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!).

Gosh, one of my pet peeves. I had never seen one before starting a nanny job in the US and quite liked the idea of them. There were two screens in the back (one in each seat) and the DVD was put in the car's CD player, so it was inbuilt.

I thought it was great as the kids often took long tours but changed my mind really quickly. I became nanny-from-hell because I didn't want them to watch a DVD on a 5 or 10 minute journey to church school, soccer or whatever. They even started to beg to watch DVDs when on the way to school. It was ridiculous.

There was three children in the family I worked in but there was only room for 2 sets of headphones. So when they watched tv it was quite irritating, hearing loud music, sudden screaming, explosions etc from behind.

I do love the idea and think for long journeys they are great. But I do think that a child should be able to look out the window, draw, look at pictures, talk, sing a song etc for at least an hour.

YANBU.
we use ours for when we are visiting IL's or my mum as I drive the 2 DD's on my own and DH convoys on his bike. I do not do well dealing with them and driving so I stick it on, mostly as DD2 then falls asleep and they don't fight.

Would never use it for short journeys though, they have magazines, books and crayons for that.

I was always anti these as well but am considering buying one now. I've got to drive back from Cornwall (to London) later this month with my 2.4yo DD. She is a terrible fidget on car journeys and has lately taken to getting her arms out of the straps again (she did this about a year ago and then stopped). The thought of 5 or more hours on the road on my own, paranoid she's going to start that caper is enough to send me loopy so was considering one of these to distract her.

Anyone got any recommendations for a cheap decent one?

yanbu.

...but you can bet I will have changed my mind once I've driven my 2 pre-schoolers for 6 hours down to Cornwall all on my own this summer.

YANBU, for SHORT journeys they should NOT be needed, but I can see they can be great on very long journeys.
DH and I are seriously considering driving to Spain with DS, who will be nearly 3. We may get a dvd player for that journey, but even then he won't be having it on all the time! But it will be a useful fall back.

My DSS used to have one for every journey between the ages of 2-4. However he wrecked it, by badly scratching the screen. I put my foot down and told DH we were not replacing it.

You know what? DSS coped just fine without. We found other ways to keep him entertained!

YABU.

We bought ours because our families live 2 and 3 hours away. Our DD (aged 5) is quite happy to chat, daydream, read, listen to story tape but we got her a DVD player for Christmas and she loves it. So sometimes we'll put it on for the 30/40 minute drive into town. Doesn't mean she's addicted to it or can't use her imagination - it's just something else to do on a car journey.

travel draughts, wacthign shrek, what;'s the difference

I always thought they were an unneccessary luxury item and that having one was a good indicator of a spoiled child.

Then I had DD1. She's hated being in the car since birth and the crying/screaming starts a few minutes after pulling away. We tried everything we could think of to calm her down--songs, audiobooks, car games, adult riding in back with her, snacks, etc. Nothing worked and I just couldn't concentrate to drive with her in the car. (Huge problem, since I live in a tiny village and have to drive to get pretty much anywhere) When she was around 2, I was given some Halfords vouchers and decided to give the DVD player a try.

It makes a huge difference. Now we can get groceries or go to the library without tears and screams and we've been able to go so many more places that I never would have attempted before. It's not an ideal situation, but I'm greatful for a solution that keeps DD happy and occupied so I can focus on the road.

Perhaps kids shouldn't need them for short journeys, but I'm willing to accept that (for now) mine does.

But Janeite: " 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."

So all children are good travellers like yours, are they?

God, if you learn anything from Mumsnet, it's that not all children are the same. My children happen to be brilliant travellers on long journeys too, Janeite. They have both been that way since birth. We chat, make comments on what we see out the window, sing etc etc.

I completely understand, however, that we're lucky and our children are in the minority. A lot of other children hate long journeys, and I have no issue with other families using DVD players on long journeys if that's what it takes to get everyone there sane.

No way.
No bloody way.
But then, I don't even tolerate tv which i accept is rather extreme by many standards.

Look out of the bloody window, daydream and hey.. entertain yourself or even get bored.
How novel.

Ds is very well-behaved on long journeys, provided I chat to him, sing songs, do constant games etc. But bloody hell it's exhausting. And Dh really struggles with lots of noise - I wonder sometimes if he has some kind of audio processing problem or sensitivity, the way that some people with autism do - maybe that's part of his schizoaffective disorder? Anyway, I don't like the concept of them but we use one all right on journeys over about 70 minutes, and are grateful. I remember being so, so bored in the car as a child, and at least I could move around - mum used to stick a duvet in the very back and I had my own little 'room' there, often with a friend as well. Since ds has to be strapped to a seat the whole way and is an only, I reckon it's one of those things.

Kids could do with a lot more talkign and oral story telling etc than dvds but that is another issue

sounds like exactly the same issue pointydog?

what about audiobooks, does that count as oral story telling? I wonder whether an fMRI scan of someone listening to an audiobook is the same as someone listening to a story but not looking at the speaker?

We have one but only use it for trips up to see my parents which takes about 4hrs, it's too fiddly to set up for short journeys and the dc will happily entertain themselves for a couple of hours or so in the car. It's a godsend for the last half of the journey though

Someone gave us a loan of one for the 7 hour journey down to my mum's house- my daughter was utterly silent and entranced whilst it was on, and then noisily furious (she was 2) when the batteries ran out. Never again. I think a bit of healthy boredom is a good thing - character building! - and like others here, now she's a little older I think we'll do story tapes and I Spy or similar next time.

But when we were children we weren't stuck in carseats unable to reach each other/dropped toys/etc until we were about 6 - car journeys are more boring now (though safer of course) hence a need for things like this, especially for toddlers.

The last car we bought has them, it's great. We don't put them on often and only for long journeys...unless it's the teach Mandarin dvds and then they can have them on on shorter journeys.

Curly - only just seen your comments to me: wasn't ignoring you.

I wasn't talking about other children; I was talking about mine! And my point was that, ime, it is entirely possible to do long journeys without the need for a screen. I think some people fall too easily into what they see as the 'easy option' (keeping the child in the buggy because it moans if asked to walk / plugging it into a screen because it moans if left to its own devices etc) without having just let things be and allowed things to settle.

My children are human, not angels by any means.

We recently had a 13 hr journey & it was a Godsend-for me!