Who doesn't use a DVD player for road trips?

[LuLuO]

We are driving to WDW. DD will be 3 and DS will be 18 months. We're probably looking at 18-20 hours with breaks. Am I crazy to not bring a portable DVD player for the car? I actually swore I'd never buy one for the car. A plane, probably, but we took long road trips all the time when I was a kid and we read, sang songs, listened to music, played with toys, watched the scenery go by and napped. I kind of feel like they'll miss out on the special parts of the road trip if their eyes are glued to a movie screen the entire trip. So, Anyone here take long road trips without a DVD player?

 

[turkeymama]

Hopefully you'll get plenty of responses from those who don't take the portable DVD players along. BUT (ha ha), I'll chime in with our experience.

We take ours along for long road trips and the kids have never watched more than one movie without voluntarily taking a break from it. They usually watch one movie and then play games or talk to us for awhile. Otherwise, they listen to books on DVD. So you might take one along, with headphones, and see how it goes. Just another perspective on it.

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

We are planning a similar drive with an 18 month old and do not plan to bring one. He's never really encountered one, so he doesn't know what he's missing He is used to listening to music (The Beatles, The Fratellis, Avett Brothers) and stories on CD, so we'll have lots of different things to listen to...and he's a surprisingly good conversationalist for an 18 month old (he always has a lot to say...)

That being said, we do have a video ipod with several shows and a couple of longer movies. I plan on sitting back with him at least some of the time, but mostly to play cars or guys or color. The ipod will be item of last resort...

I agree with the PP. If you've got one, bring one along, stash it somewhere and be thankful for the safety net.

(Also, you can always rent Redbox movies along the way and drop them off at your next stop. You can reserve them online and have them waiting for you... )

 

[roobug]

We never bring DVD players for our road trips and we take them fairly often. We want the driving time to be family time. Both DH and I have many memories of road trips with our families. Getting in fights with our siblings, playing car games, listening to music, thinking how annoying our parents were to make us sing songs. Great memories. We feel if we have a DVD player we might be tempted to fall back on it and not work through the bad times - which both of us have some bad times when they were happening that are some great memories now.

We do listen to books on CD though - that is our fall to if the boys get cranky or if we get cranky

For us as a family we watch way too much TV there are rare times when we can't access it so we make the most of it.

 

[disneycruising]

I do have a DVD player in my car...

I just wanted to say 18-20 hours in a car is a really long time, for really little kids. They are to young to really entertain themselves for that many hours. So it will fall to you and your DH to keep them entertained. If they were older they could read or play game. But, there is not much for little ones to do for so long!

Don't forget when we were kids we were not "stuck" in a carseat for the whole drive. We were able to move around, change seats, lie down for a nap.

I would bring a DVD player as a back up. If you are lucky you can return it when you get home.

We drove from CT to FL. It took us about 17 hours. I would have never been able to do it, without the DVD player. Personally, when I wasn't driving...I need to be napping for my next shift to drive.

We did not use the DVD for the whole trip. The kids would watch a movie, listen to music, then play for a while, listen to stories on tape. When they started to get bored or cranky we would put on another movie.

 

[ktlm]

My DD was horrible on car trips until we got the portable DVD player. All she wanted was to wiggle out of her carseat. The minute we started using the DVD player our problem was solved. She will watch DVD after DVD until we get where we are going without any complaints. The only problems we have had since then was the time we forgot the player, and the day the player jammed, which luckily we got it to work again. We only take the DVD player on multi hour road trips. We never use it in the car around town. Frankly, I don't know how my parents survived without one when I was a kid. Although, when I was a kid we weren't restricted to car seats, so I remember being all over the car on road trips- laying across the back seat, hanging out in front with mom and Dad etc, and even playing board games on the back seat with one of them. Your kids are awful little to keep entertained for that long in a car. I'm with those who suggest taking one as a back up just in case.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Yup -- all the time. When they're really little like yours, though, you have to plan stuff to keep them from getting utterly bored on a super-long trip, though (but you knew that!). When our guys were very young, we'd pack a surprise box for each of them with individual little "gifts" (cheap-o toys) to open every hour (or whenever). That, combined with what others have said -- music, getting out often to run around and stretch, little games -- can go a long way to making a trip smoother.

