Are DVDs in cars taking away from "family time?"

I only work part time so i'm the one home the most with our 22 month old and car time is like a break for me, time to relax. My son usally uses car time to relax also look at books play with cars but If he wasn't so calm in the car I could see myself using one for long car rides.

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Books on tape and cd are something we always use on long and even short car trips. It is something that the whole family can experience together. Parents and older kids have also been known to take turns passing around an actual book and reading aloud. We sing songs and play singalong music as well as all the other games. We like the interactions that happen. We have great memories of travelling together. So much so that the kids often beg for a long car trip somewhere because they like it so much.
I can't see them doing that for a movie that they can watch anywhere, and I wouldn't want to drive with a movie playing in the background. By the way, books on tape last way longer than a movie.
When they were little we scheduled a lot of mini rest stops and packed finger puppets and had a box of car only toys.

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We have had either a VCR or DVD player in our cars for about 5 years. Our sons are 7 and 4 now. It has made long trips much more enjoyable, not to mention sane. Yes, I too, remember those days of the License Plate Game and I Spy, and we still play those. But on a 4-6 hour trip, there are only so many rounds of that you can play with younger kids. They take books and we sing songs, but sometimes you just want it to be quiet back there. It's also really handy when you need to have a conversation with your spouse that you don't want the kids to listen to -- just pop the headphones on them, and it's instant privacy. We originally bought a portable DVD player to take with us, but opted for the entertainment system with our next vehicle, since it's much more dangerous to have a loose DVD player flying around the car in case of an accident. We do have rules. The DVD player is only used for trips that are longer than an hour, and it's not on constantly, even on longer trips. Sometimes, for a special treat, we will let the kids watch, such as if we're caught in a traffic jam or if we're running errands and the kids have to sit in the car for long periods of time with their dad while I run in and take care of things, but they don't expect to use it around town. Frankly, it's been a sanity-saver, and I don't think it detracts from our "family time." We have plenty of that when we arrive at our destinations. It's just like anything else with kids (video games, TV, etc.) you have to monitor it and make sure it doesn't take over your life. I think the parents who are going to spend time with their children and have "family time" will do it regardless of whether there's a DVD player in the car or not.

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We have one that we use in the car if we go on trips. We don't use it the whole time prefering to read books, play let's find whatever outside, etc. He usually gets one movie or more though depending on how long the trip is.

We used to travel at night thinking that he would sleep. He has never once slept at all on three night trips. Even when we load him into the car at 2:00am. He never goes back to sleep.

It def. helps, but for us, it's our last resort. I have wonderful memories of the car trips we did when I was little.

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I don't have children, and I don't have a DVD player in my car. But can I tell you how frustrating it is to be driving behind a vehicle with a DVD playing inside? It's so distracting for other drivers! I find my eyes wandering to the screen in the car in front of me, watching the animated graphics through the back window. It's especially bad at night, when the DVD screen is lit up brighter than the street lights and I just can't help trying to figure out what movie they're watching. I think that the distraction factor for other drivers is going to be a bigger problem as more and more people install DVD players in their personal vehicles.

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We have a dvd player in our car. I wrote about the inner struggle I have with it on my blog a couple of months ago.

Short story, if we are going to be in the car long enough for a movie to play out they can watch it, otherwise it is really more trouble that it is worth.

I will confess that lately I turn on the TV in the car to keep my 2 year old awake after a long day out and about. Usually it is when it is close to dinner time, too late for a nap and too early for bed time. She is usually in desperate need of a bath by then too. It works, she stay awake watching some strange game show or PBS.

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We just travelled 1300 miles by car with our preschooler and believe me, the portable DVD player we bought was a lifesaver. She would not have been happy back there for very long without it. She's not old enough for "car" games. Her father and I, however, engaged in a hilarious game involving counting dead armadillos...

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I've learned never to say never. We don't have one and probably won't. If I were suddenly faced with a cross country trip, I'd at least think about it. Call me undecided and hypothetical as well. No cross country trips in my future unless I fly.

I know I don't want it for around town but my girls are older. I had no problem with them when they were babies and toddler though; they all loved to ride, listen to music, and look out the windows.

3,000 miles of that though - I just don't know. I do know they're fine for a couple of hundred and back.

On the other hand, I have no problem with other parents doing whatever they think is helpful and necessary.

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I've used a portable one for our older child on several 10-15 hour car trips, but we don't have one permanently installed.

I think that many of the people who wax nostalgic about the good old days of car travel are forgetting that back then, children weren't effectively immobilized in car seats like they are now. Traveling with small children restrained in five-point harnesses is *nothing* like traveling with a bunch of kids free-floating in the back of a station wagon. It's hard to play I-Spy when you can barely see past the side wings on your car seat, much less turn around to see what's just gone by the window. It's just a different ball game now.

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We have a portable DVD player for long trips only. I certainly don't want to use one every time I jump in the car to go the store. Fortunately, my son is cool with chilling for a short ride in the car.

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Jessica - you really just need to keep your eye on the road. Your curiosity about what is playing in a nearby minivan is making the roads less safe - not the movie playing behind the tinted windows of said minivan.

If you are unable to watch the road because Maisy may be playing in my minivan, you should practice concentrating on your driving, otherwise, you are liable to end up in an accident after you drive past some horses, or a billboard, or perhaps a flock of birds in a formation that looks like a flower.

And no, you don't have a right to be frustrated because you can't tell if it is Anthony Wiggle or Murray Wiggle singing in my car. For one thing, it doesn't matter. For another, I'd rather you not smash into my car while your sate your curiosity. Finally, Anthony wears the blue shirt, if that helps.

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My wife and I have thought about this a lot. We drove all over the country with our parents when we were young...and everyone seems to have survived without mobile video stimulation. However, we also were not wearing seatbelts or strapped into car seats after the age of two. We were free to roam about the back of the car and play _interactively_ with our siblings. In the age of being in a car seat until age six or longer, and after that in a seatbelt forever more, the idea of a video player in a car does not seem so crazy. As always with these things, it comes down to parenting. It is not necessarily something to be used all the time, but an option/addition to traditional car ride games.

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