DVD in the car

[Conservative Hippie]

Is this a must-have with kids? We are shopping for a (new-to-us) minivan, and at first I thought a DVD system on my must-have list, but now I'm not so sure. Of course we never got to watch movies on long road trips, we read books, listed to our walkman, etc, and we've never had one before so if we don't get one, my kids won't know what they are missing, they'll survive. Right now we usually bring a laptop to play a movie on long road trips and DD just holds it in her lap.

Also, one guy I talked to said DVD can be installed for just a few hundred if it didn't come with the vehicle, anyone done that before?

 

[pyrxtc]

I wouldn't get one installed in the car since if anything ever happens to it and it needs repairs, you lose the whole car to fix it. for a couple hundred dollars (way less sometimes) you can buy one that can be used in any car.

 

[Kirby]

I don't think that they are a must have. Since you've already used a DVD player, I would just continue that route. Why spend the extra money when you don't have to?

 

[shortbun]

We love ours. We take a few long trips every year and it keeps the children pacified. Also, they wear headphones so I can spend the whole ride gloriously talking to my husband and listening to good music. Like I said, we love it!

 

[pixiewings71]

We have one in our minivan and we also have a laptop that we use when we take the car. We love it but we tend to go on long road trips, 6 hours or more. For shorter drives we don't use it. We had our installed after market, it's much bigger than one you typically get from the dealer (screen size so it's easier to see) and it was much cheaper compared to the dealer's quote. So we got a better system for less money. I definitely suggest going after market to get one.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I would never get one in the car, I have a few friends that have them and their kids will not make even a trip to school without having a movie on. My kids both have portable DVD players that they can take in the car for long trips only.

 

[Ephany]

My DD thinks we're hopelessly beyond the times because I specifically looked for a vehicle that did not have one when I got my car last summer. She has a portable dvd player we use instead. I like the fact that it comes with us out of the car so we can use it other places if need be when we're away from home. If something happens to it, we're out less than $100 and I don't lose my car while it's being repaired.

 

[ICF]

I'd just buy a portable one for $100 or so.....

 

[Mickey2013]

We use the portable DVD - I'm w/ the idea that if it breaks, and built in , it's more expensive to fix. We only use our portable for 2 hour + rides. We have 3 kids so we bungie it to the back of the front passenger head rest. We alos use the tapes that could be used for portable CD players to play thru the car speakers. You just plug the "tape" into the DVD and it hooks to the car radio.

 

[Tinkermommy]

We did not get one installed. We have a portable one we use for long car trips only.

I didn't want my kids to get used to being entertained constantly.

They can talk, play I-spy, listen to music, read or stare out the window while we go about town.

 

[MzDiz]

Because kids don't watch enough TV as it is... Here's an idea, kids, it's called a book!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have two portable ones that can be attached to the seats of the van, they can be used separately or hooked together for both kids to watch the same movie. They only go in the van if the trip is over 3 hours.

 

[krcit]

I would never get one in the car, I have a few friends that have them and their kids will not make even a trip to school without having a movie on. My kids both have portable DVD players that they can take in the car for long trips only.

I agree. When we bought our minivan, it came with it so we didn't have a choice. We really don't go on many long car trips and the few times the kids tried to watch a movie they got car sick the dvd players in our van have been used maybe 3-4 times in 2 years.

 

[VAfamily1998]

We have one in our 2006 minivan. I originally specifically DID NOT want one, but the only way to get the other options I wanted, "off the lot" and not special ordered or whatever, was to get one that also had a DVD player.