For a fun snack "kit" you can get a tackle box sorter -- those white/clear ones with the moveable dividers -- and fill each compartment with a snack with play potential (cheerios, little pretzel sticks, grapes, whatever). If you make up a batch of peanut butter "play doh" ahead of time, the kids use the snack boxes to make monsters and whatever. A little messy, sure, but whose family car isn't? (Actually, an old sheet across the seat under car seats/floor can go a long way to quick clean up.)

I'm not adverse to DVDs in cars, we just never had a real need for them.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Sorry, one more thing: I once was at a rest stop, and there was a dad with three little kids out on the grass. They were completely focused on their dad, eyes bright and huge smiles. He was calling out things like, "Okay, now let's be washing machines!" and then they'd all (dad, too!) wiggle like they were swishing the water, then spin like the clothes, etc. Then he'd say, "Everybody, let's be rabbits!" and they'd start hopping. It was hilarious -- but I bet those kiddos went back to their car seats very contentedly after that little workout!

 

[jlstwinmommy]

We have taken several road trips before without a DVD player, including driving to Disney once (they were 18 months and almost 6 at the time). They colored and watched the scenery (and tried to find Disney World signs ). Last year we drove 14 hours straight to DH's brother's house for Thanksgiving. We brought a DVD player with us for after it got dark. As it turns out, watching the movie made them feel car sick so we had to turn it off after about half an hour. Anyway, I would pack snacks and some toys and maybe some coloring books/crayons. We also try to find places we can stop and run off some energy.

 

[RMulieri]

We don't and we have a 4 hr road trip each way anytime we visit family (which is quite often).Our daughter is very used to long car rides and keeps herself busy in the car.But for an 18 hr car trip you may want to consider it.

 

[Swimalie]

I gave my husband a dvd player since he travels a lot for work and this way he can watch movies on the plane and in his hotel room. But, we have only used it once on a road trip and that was an 800 mile road trip this past Dec when our son was 4. And we take 2-4 hour road trips about once a month with our now 5 year old. We did the same 800 mile road trip 3 years ago and didn't use it. I refuse to buy a car with a dvd player in it since I think of trips in the car as time to talk and explore, not time to watch more movies (keep in mind my son only watches PBS) so I'm a bit of a no-tv person.

 

[hmacmahony]

18 hours is a LONG time. A LONG time.
We travel a lot, we have 4 kids. We have a DVD player. It is NOT the only thing we use in the car, but we have it in case we need it.
But, its also not worth listening to my kids scream, and yell and fuss when we are trying to get somewhere.
And, we are marathon drivers, which means our disney drive, which is 22 hours, we do in one day. I don't want to stop over night, we have no need to, since my kids have been conditioned to drive in the car for long distances. (we have done it since birth).
But, at night when it gets dark, and they can't see to do anything, guess what they do, watch the dvd player.
If we have been driving three hours, and have an hour left of gas, and they get antsy, the dvd player goes on.
I don't worry since my kids watch very limited tv at home, tv doesn't go on in our house 5 days a week at all.
I look at it as a tool to make the trip happier for everyone included.
We still sing, talk, listen to music, we love books on tape (did the whole harry potter series this way). BUT, I have no issue using that dvd player when my kids are strapped in.
It also helps since my husband and I take turns driving, if my kids are settled and happy for an hour, I can catch a quick nap so I can take over driving so my husband can take a nap later.

My kids have been from coast to coast in the car, and I don't worry they missed anything because of the dvd player.

 

[msmama]

I find that I can drive a lot longer without taking breaks if we've got the DVD player.

I have a 2 year old and he's just not really old enough to entertain himself for too long in the car. Yeah, he's a good talker, and he'll sing with us, but...that lasts about 2 hours. Max.

I can push further without taking a break with the DVD player.

Hopefully as he gets older we'll use it less and less, but at this age. I'm gonna stick with whatever gets us through the longest without a tantrum, lol!

 

[tinkermom23]

When our oldest was 3-4yrs old, we made an 8-hr. roadtrips about every 2 months and we didn't have a DVD player and DH didn't come with. I put DS bike in the back and if he seemed antsy, we'd stop at a rest stop and ride bike for a while. We'd stop at one that had a playground and we played and picnic there. Sometimes they just need to get their muscles moving a bit and then they can handle the sitting for a while again.
The biggest thing I had to remember was that I had to be flexible and if DS nneeded a break from the road, we took it. It made for a much better trip!

