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It slays me when people without children say things like "When I have kids I won't..." Yeah right..
We bought DVD players for our Honda Odyssey for our 8 hour trips we made about 3 times a year. They were life savers, if we could remember where they were right before we left.
I surely wouldn't have things like that in the car for around the town driving but for trips they are terrific. Less stress for everybody but mostly for the driver. I think alot of people buy them not so much for the kids as for the relief they bring the driver.
Nobody in our family can read while in the car. I can't even look at a map without getting sick.
I strongly disagree with the modern mentality that kids must be plugged in at all times with an electronic babysitter. All that electronic stimulation is NOT good, and probably has long lasting negative effects (though I am no scientist).
None of my friends have them. My grandparents do, though, even though they rarely have any children in their van! I think my grandfather just enjoys gadgets.
We've gone on long driving trips with my preschooler son (including one four-day drive), and have not run into problems. I don't think it's necessary. He looked at books, we talked, we sang, we listened to music, listened to the radio, we looked out the window.
If other people want them and think that they get enough use out of them to make them worth the expense than that's their choice, and while I can think of about a million things I'd rather have, I don't care if other people choose differently.
The one perk I really DO like are the TVs in the back of each airplane seat. That has made flying with my son much, much, much easier. For us, though, the car situation is very different, and for us, the negatives of the in-car TV outweigh the positives.
I strongly disagree with the modern mentality that kids must be plugged in at all times with an electronic babysitter. All that electronic stimulation is NOT good, and probably has long lasting negative effects (though I am no scientist).
Having a dvd player for a long trip is not "being plugged in at all times with an electronic babysitter". We have a portable dvd that we use for long trips. And when I say long trips I mean from CA to Tennessee and back and then CA to PA. It would have been impossible to entertain a 3 year old for that long without one.
I cannot imagine how awful those 5/6 day drives would have been, and the reality is the kid(s) watch it for a little while and then look out the window, chat, sleep, and all the other things kids traditionally do on road trips.
I remember having my walkman back in the olden days, and I wish there would have been something like it then. Because no matter how much you romanticize it - long car rides, especially through flat boring scenery, can be monotonous as hell. I am one of those people who cannot even glance at a written word without feeling nauseous, so books, coloring, even games were out of the question for me.
I wonder how many adults who complain that it's bad for the kids to have electronic entertainment have the radio/cd player on at all times in the car?
We have DVD players for the car: not the built-in kind, but the kind you can strap on to the headrests. The reason I did not want built-in TVs was because I did not want my children to expect to watch it every time they got into the car. The one we have is only broken out for our 11-hour trip to visit family in PA twice a year, or any other car trip that is 4+ hours long. They don't need to be plugged in, and they know that watching it is a privilege and if there is any fighting over what to watch, the volume, etc, it gets taken away for the rest of the day.
When I was younger, we didn't have anything electronic (except a Walkman), and as much fun as the 3-day drives to FL could be, I also remember a LOT of fighting amongst my sisters and I, as well as one very memorable time Dad had to pull off to the side of the road so Mom could deal with us. Long car trips (or God forbid, endless plane trips) are boring and stressful enough for kids; sometimes it's nice to have a diversion for them to help time go faster. It certainly can be a sanity-saver for the driver.
Why is it OK for adults to watch movies while flying but it's an "issue" to have a dvd player in a car?
I have a dvd player in my car. My DD rarely uses it. At first, she used it a lot (novelty) but now she'll only watch it if we're taking a long drive somewhere, although she will also bring books/mags along for entertainment.
Because if families on airplanes started singing or playing I spy it would disrupt everyone around them. I have, however, read aloud (quietly) to my kids on airplanes. I don't watch the movies anyway, since I can never keep those stupid earphones in.
I don't really have an issue with DVD players for those who must take long car trips often. I see them on in cars as parents drop their kids off in the morning at school though, and I've witnesses a couple of kids throwing a fit in the parking lot of the grocery store because they didn't want to turn it off to go in the store.
I strongly disagree with the modern mentality that kids must be plugged in at all times with an electronic babysitter. All that electronic stimulation is NOT good, and probably has long lasting negative effects (though I am no scientist).
And go back a few generations where the TV was the sitter in numerous homes and we'd all be blind by now. And the following generations of boom boxes, walkmans, etc and they stated we'd be deaf by now. So this generation wont be able to read (they already cant write, type in texting mode yes, writing or even typing in full words no). SSDD.
Don't see a problem with it, it can be a big help for those cross-country trips. We have one that we use, the kids also listen to their Ipods, play with their hand held games, read and even play games with their Dad and I.
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