Trips and DVDs...

[LaOutbackTrail]

I've been against the idea of having a DVD player to distract my kiddo on trips. Yes Mike, I didn't care for Kylie watching a movie when we were at the offroad park...

I feel, when we are on trips, that interaction while traveling-- be it spotting animals, talking, reading, etc-- is more important that the kid vegging out in the back seat.

What are your thoughts?

[adventureduo]

Shoot, the trip wouldn't be right if Yosh didn't watch her PSP movies and play Nintendo DSi while i drive. :D That being said, she just watches/plays them on the paved highway where many times it can get boring for a passenger. Once off road all that stuff gets put away and she enjoys shooting photos and checking out the scenery. Also, she uses her PSP to watch a movie to fall asleep to in the RTT. For us, they have their place. For kiddos i can totally see it being used on the paved portions.

[pismo62]

My kids like to watch movies and play xbox on the road trip to and from our destination. On some nights, when we hit the sack and we will watch a movie. But at our destination and on the trails the kids are pretty excited with the surroundings.

[Expedition Key]

Same here, my daughter watches dvd's on 90% of the paved portions, I can't blame her, usually not much to see, and after an hour or so long conversation with a four year old, I'm ready for a break!! LOL. She's never even asked for a movie when we are offroading/camping.

Kye

[Mr. Leary]

Well, kiddo is 3 after all. I'm sure she will get more and more interested as she learns more about it. I think she got tired of sitting and waiting while we figure out what we were gonna do at the park, not to mention the spots where we had to go slow and spot.

On the road, DVDs are great for the times when they are not sleeping. It makes trips more enjoyable for everyone. Keeping kids entertained is tiring. Bug out trips are to relax... that's how I do the math.

[datrupr]

My daughter is 6 now and the DVD player used to be part of the road trips when she was younger. But since she has been 4 and beyond she gets no movies or cartoons on road trips or camping trips. She brings activities to keep her busy and mind sharp while in the car and at camp. We also play old time road trip games I used to plpay when I was a kid to keep her looking out and entertained. No DVD players!

[The Adam Blaster]

I chose "Depends on the trip".
But, any time I go back home to visit family, the netbook will be loaded with his favourite movies to keep him entertained during the boring parts. It's 3000 kms one way between Edmonton and Windsor, and it takes 4 days of driving to get there. And, he isn't even 2 years oldwith a very limited vocabulary.
For short trips of less than 4 hours, I doubt he would need any other stimulation that looking out the window or "talking" to his mom and I. He likes to point out the trains when we see them. :D
Yesterday the woman that runs the child care home where he goes during the day was sick, so I had to take him to my sister in law's for the day. It's about 45 minutes each way and he was totally fine, didn't fuss or anything. And we routinely go to his grandparents' home which is about an hour away.

I think it really depends on the individual child. We all know kids are very different and can react differently in various situations. All we can do is try and steer them in the right direction.
It seems like those of us on this particular forum would be sterring them in the right direction. ;)
(As we see it anyway.)

[kjp1969]

I've been against the idea of having a DVD player to distract my kiddo on trips.

On a day-long car trip, we let them go as long as possible without a movie, and then just at the point when they're about to explode, we'll put one on. Its one thing to drive the car and see out the windshield, but when you're 40" tall, can't really see out the side windows all that well, and are staring at the back of the front seat for 6 or 8 hours, its a whole 'nuter level of boredom.

That said, they almost never watch when we've arrived.

[R_Lefebvre]

The trouble we had once we had the DVD player... he'd know it was available, and would demand it soon as he got in the truck. And my son can be VERY persistent.

Then the player broke, and we had one hellish ride. But after that trip... it's been fine, surprisingly.

But, I have been thinking of getting another since we do have a new little one.

Question: What are the logistics of playing movies on a PSP? I've been thinking about going that route.

[Brian McVickers]

We made a decision, almost a vow!, to not take or include the portable DVD player on our trips.

We have a little traveling DVD player, which doubles as our at home DVD player since the big one broke!, but we usually leave it at home.

This gives us the chance to interact with out kids. Listen to music, sing together, dance in our seats, play games, talk.....

Once or twice we have been wrangled into letting them watch a short movie on the iPhone but that usually does not last long before they lose interest or we take it away if they fight over it!

I don't even like them watching TV at home and then it is limited to one channel, Noggin.

[RonL]

Our rules is only after 6hrs....We do 9-10 trips all the time and DVD are like other things, PSP, IM with friends...They are okay as long as their lives are not controlled by them. People can't not believe our kids do not have a Wii or playstation. I made it through life as a kid without it(& cable TV) and they can too.

A child that needs to be entertained all the time is going to have a hard time in the real world of work. My job is not very entertaining.

[yeti_in_ga]

We take one , but using it is limited and we always encourage other activities, but in a cold rain stuck in camp , or using it as a little wind down time, has been great. We would never allow watching a move in camp on a sunny day when there is lots of exploring to do.

[matt s]

Don't have one, and do not plan on it. For airline trips we have borrowed one and it was a good idea. But for a car ride, nah we play games and talk.

[91runner]

For our 2200 mile drive from CA to Al we got a DVD for our 3 year old. He enjoys watching scenery but does get bored and restless, However in addition to bolt and monsters Inc he also watches word world and school house rock and other entertaining educational dvds. I can't say enough about word world it is a really cool show for a youngster.

[James86004]

We got one for when we drove across the country. Driving I-40 across the Great Plains is really boring. Since we rarely let our kid watch TV at home, she was very fascinated with it and it kept her occupied for most of the trip.

About a year after that trip, it was stolen, and we have never bothered to replace it.

We love to play the alphabet game. She has to find something starting with the letter "A" that we can see, then I do "B", my wife does "C", then our daughter does "D", and so on. "Q" is hard unless we pass a Dairy Queen, and "X" is also hard, but there is a trucking company whose name starts with X.

[pskhaat]

Several thousand miles of mundane American highway in-between destinations on our road trips can mean frustration strapped in 5 point harnesses.

Every time someone breaks into song I remember this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hCZX9HAVA

We allow DVDs on the highway. Lately, the kids have been watching TopGear DIVXs.