 

[brymolmom]

I have had discussions/debates on this topic with my dsis - her dh is solidly AGAINST it. For the same reasons as you - but then - a few of the times they have called me from the car on the way to visit the inlaws - there has been YELLING going on - ah - yes, nothing like that good family bonding time!!

I agree with pp about the moving around vs. sitting completely still makes it WAY MORE TOUGH today. Not that it isn't possible - it is. But not as easy. When we went on vacation when I was a kid - we made forts in the back of the station wagon with the luggage. If my kids could do that today - they would be able to entertain themselves way better and they would love it. But they can't - they can't even really move at all. WAY tougher.

We have a built-in DVD player in our van. I did NOT want to get it. I have seen kids who whine/beg for the player to be on for the 5 minute drive up to the grocery store. So, we have a rule that we need it to be at LEAST an hour drive before we use it. And even then - we don't always. But, for LONG drives, it is huge to have it. I still limit it - we only go to it when we are about to start yelling....much better than that. For a drive that long - we likely would use it 2 - 3 times, so that is still HOURS and HOURS of family time and scenery viewing,etc.

Also, for an 18 month old - she can't read or play many games yet. When we went on a long drive when my dd was a bit younger than that - I used the dvd player specifically to try to keep her on 'schedule'. If she was getting tired after dinner at about 6:30 but I WANTED her to stay awake until her usual 8:00pm (so that she's not up at 5am) - I would put a video in to get her to stay awake until the time I wanted her to sleep. Same with naps. So really I used it for specific purposes too. You might want to think about that.

That said - people who decide against it - I have no problem with. I admire their dedication! I always wonder if they also opt against the other new technologies that make our lives easier - novacaine during a filling, for example.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

When we bought our first van I insisted on one with NO TV. Our oldest was 4 and we had another on the way. When the kids were young we drove lots with no movies including a couple trips to Disney (21 hours.) Now that they are older (and 3 of them) there is no way we'd do it. They can't read in the car and we drive straight though so they would argue more without the movies. They don't watch them the whole time, not even close, we also play games and stuff but sometimes I just want a break and the DVD player is great for that. We not only watch movies but we copy the BINGO cards for the Disney Bingo and pop in the DVD and they play Bingo for prizes. That is fun. Sure, I could call BINGO, but this gives me a break. So, at your kids ages you will probably be fine, but maybe not so much when they are older.

 

[ICF]

For a long trip (such as 14-15 hours to Disney) we've taken one. We break the trip up in 2 days, and the kids (now 10/7, last Disney trip they were 7/4) would usually watch one movie each day to help kill 90 mins or so each day. This trip, we'll probably redbox our way down and rent them movies as we go. We when take shorter trips of 3 or 4 hours we dont usually bring it.

When we travel, they also have their DS's, books, magazines and the like to keep them occupied as well and they do enjoy reading the signs and counting down until we enter the next state or major city but they also enjoy the movies too.

We enjoy the peace and quiet of them listening to the movie and it gives my wife and I a chance to talk and plan the lunch or dinner stop for that evening or just enjoy coverstaion with 2 adults.

 

[Denine]

Granted we only have 1 DD, but we have never used a portable DVD.

I always pack a bag of surprises and pull something out when DD gets bored. We will be driving again in October, so I am stocking up. DD is 7 but will be 8 come October.

 

[andrews_dad]

My 23 month old has never seen one ... but he will SOON. The terrible 2's kicked in early. And with potty training he uses "Pee potty, please" as a means to try to escape that car seat, even when he does NOT have to pee. He screams, arches, kicks, etc. He HATES riding in the car. So, we will be trying the bad parent 101 trick of a portable DVD player VERY soon. He loves Thomas and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so we are giving in. Sorta sad.

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

My 23 month old has never seen one ... but he will SOON. The terrible 2's kicked in early. And with potty training he uses "Pee potty, please" as a means to try to escape that car seat, even when he does NOT have to pee. He screams, arches, kicks, etc. He HATES riding in the car. So, we will be trying the bad parent 101 trick of a portable DVD player VERY soon. He loves Thomas and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so we are giving in. Sorta sad.

This made me laugh! In that slightly sad I-always-said-I-would-never-do-X way. I can't count the number of accommodations I've made for the reality of life with a toddler.

All we can do is our best...even if our best means an occasional stay with the technological babysitter.