We just took our three children – aged 3 years, 2 years, and 2 months – on a two-day, sixteen-hours-of-driving car trip.
The baby hates car rides, and nothing could be done about that, but we kept the older two happy with portable dvd players.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Probably the same thing I thought when my sisters bought their kids portable dvd players. Bah. We didn’t have those when we were kids. Spoiled. But remember – when we were kids we were not strapped nearly immobile into carseats for hours at a time. We could move. If we have to unnaturally immobilize the children in the car for safety’s sake, watching dvds at least makes it bearable for them.
We bought this set of two players (the link is to Amazon, but we got them for $180 at Sam’s Club). These strap to the back of the front seat headrests so our girls didn’t have to hold them (which would never have worked). They come with cords that plug into an outlet AND cords that plug into a car’s cigarette lighter, so no batteries were necessary for the trip. Best of all, you can connect the two players so that they play the same movie at the same time with only one disc, which cuts down on “I want to watch HER movie!”
We were in the car for sixteen hours, people. These things were worth their weight in gold.
You can find more WFMW ideas at Rocks in My Dryer.
We also used these last year on a trip to France – it was long (we live in Northern Ireland) we borrowed them but they sure are a good investment if you do long haul often.
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Oh, those things are fantastic! I finally broke down and bought one for a road trip where I was going to have to take the three kids all by myself. Ha ha, I actually had to insist that they get out of the car and stretch their legs at the rest area. They wanted to stay in the car! I have the opposite problem, though; each kid wants to watch a different movie.
BTW, great rationalization about the car seats. I can’t wait to tell hubby, who still has some lingering feelings of guilt.
Portable DVD players seem pure genius to me. We fly a bunch, and as soon as my son is old enough to be plugged into one, you better believe I’m going to do it!
Kudos to you for surviving such an arduous car journey with or without the DVD player. That speaks of patience and parenting ability beyond my comprehension!
Our portable DVD player doesn’t get used in the car – the kids sit in different rows – but it does get used once we’re at our destination. The kids think watching a movie on that little bitty screen is the biggest treat EVER!
These are a necessity for traveling with children. I’ve never felt bad about spending money on them. We just went on a 12 hour trip, and ours died mid-trip. I almost cried.
We have a built-in DVD system in our minivan, and I truly can’t say enough good things about it. We drive back and forth from a major metro area at least once a week — a 3-4 hour round trip. The DVD is a lifesaver.
And kudos to the logic about the car seats. Before we bought the minivan, I asked my Mom how she managed to take four kids on an 18-hour cross-country driver every summer without a TV. Her words? You flipped over the seats, crawled on the floor and occasionally slept in the back window ledge.
AH YES! Now I remember!
I had been feeling guilty about letting Princess watch DVDs on road trip, but you’re so right!!!
When we were kids we didn’t even have to wear a seat belt. I remember laying on the back seat with my feet sticking out the window. Or sitting on the hump with my head up in the front seat quizzing my parents. And cramming 4 adults and 5 children ages 2 through 7 into a single Buick LeSabre. You’d get pulled over and ticketed or worse for that kind of thing today!
A set of two! That’s exactly what we’ll be needing for our boys in a few months – and how cool that you can link them together!
Very, very good point about the car seats/seat belts! I’ll have to get a second DVD player for Kevin because I don’t think the 13 y/o, who goes on my road trips, will want to watch the same things as he.
When buying our minivan, I had the choice between one with a built in dvd player and one with 10,000 fewer miles on it. I opted for the DVD player. My husband raised an eyebrow, started to argue with me, and then I reminded him that we both have family in Colorado and we live in Nevada. We have already made two trips to Colorado and he took back his words of doubt after the first trip.
DVD players are also good for plane rides. I am glad we have one, but I am glad it is not permanently in the car, because then The May Queen would want to watch it all the time. I only pull it our for the beastly trips. Anything less than an hour or two she can entertain herself for.
Funny, I almost posted this as my works for me. My girls dance a lot, so I bought a portable dvd player to use while the one not dancing is sitting & waiting. I used to run errands, etc but gas is so much money I started staying there & the dvd player helped so much.
I can barely make a 16 hour trip without a dvd player…surely no one expects children to.
We might have to cave and get some!
I used to be all Judgy McJudgerpants about dvd players in cars, but now…not so much. I mean…if it makes the journey pleasant for everyone?
I use mine even for 1 hours long trips — or on my “I’ve got a million and one in and out trips to town”… small town — the kiddos stay in the van and watch CARS and it goes much quicker!! Woo Hoo!!
It especially works for us — because we limit TV watching… so it’s a real treat!
So I AGREE!! Ü
Yep! It’s probably the only reason we didn’t get kicked off the plane on the way back from California a 3 and 1/2 hour plane ride. We can only make so many enemies on one trip! My 3 year old decided that it was even more fun than kicking the seat in front.