the other two are 17×19 inches to fit different glass surfaces in your vehicle.
Neck support pillow
Keep your toddler secure and cozy when they’re snoozing on long road trips with a neck support pillow. Amazon has quite a few cute critter designs to choose from, like this purple cat one that you can get for less than $11 at the time of writing.
Toy/cup tethers
These nifty leashes fasten to your child’s car seat and can hold sippy cups as well as small toys. It’s a useful gadget especially if their car seat doesn’t have cup holders and/or they tend to drop toys frequently during the drive. The two-pack set pictured above is currently available from Amazon for under $18.
Check out five more products that will make family drives less stressful. Then equip yourself with some strategies to stay sane when driving with a screaming toddler on board.
Whitney Russell resides in Dayton, though her spirit can be found beach-bumming in Puerto Rico (the land of her half-Puerto Rican heritage). When not crafting car-related content, she can be found chasing after the most amazing toddler in the world, watching her “beaver” of a husband build amazing woodworking projects, hanging out with two crazy dogs, and visiting family and friends. She also enjoys traveling, crafting, and binge-watching period dramas when time allows. See more articles by Whitney.