Now, I'm so glad we have it. Generally, we take several road trips a year and it has made the trips much easier. We don't allow the kids to watch movies on short trips like to the grocery store...only trips that are about 1.5 hours or more...
If possible, we try to find DVDs about the locations we are going to and play those. For example, in the last year we have visited a lot of sites dealing with the Revolutionary war, like Boston's freedom trail, Yorktown battlefield, Saratoga Battlefield, etc. so we got the "Liberty's Kids" DVDs and played those for our kids. A couple weeks ago we drove to NYC where we would be visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A few days before we left, I found this DVD http://www.amazon.com/Sister-Wendys-American-Collection-Metropolitan/dp/B00005YUQ0 at my local library. It's not specifically targeted towards kids (or Catholics, even though it's a nun presenting the video ) but I had my kids watch it on the way up, and it was really neat to see them telling DH and I about some of the pieces of art they had seen in the DVD, even specifically seeking out specific pieces.

 

[minkydog]

Is this a must-have with kids? We are shopping for a (new-to-us) minivan, and at first I thought a DVD system on my must-have list, but now I'm not so sure. Of course we never got to watch movies on long road trips, we read books, listed to our walkman, etc, and we've never had one before so if we don't get one, my kids won't know what they are missing, they'll survive. Right now we usually bring a laptop to play a movie on long road trips and DD just holds it in her lap.

Well, there was a time that i would have pooh-poohed having a DVD player in the car. But that was before we bought a car that happened to have one.

Our kids always used the laptop to run their movies in the car. Then, last spring we flipped our car three times in a freak accident on the interstate. DD18 was struck on the side of the head when the laptop went sailing. She had a contusion on her head that went from her rt eye to back behind her ear--she looked horrible but thankfully, it didn't fracture her skull. Still, she had a bad concussion.

I had never given any thought to what I carry in the car with me, but after that experience I have become very careful. No loose tools, no heavy objects, no cans of food other than those that are coming home from the grocery store 2 miles from the house. Purses and bookbags secured under teh back seats. I don't want anything in the car that could potentially become a missle, if I can help it.

Our new-to-us car came with the DVD player and my older kids have really enjoyed it. And I enjoy it! when we drove 10hours down to Tampa, they brought all their old Disney DVDs. Since they had lost the batteries from their headphones, I just turned up the sound. We got to enjoy the shows and honestly, I've seen them so many times I didn't need to see the DVD to know what was going on.

 

[LuvLDM]

Because kids don't watch enough TV as it is... Here's an idea, kids, it's called a book!

Oh please
Long car rides are pretty much the only time my kids watch movies/TV...they just don't like TV all that much.

 

[WicketsMom]

Save the money if they aren't used to it now they won't need it. We've taken a couple of long road trips, and many flights with our 4-year old and never used one. Instead we talk or he colors, plays with toys, and occasionally takes a nap.

 

[LuvLDM]

I had never given any thought to what I carry in the car with me, but after that experience I have become very careful. No loose tools, no heavy objects, no cans of food other than those that are coming home from the grocery store 2 miles from the house. Purses and bookbags secured under teh back seats. I don't want anything in the car that could potentially become a missle, if I can help it.

Glad you posted this, excellent car safety advice that many people never think about

 

[monkeybug]

I wouldn't get one installed in the car, I would get the ones that attach to the headrests but can be easily removed if needed. I know someone already mentioned the maintenance issue (if it breaks it's expensive to replace/fix) but the other issue is that if you keep your car for a number of years, the dvd player could quickly become the equivalent of a cassette player. Technology changes so quickly, in our next car I want to be able to easily update if I want.
I know that even just a few years ago people were paying extra for 6 disc cd players...now who listens to cd's anymore?
If you do decide that you want a car with one already installed, look in to how much it would cost to have installed after market. The dealer was charging over $1,200 for a single dvd entertainment system in the Yukon we bought (5 years ago) but we got dvd players installed in the headrests (each kid can watch different movies if wanted) for about the same price.

 

[monkeybug]

Because kids don't watch enough TV as it is... Here's an idea, kids, it's called a book!

We've driven across country 4 times and are about to do it again in a month. I appreciate your sentiment, but 3 year olds aren't going to be entertained by looking at pictures in books for 12 hours a day.
Sure people drove across country with kids before the advent of dvd players, but they had to endure the constant "are we there yet" hours before we do.
I'll keep my dvd players...and my sanity.