When I was little, our family car didn’t have air conditioning, and we three children sat so low and squashed in the back seat that we couldn’t see where we were going.
Day trips then were only about the destination, never the getting there.
No sooner had we turned the first corner than we would begin to chorus, ‘Are we there yet?’ and ‘How much longer will it take?’.
From the youngest age, my little granddaughter has loved day trips. In fact, any trip in the car, especially if a visit to a play park was involved.
She has always sat in a car seat and observed where she was going.
She would give a running commentary. Red tractor, green tractor, purple car, train, black cow, bulldozer, garbage truck, man on a bicycle and on it would go.
She amused herself and us, especially when she called ‘spotto’ yellow car, yellow train repair vehicle, yellow sign or anything else that was yellow.
One day, she saw a wedding and asked how the fairy had arrived on the footpath without wings. She had many books about fairies but none about weddings.
The point is that she taught herself to be observant. As a three-year-old, she could tell us whether a plane was going to Sydney or Melbourne.
Now she’s six, she counts the Tesla cars and tells us we are passing Angus, Hereford, Banded Galloway or any other type of cattle because she has seen them at the show.
Identifying sheep is more difficult, but those with black bits are worthy of a mention.
Many children today rely on gadgets to entertain themselves in the car rather than looking out the window.
They miss the opportunity to become naturally observant, a habit that gets better and better with age.
Our little one applies her observations not only when she is in the car but wherever she is.
We are constantly surprised by what she notices in trees, the bush, at the beach, in paintings or just at home.
My children always played games in the car. Endless ‘I Spy’ and number plate games of their creation.
If you saw two white horses, you could make a wish. We all joined in, and it was fun.
One special game was traffic lights, which involved guessing a two-digit number between ten and ninety-nine. Someone thinks of the number, and the others deduce what it is.
If you guessed two wrong numbers, the reply is two red lights. If one is guessed correctly but not in the right place, then the answer is one amber/one red, but which is which?
Eventually, the correct answer with two green lights is achieved. Even young children learn to establish a guessing strategy.
As teenagers, they were lucky enough to live in England, and each noticed different things.
One horses and cattle, another the many ways wheat is stooked in Europe and another birds and dogs, their size, colour, hairdos and decorations, how they were carried even what, and where, they were fed.
My husband has always commented on chimneys, asserting interesting chimneys are invariably on interesting houses.
I have always noticed trees, landscapes and buildings, plus the feel of a place and, of course, what people are wearing. Ooh, everyone is wearing pink this year and so on.
At lunch or dinner, we would all share what we had seen, heard, or learned during our day trip, especially the funny things. There was always so much to talk about.
Day trips are fun and rewarding for everyone.
– Suzie Pearce