Aussie kids top car boredom list

A global survey of 5000 mums by satnav company TomTom shows kids take an average of just 27 minutes to lose their enthusiasm for a holiday car trip — and mum and dad then need to be increasingly tolerant, or creative.

Australian mothers have even less time to appreciate the peace, with the 500 mums surveyed saying their two-to-eight-year-olds "crack it" around the 23-minute mark.

And the resulting mayhem can be so bad that 37 per cent of women say being in the car with the kids is more stressful than visiting the in-laws. New Zealand children are the most patient passengers and don't get bored for almost 40 minutes.

With the study reporting the average holiday drive is for around five hours, in-car games are the most popular way to pass the time in the abensce of iPods and DVDs.

Around three quarters of parents will play games and 64 per cent admit to bribing behaviour with treats and rewards, while one in four parents admit to lying about the estimated time of arrival.

Not knowing where the next toilet stop is rates among the worst dramas for parents, with the study showing more than 40 per cent of mums consider the "wait" to be tough on the nerves. TomTom commissioned the survey to show minimising travel time — as drivers can do with its products — benefits parents and kids alike.

"From avoiding endless hours spent in traffic jams to finding the best places to stop en-route for an ice-cream, TomTom and its HD Traffic technology make for the ideal travel companion for a family road trip," TomTom Asia Pacific marketing manager Valerie Cross says.

Are we bored yet?

Average time before kids get bored in the car