Is driving from Ohio w/out a DVD player nuts?

[summermac]

My ipod classic will be loaded down with music. That's for sure. LOL!

 

[RabFlmom]

We drove from Florida to Chicago back in the dark ages. We had a blast!

We drove at night the first leg of the trip to get to Illinois so they would fall asleeep in their car seats soon after it got dark. On the way home we usually drove during the day and we would have a blast. There is so much to see out the windows! Our youngest even surprised us on a later trip by asking if we were to a certain water tower he had noticed when he was 2 or 3.

We packed age appropriate things for the kids to do while they were awake.
Books, coloring books and colors, markers, sticker books, little cars, stuff for babies. Sometimes I sat in the back seat with them to help them or read to them. We bought the travel games like tic tac toe, , I spy, etc. where you just moved the sliding piece over the pictures and played those together, too. We counted cars. Once even did a vehicle study to see the number of vans passing us on the other lanes compared to the number of cars being driven.

We sang songs, we talked about school, family, and friends. By the time they were four we were doing the I spy a_____ games, the find the alphabet in order on the billboards and signs, the find the tags from every state games, and when the youngest was in kindergarten we made up an in the car jeopardy game that we had a blast with. One of us got to be Alec Trebeck, the other 3 were the contestants. Alec of course manned the answers and even our kindergartner was able to be Alec and think up words for us to find the question to.. He came up with things he knew from kindergarten, books, and tv. The kids loved stumping us. They also loved making the sound to answer. We would play and laugh for ours. Heading to Disney, thinking of Disney answers would be a way to keep them interested. Driving for hours was a way for a busy family where both parents worked,the kids were in school, clubs, and on sports teams to spend quality time together. Having 3 rows of seats also helped the situation. One sat in the middle row and one in the back so the seat next to them could be folded and work as a table for them.

We also did the gift at each state line to give them something new to look at or do. When they got older(both in school) we gave each one a roll of quarters. Told them that it was theirs to spend when we got there. BUT...... if they started picking on each other, the one who started it had to give me a quarter for me to spend on myself! Sometimes they both had to pay. LOL But it usually ended quickly if I took the quarters. The guys are 25 and 30 and we still talk about all the fun we used to have on road trips. My youngest is making one this month to DC for the inauguration and I just bet he will be having the 3 girls he is traveling with playing some of the same games we used to play back in the day .

 

[NHdisneylover]

When mine were that age we drove from Detroit to WDW about 3-4 times per year. Everyone kept telling us we needed a DVD palyer--but we never got one and it was fine. The kids actually liked the drives because we made a point of playing car games and tellign stories and what not (they had all those hours of our attention!). Of course, you can't be "on" all the time and not lose your mind, but we would alternate things. But, it is all htose silly little things spending time together that really makes for nice memories. Top activities:

Car games (who can be the first person to spot a cow? A motorcycle? ABC games, whatever)

Listening to stories on CD

Singing "camp" songs

Telling stories from our own childhoods

coloring--having everyone (not the dirver) add to te picture

lap toys (we had brown paper sacks with new htings in the trunk and put back the old and chose a random newat each stop)

We also packed a Frisbee and ball and ran around and played for 10 minutes at all rest areas we stopped at.

For meals, we stopped at places with play areas (usually Chick Fil A) and had hte kids play the entire time we were there (while we ate) and then got their food to go as we were leaving for them to eat in the car.

 

[Denine]

Granted we only have 1 child, but DD 6 travels a lot and we don't have a dvd player for the car. We just got back from Richmond yesterday. DD reads, or plays with her Leapster or some small toys we bring.

 

[Kae]

I'm sure you would be fine but if you have thought about then you are kinda thinking you may need one. If it is not in your budget could you borrow one from a friend or family.

Kae

 

[bigbabyblues]

We've done it twice, and we'd do it again. I'm not big on having them in the car, but DH's grandma bought them for the boys, so we used them this trip. We drive mostly at night, and the boys usually sleep most of time.

 

[hmacmahony]

Completly do able. We drive everywhere, my family lives 12 hours away (went to visit them this christmas and it ended up being a 22 hour drive because of ice), 3 years ago we got stuck in a blizzard in Ohio, and sat on a closed highway there for 12 hours with a 9 week old, and a 2 and 3 year old.
We also drive to disney (4 times), which is over 20 hours.
We do have a DVD player, but I can count on one hand how often we use it. We listen to music, play games, books on tape, we always bring bubble wrap (hours of fun, really), and pipe cleaners (hours more of fun). My kids also get a new color wonder color book, post it notes (who knows why they are so much fun, but they are), and lots of stuff like that.
I think your hardest will be your 2 year old, the hardest age for us to travel has always been from around 15 months until around 2 1/2 because they just want to get out and go.
Usually the only time the DVD player goes on is if one of my kids wakes us in the middle of night driving and I don't want them waking everyone else up.
I think you will be fine. There are so many other things you can do to entertain your kids. My kids love to talk about the states, and cound them down, and look at maps, and love to go to rest stops, and gas stations.
It might take a little bit more energy on your part, since with a dvd the kids just sit there, but you can do it and have fun too!

 

[C&G'sMama]

In my opinion, no it's not nuts. I posted to another thread yesterday about driving so forgive the repetition. I'll start by saying we do have a DVD player in the van we bought 2 years ago. We swore we'd never get one but we did. However we drove plenty of times in the Grand Am (that was the nuts part) to Florida and North Carolina with no DVD player. I think your kids are at a great age for this. We have them each pack a bag with toys and books. And then we keep a bag of toys (little things we've gathered throughout the year) One time we were driving down 81 in PA and traffic came to a complete stop So I got out of the car and got the "magic" bag out of the trunk and pulled out a couple of new toys and special things to write with. BTW we are a HUGE fan of Color Wonder. We typically hit the magic bag 2 or 3 times on the way down and 2 or three times on the way back. DD has gotten to the point where she gets bored with the DVD player and starts reading. We'll pack a ball so that on stops they can kick a ball around.

Absent the ball, we just have them run. We pack special snacks in special lunch boxes.

So enjoy it.