It’s the question every parent is loathe to hear coming from the back seat during a long road trip: “Are we there yet?”
Uh oh. That can only mean one thing: your precious little snowflakes are bored. Out of their minds. The fussing, fidgeting and fighting begins. Soon, it will be hell on wheels.
On average, it takes just 27 minutes for children to become bored on a long car trip – according to a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI and HorizonResearch for GPS manufacturer TomTom – with rug rats from Down Under having the shortest amount of patience.
More than 4,000 mothers of children aged two to eight were surveyed across nine countries. The answers were based on trips more than 30 minutes in length up to five hours where the kids had no form of amusement, such as electronic handheld devices.
Backseat monsters
- Australia, 23 minutes
- Great Britain, 24 minutes
- Spain, 25 minutes
- Italy, 26 minutes
- Netherlands, 27 minutes
- United States, 30 minutes
- France, 30 minutes
- Germany, 31 minutes
- New Zealand, 34 minutes
globedrive@globeandmail.com
