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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

No screen use during car journeys, am I being old fashioned?

325 replies

midnightvelvetPart2 · 15/08/2015 09:35

I do not let our DC's (9 & 6) play on screens during car journeys but I'm wondering whether I'm being a little outdated? :) they have regular screen time at home & if we are stationary in traffic jams then they can use them, but if we are just driving along then they are not allowed. I'm talking tablets/DS/handheld gaming things.

I used to get carsick to the point of vomiting if I ever tried to read a book in a car, so I wasn't allowed & this may be influencing it. DS1 used to get carsick but he hasn't been in 4 years.

I'm doubting myself now as we drove back from holiday yesterday & it was a journey of 4 hours. My dad phoned, the kids complained about the journey & that they were bored & he said well they can play on their tablets etc but when I said they weren't allowed to he was a bit taken aback. We play I Spy & Sausage etc & have music & audiobooks on so its not a silent car, DS2 usually sleeps at some point.

What does everyone do?

OP posts:
Feline9 · 15/08/2015 09:59

Folly I haven't, and I used to get travel sick. Anyone know how that works, as I don't see how reading and being sick are connected!

EmeraldKitten · 15/08/2015 10:00

I never get sick using my phone though - I can happily browse or read stuff on my phone - never actual text though.

Feline9 · 15/08/2015 10:00

Oh meglet thanks :)

FindoGask · 15/08/2015 10:01

We have no screen time in the car either, for two reasons:

  1. I think learning how to deal with long stretches of inactivity is healthy and character building: I don't believe children or adults should be entertained every second of the day;

  2. both my children get car sick and screens definitely wouldn't help with that.

youarekiddingme · 15/08/2015 10:02

I've been the same re handheld stuff in car after DS spectactularily threw up all over my friends car watching her DD play on her DS Blush

However last week we did a 6 hour round trip in a day. I downloaded some stuff on iPad for him to watch. He managed to but was good at judging for himself how much and when.

But I'm a LP so find it too hard to play games etc with him and concentrate on unfamililiar roads.

I also did south of France by car every year as a child with just a handheld watergame and audio tapes so I was always of the thought they didn't need them either.

I'd say maybe trial it for a short period but don't allow it for whole journey as you'll lose that lovely family time and discussion.

Jennifersrabbit · 15/08/2015 10:02

I have two of that age and while I do fret about screen time quite a lot, long car journeys do seem the ideal time to bring out the tablets! I don't let them have them in the car for bog standard travelling but a lengthy trip away involving several hours driving, definitely.

Travel sickness can occur but if it does they get put away.

Holberg · 15/08/2015 10:03

My children (same ages) love long journeys, as it's really the only time they do get screen time!
We don't have tablets of DVD players though, just an ancient DS that they take turns to play. I pack a big bag of books (mix of fiction/non-fiction), sticker books, colouring pencils, loom bands (when they want them), and the DS, and they can go pretty long distances before it breaks down to bickering.
We also have some audio stories on CD on the car stereo, but certain ones make me drop-off so they're banned now! (Hugh Laurie reading Fantastic Mr Fox, for example, his voice is lovely and soothing- not what you need when on a v long motorway journey! Wink)

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 15/08/2015 10:03

I was really worried about letting DS have screen time in the car. When I spoke to my mum about how we all managed and therefore so should he, her response was:

'If it was available when you were younger, I would have used it like a shot'

She just couldn't understand why we would suffer a 9 hour journey (which we do fairly regularly, London - Scotland) without using what we have at our disposal!

I stopped worrying after that.

He doesn't have it the whole time, we still play games like I Spy etc but damn it's useful to hand the iPad over.

cowssheephens · 15/08/2015 10:03

I do exactly the same as you OP. I do buy a huge bundle of 'old' comics before setting of on holiday and they love it. DS loves showing this years bundle box of comics to any visitor.

I'm a bit strict anyway with screen times but holiday for me is about family, no screens, phones etc.

Sidge · 15/08/2015 10:07

Crikey long car journeys are boring as hell, so I let mine amuse themselves in any way they like. Tablets, books, music and games all happen on long journeys - but if I'm driving I can't be doing with playing The Numberplate Game for 3-4 hours only. Mine flick between reading, screen time, dozing or playing games so as far as I'm concerned they can do what they like, I'm not going to restrict some time on the iPad.

I get that you'd restrict it if it makes your child car sick but otherwise it just seems petty.

