What do you think of DVD players in cars?

[*bejeweled*]

Ooops. I meant to start a new thread.....
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We went on a night road trip last weekend and I was blown away by the number of cars/suvs/vans with DVD players running.

We don't have one, and I've been debating whether or not it is a good idea. For me, one of the most enjoyable things about a road trip is staring out the window, getting lost in my thoughts---or the beautiful spur of the moment conversations, or the silly road trip games we play.

What are your thoughts? Do they come standard in some vehicles now?

[momto l&a]

I think its awful people dont want to interact with their kids and would rather have them zone out watching TV.

So many wonderful things to see looking out a car window

[roundpegmom]

I don't even have a radio in the car, so we spend alot of time chatting! My sister has one that she uses for long car trips or on a plane trip. I am not a gadget guru, so I doubt I'll ever have one.

[Monkeybutt]

As an adult, I agree. I rather look out the window. But I remember as a kid, it was sooooooo boring to stare out the window for hours! You can only play so many games, ykwim?. I would have loved to have a dvd to watch!!

My DD is only 11 months, so we dont have one. I think they are cool, as long as they aren't being abused, ya know? one dvd isnt gonna hurt anything. Maybe it'll give the parents a brake from " are we there yet?"

[Mothra]

When we drove from AZ to NoCal then back to AZ then to TX then to LA all in an 18mo period between 02 and 04 I would have loved one of those things for the kids! There isn't much to see out the window on I-10 between San Antonio, TX and Los Angeles. If you've see one tumbleweed you've seen them all.

I'm a nervous driver prone to fits of road rage so I really don't spend much time talking to my kids in the car when we're in traffic. I can totally see how one would be useful for someone like me who pretty much hates driving and needs to concentrate and a family like ours that has to take car trips that go on for days on end every few years.

I don't begrudge anyone who has one, but it isn't something I'd likely buy just to have unless we were facing another long ass car trip. I don't drive a van or an SUV, either, so I don't think it would even be an option for us in our Subaru.

[lucyem]

We drove 23 hours to Florida in January with a 2 1/2 yr old and a 19 yr old. 3 days in the car was a LONG time and the DVD player was a godsend. Otherwise my son quickly got tired of other things and started getting in trouble. Spitting at the 19 yr old for example. We also use it for long trips 3+ hours to see family. Most of our so called local driving is 20-40 minutes for food stores etc and we do not use the DVD player then. I know families who automatically turn it on every time they get in the car even for 5 minute trips. I think like any tv watching there is a limit to how much you should use it but it does have it's place and use.

[Harper]

Not interested. My dd doesn't watch tv at home so I can't see introducing it in the car. We don't have the cash for one. We don't have an SUV or a van--I can't imagine where you would put it. My dh cannot stand the sound of tv or movies in the background so he would go mad! I remember long car rides (especially from PA to FL) when I was a kid and sometimes they sucked and sometimes they didn't. But either way I survived without watching movies.

[EMT-Mom]

I tihink they ok for back seat use only! Not for the driver it ceates too much of a distraction like cell phones. I can not stand it when i see car accidents caused by cell phones they can be avoided. I once responded to a call where a cell phone user rear ended a car and the 19 mo old was ejected and killed instanly.Both cars had minamal dammage and the car seat did not hold him in.

[hhurd]

I think they're awful. Anesthetize the masses 24/7. Go from the tv in the house to the tv in the car and back again. Yuck.

Not to put too fine a point on it...

[Irishmommy]

For long trips (3+ hours) I have no problem with them. We have a portable one for such occasions.

[simply me]

I am not interested in having 1 in my car at all. We play games with the things outsidethe car...... We have lots of fun & sing & etc.. I know a few of my friends have them & actually DH wants one. I am not interested at all.

[LoveBeads]

I have one but it's only used if the car trip is 2 1/2 hours or more.

So far we've used it twice in 4 years :LOL .

So.....I guess if you amortize it, it wasn't worth the money! But I don't have a "problem" with them if that's what you're asking.

[nycapmom]

My DS gets sick when he plays with toys in the car so I wonder if he would get car-sick watching a DVD? He doesn't watch TV at home but this past weekend we borrowed a few movies from the library to entertain us all while we were sick and it was kind of fun : We are considering a long road trip (maybe x-country) and maybe we should rent a DVD player.

[marisa]

Originally Posted by hhurd

I think they're awful. Anesthetize the masses 24/7. Go from the tv in the house to the tv in the car and back again. Yuck.

Not to put too fine a point on it...

Hear, hear!

[rainbowmoon]

I think it's rediculous personally. my SIL has this in her car and her kids have to bring thier xbox,etc when they go on trips as well. it's more for the parents than the kids imho so they don't have to be bothered entertaining the kids. I told DH her kids are never going to learn how to relax on vacation.

next thing we know it will be a feature on your cell phone

[Yooper]

We are a no TV family at home, but dd HATES the car and we live 10 hours away from the nearest family. We log a lot of hours in the car. We do not have a DVD in our car but do use a laptop to play dd's favorite DVD over and over (Fiddler on the Roof....but we have to skip the nightmare scene....). Without it, someone would throw themself out of the car...probably me. My parents dragged my sister and I 36 hours straight (too cheap for a hotel) twice a year. It was torture. I actually think it might border on child abuse. A VCR or something would have made it slightly more bearable. I see nothing wrong with it as long as you don't have to fire it up every time you go to the grocery store.

[MomInFlux]

We've got one (built into the roof of our SUV). We love it. It's just like any other thing for children - if you abuse it, it's going to be a bad thing. If you use it reasonably, it's a great thing to have. Ours has headphones so that it doesn't drive Mom and Dad crazy listening to the Leap Frog Code Word Caper No, it's not on all the time. Yes, sometimes everyone just needs to chill and the traffic's too bad to keep a running conversation.

[PapayaMom]

i think they are going to be harder and harder to avoid, a lot of companies are starting to put them in standard. I think you need to have clear rules as to when you can use it. I would consider it for a long road trip for a portion of the time.

SIL has one in her car and whether they are going 5 minutes to the store or 2 hours to the city its always on. That drives me insane.

[wasabi]

Like some others we live a day's drive away from our nearest family members. After a horrible 19 hour drive home for a funeral with our older DD we did invest in a car DVD player before our next long trip (a two day drive to FL). It definitely did help just take the edge off because yes my 20 month old didn't want to just look out the window. We had toys and books and we talked to her of course but for such a long trip with such a young child you need more than that. We don't use it for everyday drives in the car but for the long trips it's definitely something I have no problem with. It's not built into the car and it is in the backseat only. We certainly had no desire for one until DD hit that age where long car trips became torturous for all concerned.

[EnviroBecca]

I'm absolutely against them. If you need entertainment for a long car trip, there are millions of audiotapes/CDs of music, books read aloud, storytelling, and radio shows. Making up the pictures in your head is so much healthier...and safer for the driver!