All year long people take car trips, and while a good road trip is an awesome adventure when you're in college, it can be hours of grueling punishment when you're traveling with a carload of bored, frustrated children. Even short rides can stretch a parent's patience tissue paper thin when the kids are in a mood.

Giving them something to do is a parent's best friend, but after awhile even their favorite video game can grow tiresome. That's when folks need to dig deep and find something “different” that will keep them engaged and change the overall mood in your vehicle. Nothing can revitalize a trip like a good sing-a-long. Yeah. I went there.

Singing, and music in general, has a mood lifting effect for everyone involved, and sharing in a ridiculous, spontaneous sing-a-long can get everyone back on track, and what better place than in the car? Nobody else will hear you belting out “Danny Boy” with your offspring, so you can make it as soulful or wacky as you want.

David Schiller's book and CD kit, All-American Car-i-oke comes with everything you need to turn your humdrum road trip into a chorus of song and laughter. Included in the kit is a CD, with 15 songs and four rounds, music trivia, three copies of books of lyrics and other in-car activities to beat down the boring.

Embracing the open road can be a little much to ask of young children, but if you turn the trip into quality family time, the drive will be as much a part of the vacation's memories as the actual destination