Idontseeanytimelords · 15/08/2015 10:11

We have 3 travel sick children, you bet your arse we use screens! Grin
A film and travel bands are an excellent combination to stave off feeling dodgy for the 4 hours it will take us to get to our holiday destination today.
I was a travel sick child and used a Walkman as a distraction for years - if the tech we have today was available 30 years ago my parents would have jumped at the chance.

mewkins · 15/08/2015 10:13

I don't understand why they can use tablets at home (when there is other stuff to do eg. Playing outside, being active, etc) and yet not in a car when there is literally nothing else to do apart from play i-spy or bicker. What are you trying to achieve? Is this some sort of lesson in patience or increasing their boredom threshold? Of course if they get carsick and likely to vomit as a result then I understand your stance.

Osmiornica · 15/08/2015 10:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Idontseeanytimelords · 15/08/2015 10:14

I find as well with my older ones that if they're not distracted they tend to focus on the fact that they are travel sick and need to not throw up, which makes them feel worse IYSWIM.
Personally I think YABU but each to their own.

IfNotNowThenWhen · 15/08/2015 10:17

I would hand over the tablet on a long journey ( more than 1.5 hours maybe) but it wouldn't occur to me to take any devices for shorter ones.
I have been in plenty of cars with other kids who seem to be handed a nintendo ds or i pad on climbing in the car,even if it's just twenty minutes.
If a kid can't look out the windows for twenty minutes there is summat wrong!!

Whathaveilost · 15/08/2015 10:20

Hmmm. It goes without saying that we all used to manage before we had 'screens
We managed without a lot of thing before they were invented including the car!!
You can't uninvent things so roll with it. If it can make a journey a bit more enjoyable why not?

I hear people saying they don't want kids to be entrained every minute but a car journey suggests. Destination with things to do once revived.
I haven't got a Problem with that.
Like I Sid before I m happy to use one, hey not let the kids watch a film or play a game as long as they are not going to be sick.

bruffin · 15/08/2015 10:21

both my children get car sick and screens definitely wouldn't help with that

I have always got really car sick and reading is the worst thing for it, however I can handle playing on a screen. There wasnt screens for them when they were little but once they were older they played on the DS and now on their phones etc. We also played some games or sang along to music, but i really dont see what is wrong with screen time in a car. I never limited screen time anyway.

Original poster
midnightvelvetPart2 · 15/08/2015 10:24

Thanks :)

It seems that I have to unclench somewhat Grin some of the comments have resonated with me

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 15/08/2015 10:25

Ours didn't have any screens to use in the car till they were about 8, and then it was Nintendo DSsGrin They managed 10 hour journeys to camp en France, but we did listen to a lot of kids music and then story CDs as they got older!

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 15/08/2015 10:28

In the early part of the century children and young people were warned against reading to many novels as it might damage their development and character. I think the anxiety about screen time comes from the same place. The idea that children doing anything for pleasure is bad for their moral fibre.

It's rubbish of course. Playing games on a screen during a car journey is not going to irreparably damage their intellect or social skills. How is it better than staring out of the window? It's fine as long as screen time is one element of varied leisure time. DS 6 is an avid gamer and the screen time I allow him would make most parents clutch their pearls but he is also an obsessive footballer, advanced reader and very sociable.

I also think you are making it much worse for yourself by having too many rules around it. Either let them have the tablet or don't.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 15/08/2015 10:29

How is staring out of the window better? - is what that sentence should say!

afreshstartplease · 15/08/2015 10:29

I allow screen time in the car although too much of it does make one dc sick

Nanny0gg · 15/08/2015 10:32

I always used to read (even though I was car sick!)because looking out of a window for hours, when you're a child, is boring.

Screen time would have been amazing!

YABU

NorbertDentressangle · 15/08/2015 10:39

We've never had portable DVD screens in the car and although the DC have their ipods or phones with them they never use them to watch/play on just for music.

I think it partly started because of the likelihood of making them carsick but also I feel they spend far too much time on screens as it is. Instead we talk a bit, listen to the radio, play word games, DC listen to music through earphones, DD sleeps (teenager) etc.

We tend to do a driving holiday to mainland Europe every other year too and the DC cope fine. We only recently did an 8 hour door to door trip back from holiday and I noticed how DS (normally screen/gaming mad!) just seemed to go into this zen-like state Grin for chunks of the journey - listening to music on headphones looking out of the only piping up when he saw some elite car or other!

DixieNormas · 15/08/2015 10:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.