Nov 13 2008
How We Travel
When people hear of the places we take our kids, they’ll often make comments about traveling any sort of distance with four young children in the car. “How do you do it?” they’ll ask. “They’re good travelers,” I’ll reply, and for the most part they really are. Of course, I have a few tricks up my sleeve, like snacks, magazines, coloring books, and the like. Sometimes they’ll take a nap in the car. We play a lot of games of “I Spy” and spotting the letters of the alphabet. We switch back and forth between talk radio and “kid music.” And once in a while they even argue with each other.
Would it surprise you, though, to hear that we don’t have a DVD player for the car? I’ve heard people say that’s it’s a “lifesaver” or that they “couldn’t live without it” when traveling with kids on long trips.
For some reason, though, I’m philosphically opposed to car DVD players. My kids watch TV at home, and I don’t think it’s necessary for them to be tuned into a tiny screen in the car when there’s so much to see out the windows. We enjoy the conversations we have in the car and would miss out on that if they were plugged in to a movie.
Once in a while, the kids ask if we can get a car DVD player, but they really don’t grumble too loudly when we tell them no and explain our reasons. Judging by the landmarks they recognize and the signs they read, they don’t feel like they’re missing out on too much.
If you’re a DVD-in-the-car family, I don’t begrudge you your ways of keeping travel peaceful. In fact, I may someday change my mind, perhaps on a really long cross-country trip. But for now, I’m happy to have my children enjoy what they see out the windows of our mini-van and enjoy the conversations we have with them en route.
I’ve never had any desire to get a DVD player for the car, either. The kids are just fine with their books and toys, even for the 8+ hour drive to Iowa each summer.
But … we’re driving to Florida to see my parents at Christmas. 17+ hours of driving over two days. We may end up with a DVD player before the trip. (Or halfway through the trip, if the kids drive us crazy.) Of course, with LS still rear-facing, they wouldn’t both be able to see it anway.
We have one which we almost never use. When we do, we usually have drama. The kids can’t hear b/c my husband and I are talking too loud. The wireless headphones don’t work because the batteries are dead. And so on.
Also, our other car is a Prius. Which is the car we want to take on long trips for obvious reasons. Oops.
We devour audiobooks though…though the kids still accuse us of talking too loud. Sigh.
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Totally agree with you about the car DVD. We do a lot of long road trips, NY to Mississippi being the longest. However, I look forward to sharing conversation, music, and audiobooks. As the driver, a DVD would just isolate me from my kids. No, thanks!
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I’m with you – I’m totally old school (wrote about it here in fact:http://motherofalltrips.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-road-again.html )Our trips are made all the more exciting by the fact that we only have a little sedan!
One really fun thing we’ve started doing before long drives is either DH or I makes a CD of songs from iTunes. The lastest one from this summer was Motown hits, previous ones have been great songs from the 50s and 70s. The kids really like this and the bonus is that we then have a soundtrack for all of our vacations.
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We get out of the house so the kids won’t be watching TV, that’s why we stick to ipods or talking instead.
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I agree. We have a video ipod we take on long car trips and plane rides but it’s a method of absolute last resort. Like special forces we call in at the very end of the journey when everyone needs a little push to get through those last 30 minutes. Using it this way really points up how much TV is a drug! I’m proud to say that Huck and I made it all the way down to Albuqueque without using it once–on the way back was a different story
There are just so many ways to entertain in a car or plane without plugging in. Huck is just getting into I SPY–I find it both a gift and a curse.
Jonah Lisa’s last blog post..Sheriff’s Log :: 5
We own a portable DVD player (Black Friday Buy) but seldom use it. The few times we have tried it hasn’t been a big success. The kids tune out or argue about placement and sound levels.
Music is definately one of my best strategies. Some little kid music, but mostly rowdy grown up music. My nine year old helps me make the CD mixes. He is a huge Beach Boys fan. We also throw in a little Green Day and rowdy songs like “Who Let the Dogs Out” and “Schools Out for Summer”. Just make sure that it is something you can drive calmly to while listening to it over and over again!
-Bridget
Bridget Smith’s last blog post..Sea Life Aquarium Closed for Modifications
No DVD for us either. And the funny thing is that car trips are one of their favorite things in the world. My 17 (yes 17!) year old says he loves the “closeness” of the family in the car. Now why would I mess with that!
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Good for you! I’m just impressed that you’re still GOING strong with the 4 along for the ride! We thought we’d finally have to resort to playing DVDs on our laptop earlier this year when we hit the road in winter for a family emergency. We somehow missed the power cord though, and were glad in the end. They get used to what they get used to, and I’m glad they’re getting used to watching for the landmarks, like you say.
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We have a portable dvd player and only use it when we travel. Since we don’t travel but about 3 times a year, and our trips range from 9 1/2-13 hours one way, we find it a very nice addition. We don’t let the boys watch it the entire drive, though. We’ll usually allow them to watch 2 movies, sometimes 3 in the case of our 13 hour drive. They are at the age where they seldom nap and they aren’t yet old enough for ipods (they are 8, 8 and 6). We have the ability in our vehicle to put a cd in for them to listen to in the back while we still listen to the radio up front, so we do that for a good portion of the trip, too.
I always pack an activity bag and snacks for each of them and they like to makeup their own games. For us, the dvd player isn’t the focal point, but it does help to supplement their time in the van.
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