Siting in the middle seat of a car

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I have a road trip coming up and there are just enough seats in the car meaning that I will have to sit in the middle seat most likely ( I am the youngest of three children my siblings are also on the spectrum and hate the middle seat as well and use the youngest=smallest excuse even though we are all teenagers). This bothers my sensory issues and my personal space issues. My sensory issues are worse when I'm upset and I don't usually get upset over stuff easily unless they are bothering me. Does anyone have an tips for dealing with this and avoiding conflict with my brothers( I also get really bugged when I have to listen to people argue). Sorry if I stated the obvious I'm kinda new here.

What is the vehicle you will be riding in? Hopefully a full size truck, there not too bad. Perhaps you can convince your parents or whoever is taking to let you and your siblings switch off on the seat thing every now and then, its not right to make you sit there the whole way. Of course if you pay a little money into funding the trip or help with maintaining the vehicle you could probably sit wherever you want, that's my strategy anyway.

I am luck enough to be riding in a full size truck. I will see what I can do about the taking turns idea. You have reminded me of the powers of baking cookies through your other suggestion . One of my brothers is a sucker for cookies ( and his favorite are really easy to bake). Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Gah, I hate sitting in the middle seat of a vehicle. Whenever I can I always try to get one of the side seats, preferably up front. Whenever I'm in a vehicle, I almost always stare out the window and watch the scenery go by. I really enjoy it, and it helps prevent motion sickness as well.

You might try to focus what is in front of you. I don't know what car you are going to ride but in most of them the middle seat gets not too bad view on the road - you might imagine you are driving.

But I totally understand how you feel. I also hate sitting in the middle seat - people on both sides, uncomfortable floor under feets, front seats in the view all the time and just too much static things visible while all the moving (distracting) things are disappearing from the view too fast to focus on them. And in my car there is additional problem - the radio speakers are in the back so when you sit on any of the back sits the music is too loud but you can't ask to make it lower since the music is much more silent in the front seats and my parents like to listen to the music.

How old are you? Can you travel on front sit already according to the law in your country? Perhaps you might switch to one of your parents and take the pasager seat at least for a part of the travel. That's what I do when I can't stand it anymore (usually when I get my motion sickness, motion sickness argument always works). I ask my mom to switch and I take the passager seat next to my father. I am good with maps and looking at roadsigns so it's OK since I help him to follow the right way.

I'm a side-seat man myself. I'm very much like Bigmouth in that I get motion sickness if I don't look out the window at the scenery.

Earplugs and headphones so you don't have to listen to people argue. As for the middle seat if you do not suffer someone else will so... kinda screwed. You could layer up so people can't touch you that's always nice. Get a winter coat it'd help to absorb some of the pressure making glancing touches not even noticeable.

This solution might seem a little strange, but I think it could work. Perhaps if your brothers take motion sickness pills that make them drowsy (even if they don't get motion sick), they will be fast asleep and there will be no arguing. You should try to avoid this type of medicine for yourself if you need it otherwise you will desperately need to put your head down somewhere with no options. If you are prone to motion sickness, take the least drowsy kind of medicine that you know of.

From my own experience, I have noticed that some of these medications only work against the nausea if I take it half an hour before getting into a moving vehicle.

Try to zone out, if you can. Dissociate. Meditate. Whatever you call it--just be there physically and not mentally. Have a fantasy world? Go there.

See if you can persuade your parents to let your brothers have books or handheld games or whatever they like, maybe that will keep them quieter and less annoying.

At least when you sit in the middle you can look straight out the front; that should help a bit with motion sickness.

Don't expect to have much energy when you get to your destination. Plan to get some peace and quiet somehow.

Do your parents know how much you hate road trips? Will they help you? If it gets really intensely horrible, how much warning can you give them, and will they pull over and let you get out and walk around for a little while if you do tell them you need a break? Depending on the highway, it might be possible for them to find a rest stop in as little as five minutes, but some highways don't have any good place to stop for half an hour at a time.

I also prefer a side seat. I also like looking out the window and looking at the scenery. I'm a very visual person, so I need that.

Have you discussed this issue with your family?

I can't stand sitting in the middle either. I need to look out the window or I get carsick. Sometimes I need the window open so I can feel the wind on my face and that helps with not getting carsick too.

I've heard people say that you should sit in the middle if you get car sick, but I do get car sick and I find the middle much worse than the other seats! I also get so restless and feel so cooped up (I also got placed in the middle as a kid, because I was the youngest and smallest).

I would bargain with your other siblings and parents like others have suggested, and maybe try and explain to your parents how much it means to you. Sharing the seat around would be a good alternative to just making you sit in it (and tell them it would teach you all diplomacy if you shared it around!)

Thank you to everyone's ideas. I think I can bargain my way to a side seat ( one of my brothers as previously stated is a sucker for cookies and the other because were in a truck seems to be fine with it ( I still wouldn't like being in between two people and having nowhere to rest) ). Boy, do I use too many parentheses! Not sure of spelling. And I got some new movies that me and my brothers will like with my mom today. I will try to zone out or get lost in the scenery at some point most likely thank you Calista. Other than this is there anything else that can be done to make riding with 4 other people and a dog ( in the front seat with my mother) in a truck for a Long period of time more peaceful, bearable, and pleasant? I don't exactly hate road trips (and am kind of exited) but it's a long time sitting down, cramped, my brothers like the music to be way louder than I do, and when 5 people are in a confined space for so long tempers fly. I am quite used to them actually but have never had this many people in a car for so long ,nor are our frequent weekend trips this far, and we have done pretty good before but I don't think we have ever done with out any arguing or upset-ness and as previously stated this trip is longer and has more people(we also have a smaller car usually though we are taking my moms boyfriend and his truck) sorry if this was too wordy I have a tendency to do that.

Do your brothers mind using earphones and do you all have mp3 players? Maybe if you or your mom provide them with these, you can all have your own music on and as loud as you like, so you don't bother each other.

If you are a family that likes to play games, you can always try and play a game on the way there, to try and release all that negative energy from being stuck with one another - sometimes just readying yourself with some interesting topics they all may like to discuss may be good too.

If the arguments you all have usually have the same sort of theme, maybe there's a way you can target this to avoid the arguments all together?

Also, you can always suggest to mom to make a few short breaks along the way, so you can all have a break from the drive, go and be by yourselves for a bit, and ready yourselves for the rest of the journey.

Traveling with family is always hard, but I'm sure you can always talk to your mom about what may be bothering you about this long journey and see if you and her can come to some sort of solution.

I probably will talk to my mom. In terms of games we are watching a series of movies together(I hope I can convince my brothers to take breaks from the movies though since they are really long). As far as a common theme in arguments it is mostly stupid stuff that gets blown up by the fact that we are cramped, tired, and sick of each other or jokes and fun that get taken too far. Is there perhaps a good way to help settle arguments without getting involved( I hate this though it wouldn't appear so to my family.)? I just want to be able to stop the yelling and tense-ness hopefully before it starts or find some way to ignore it and not let it get to me(the latter is really difficult for me. Thank you for your suggestions.