to think children shouldn't need in-car DVD players to keep them entertained on a short journey?

[undercovamutha]

I know I may be sounding like an old fogey - but what's wrong with just looking out of the window and/or chatting?

If everyone starts using these contraptions, will it mark an end to the classic 'are we nearly there yet?' line? Surely kids are meant to be fed up on car journeys?

(BTW I know someone who uses one regularly for journeys of approx 30 minutes cos otherwise her DCs get bored!).

yanbu - we have one but only use it for journeys that are + 2 hours.

the rest of the time the device is our second tv...

We only use them on long journeys (over an hour, sometimes up to 4), it's too much palaver for short journeys imo. I remember doing long journeys with travel games and observational games (counting the cars of different colours etc) or just sleeping.

YANBU but at the same time I guess it's down to them...

We use them on our vintage bus (my DH's hobby) as it can take AGES to get anywhere and it stops them climbing all over the seats

YANBU.

I had the same argument with DH, but lost as he went out and bought them regardless.

I have banned their use on journeys of less than the length of a film. I don't mind too much if we are travelling the breadth of the country, but if we are just popping into town I find it a bit much.

Actually the novelty wore off reasonably quickly and after the first couple of times they forgot all about having it on (I pack it away every time and stash it in the boot).

We have friends who put a DVD on in the car for their 3 year old on a ten minute journey "because she would get bored otherwise and moan"

YANBU - I don't like the things at all. My children are quite content on 4 hour plus journey without them (probably makes me sound sanctimonious but hey)

We don't have a DVD player, but our son does take refuge in his Nintendo DS. So as we pass traction engines, deer, interesting trees/plants, funny posters you hear a cry from the front o seat of "A*, look at the xxx" swiftly followed by "What" from the back (usually without the t on the end).

I keep planning to ban all in car entertainment - when I was a child we didn't even have a radio, which may explain the bizarre list of 'interesting sights' above. So far I have been defeated by the resulting whinging!

hehe you know i have always been really, really, really anti these, imagining that I would sing songs and play fun games with my dc

but you know what? our last trip down to their grandparents in Devon was hideous. They don't play games, they won't sing, the whinge constantly.
I can still remember the mind-numbing boredom of being sat in the back of a car for hours on end

and so i find myself now trawling ebay for a second hand twin screen in car dvd player! ho hum

it will only ever be used for the 6 hour trip to devon though, can't be doing with it on a short journey... they must surely whinge about not having finished the dvd when you get there??

8y DD only ever uses hers for lengthy journeys (so 2/3 hours plus). Coudn't be bothered in getting it out and sorted for much shorter.

DD is only child so on longer joirneys it does distract her for a while as she has noone else in the back to talk to. And ometimes when on a motorway esp it can be harder shouting through to the back all the time, esp if music is on.

DD also has her ipod that she listens to mostly.

best thing I ever bought but I bought them for the journey to devon and cornwall for my son to stop him attacking his sister [hes asd and didn't cope in car very well] he hashis ds/psp for short journeys to keep him calm, assoon as we got ours sil who never drives more than an hour away got one for her dd didn't see the point.

Yanbu.

We only use ours when driving on holiday which is usually to south west and about a 6 or 7 hour drive for us. Even then we don't put it on for the first couple of hours.

YANBU if it's a short journey. We use them when we drive 1,000+ miles for our annual holiday.

However my kids have always had story tapes (now CDs of course) for journeys of an hour or more. DH is not sociable when driving - barely talks at all - so we all enjoy listening to them. Some real classics over the years - Roald Dahl's BFG had us all in stitches on one journey. Even the M25 turning into superglue for nearly an hour couldn't dampen our spirits while we were listening to that.

we onyl use ours on the journey to visit the inlaws (6 hour journey on a good day). They dont see the light of day otherwise. They dont watch it constantly either as they will eat, draw pictures and play their nintendos too.

of course children don't need them.

But they exist, are avialbale and are entertaining.

I was staggered when I first saw these in a traffic jam on the M4 about 5 years ago. Each child had their own screen in the back and the passenger had one in the front! It looked so weird.

DP bought a second-hand minibus/van and it had one already installed. Our DS is way too young to be interested in it (16m0), but while on camping hols with DSis and family, my DNiece and DNephew absolutely loved being able to watch a DVD in a car! They have their uses but I think it should be a treat - ie long journey or rainy camping afternoon.

How the chuff would you know that the people you are criticising are using them for short journeys undercova? Do you flag them down and question them on the hard shoulder. Prey do tell me - what it the minimum length of journey when there use becomes acceptable?

Pray

and 'their' (spelling goes to pot when irritated)

Hmc - I am talking about people I know, and what they have told me - not random people driving past me.

I totally see the point of them if you are driving to the South of France on holiday, but not for a half hour journey. I think we are in danger of trying to entertain our DCs with technology 24/7, and although I'm not in favour of chucking out our telly so that we can play board games instead , I do think it is a bad idea to encourage the shortening of our kids attention span to the extent that they can't keep still in a car without the TV on for 30 mins.

Ah LeQueen, that's where I've been going wrong, I've been 'tolerating' moaning on long journeys, if I'd simply not tolerated it they'd have stopped

We recently bought a DVD player for the car for my 3 and 5 year old. We have family who are a 3 hour drive away and friends who are a 4 hour drive away so long journeys are a fairly regular thing here. DD no longer sleeps in the car at all, DS will only sleep for an hour or so. I have to say, on a recent trip up north which took nearly 6 hours due to bad traffic, they were an absolute god send. Unfortunately the long journeys we do are motorway ones so looking out the window doesn't really keep the kids amused.

I wouldn't even consider using them on a shorter journey though, they're a bit of a faff to set up and hardly worth the bother for 30 mins or so surely??!

We don't have it in our car nor do we plan to buy any.

They get to listen to the radio/cd (our choice) on one leg and then their choice on the way back! We let them take toys and notebooks but otherwise they just have to learn to talk to each other, us, play games or be bored!!

YANBU - I just don't 'get' these things. We have done six hour train journeys with our two since they were tiny and have never, ever felt the need of one.

YANBU I refuse to buy one.

for parents of carsick little people they can be a godsend though!
we don't have one, but if we did i would impose a journeys-out-of-county-only rule