But, I have to say that I am just not there yet. We went on a recent road trip to Alabama. I had a friend offer to loan me one. I declined. They thought I was insane. Another friend and I had a conversation that went something like this-
Friend: YOU'RE DRIVING 14 HOURS WITHOUT A DVD PLAYER?
Me: Yes
Friend: BY CHOICE?
Me: Yes.
Friend: HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING?
Me: Yes. But that's besides the point. (And don't worry, Mom. It was lemonade. You know how loopy that makes me.)
Friend: WHY AM I FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Me: I don't know. AND WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
So, I know I am in the minority and I know in 5 years time I will happily be be-bopping down the road to some sort of Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, but I honestly don't see the sense in them now. Granted, my daughter has 3 tantrums an hour on road trips that I am sure a DVD player will cure, but my kids are only 1 and 2. I have a hard enough time keeping the TV off at home. Why would I want to strap them in their seats for hours and force them to watch something I don't like them to watch at home?
On our last road trip we listened to music and everyone sang along, we pointed out clouds, we talked about our trip, we read books, and we were just silent at times.
Again, I'm not opposed. I just know that once that can of worms is opened, it is opened for good. And my kids are so little. But, I am still open to being persuaded otherwise. Thoughts? Am I as crazy as I secretly think I am?
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10 comments:
I don't think you are crazy Lauren. Good for you. Our first time to use one in the van was when Nicholas was 2 and a half I think. We only use it for long car rides since it is the portable kind. It can definitely be avoided at times though with singing and games like you did. It is nice at times I have to admit though to just turn on a movie and not have to be creative. I am with you either way. To each his or her own. :-)
i caved. but i dont fault you for not! ;) we only allow ours to be on when we are on a TRIP and stick pretty close to it. i can only imagine the problems it will create when the girls get older though!
You are not crazy, because when it is open- it is open and their is no going back! Sadly I fall in the category that has... it was a requirement when I purchased the Sequoia, because I knoew I would have that car for long while. I do alot of driving of distances of atleast an hour one way weekely and take alot of road trips with just the boys... needles to say Sebastian did not get this luxery till he was almost 2.5 as for rear faceing Vince- well there are some perks to being the 2nd child!
BTW I hate the fact that we were sooo close and did not get to meet!
Yep, I'm in agreement here too. Our first DVD player was the portable ones and I had a rule of only pulling it out on trips. It was a special treat. Then when we got the Expedition it was installed and now they are obsessed. I can't tell you how many times I hear one of them screaming "WHERE ARE MY HEADPHONES?" or "I DON'T WANT TO WATCH THAT!" Ugh! It is nice sometimes when I can have a little peace and quite but more times than not it is the source of a fuss. Actually in the past week our player has been messed up so we have been forced to converse with one another and they are noticing things out the window that they haven't before. I'm thinking I may not get it fixed. ;)
Don't waste your money on a DVD player...once your kids have an iPod (and they'll have one before you know it) you won't need a DVD player.
You ARE going to allow iPod's in the car, aren't you?????
i was going to say the same thing your "friend" did about the 14 hour car drive you made. when we got our van, i said i was only going to turn it on for road trips, but sometimes it's really nice to have them just be quiet and stop fighting. there are no "quick trips" where we live b/c the cities are in a line instead of a circle and you just seem to go back and forth very slowly. (they don't want people to drive over 35 mph here in FL and a dvd player saves the mom from going crazy due to the turtle speed she must drive and kids fighting over who looked at who last.)
BUT ours just broke and we are going to d.c. next week. (and being the great mom i am would rather buy iphone for the adults than fix the dvd player for the kids) i've bought lots of fun "extras" to try to keep the kids entertained. we have a portable one, but they fight over who is going to hold it so it will only come out during an emergency.
Lauren, I commend you for making
such a long road trip without even bringing
it for an emergency or something! M is only
10 months so I know I am not speaking from
much experience as a mother, but from just an
educator's opinion, you are giving your children
such rich language experiences to them by reading,
singing, and observing! Sadly, I know friends who have
to turn the DVD player on just to drive 5 minutes to chick-fil-a w/ their child. It is a sacrifice(of sanity @times) but you will see the reward.
Our rule is that we have to be driving out of town to use the dvd player. And we try to make it as far as we can before pulling it out of the box and even showing them that we have it with us.
On this last car trip, they made the entire first day (8 hours) and about half of the next day (3 or 4 hours) before we told them we had a movie player. We made potholders, colored, sang songs, etc. But after a while I felt bad that they were "stuck" in the car and had played with all the art stuff we had brought along. I-40 is not that stimulating. Car trips can be boring -- Sound of Music is practically educational, right?
And when you watch it six times? Well, that's gotta be developing memorization or musical genius. These are the little lies I tell myself.
We have one in our van... our boys are now 3 and 5, and it is a godsent, but it is not something they regularly get to watch.. a trip to the store or around town.. NO, it is normally only on and watchable on trips etc. (or if we are stuck in traffic and I am tired of hearing " are we there yet..." We just went on a 5.5 hour (which turned into 7 hour due to traffic trip this past weekend with 4 kids under 5 and under You bet the TV was going the WHOLE TIME) Now when it comes to video games and the DS... NO WAY.. I have not and will not go down that road with our 5 year old... even though his friends have them!
I never traveled 14 hours with a preschooler! I applaud you for spending time and interacting with them instead of plugging them into video. However, when you do "cave", remember the machine can suddenly disappear or mysteriously break if the need arises! You're the best!!!
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