Fully Equipped Family Vehicle

Oh dear.

My immediate reaction was GAWD NO!!

Then I thought of putting in some nice Little Bear videos for the sozlet to watch while we go on a long trip...

Oh dear.

Nope. If there was a need for that type of thing (i.e. keeping a kid entertained on a long trip, etc..) then I'd get the vehicle without it and buy and aftermarket laptop type DVD player or even just a cheap Laptop with a DVD player built in.

You can buy a standalone dedicated DVD player with a built in LCD screen for under $350 nowadays and a adequate Laptop for around $700 and use the laptop for a lot of other purposes too.

You can get a "speak and spell" for a lot less and books afterward.

There are also gameboys and other options.

I'm wondering how my parents could travel without such ... and how we children survived this!

Yeah, the laptop/dvd thing would probably work. Where would it go, though?

Craven, the sozlet is in a phase where she is absorbed by STORIES. Interactive games will keep her interested for about 5 minutes.

Walter, one could as easily ask "how did we survive before microwaves?" The fact that it's not necessary for survival doesn't mean it's not dang useful.

Still, probably wouldn't actually get it. Mighty tempting, though.

Yikes. What happened to parents talking to their children, playing with them, singing with them, reading to them. Are the parents going to have their own headsets on as well? No wonder family members seem disconnected from one another.

soz,

In a year or two she could be able to read stories, no?

Yep, probably.

ehBeth, IF we did it, it would be as one tool in a large tool chest. The sozlet is NOT a lumpish child. She does not do well with sitting, strapped in, for long periods of time. She's very physical and curious.

On the recent plane trip to Iowa, I took crayons, paper, "color wonder" paper and markers, two new toys, her "Cat in the Hat" finger puppets, about 10 books, and food. Those were the distractions from the main course of talking, singing, telling made-up stories, and walking up and down the aisle whenever we got the chance. Still, I planned within a few minutes, each way, and there were bad moments that were ameliorated by taking out the last in-reserve new toy.

At any rate, this is all steadily improving as she gets older (she's just getting into "I spy with my little eye"), but I can certainly see the attraction.

By the way the "strapped in" part is a major, and a difference from when we were kids... having freedom of movement within the car makes a big difference.

soz

I really cook quite a lot, and not bad - as people say.
I don't have any other idea for using a microwave than heating up my cold coffee :wink:

They're brilliant at turning ice into water, Walter.

Was firmly opposed until soz made the "strapped in" observation. When I was a kid, I occupied myself crawling around the enormous back seats of our old American cars, putting stuff under the seats, looking out different windows, whatever. (And I survived, believe it or not.) With no freedom of movement, though, a car trip for a kid is like a plane trip without the novelty of flying -- and I hate being stuck in that seat for a plane trip, hate hate hate it.

Still, probably couldn't bring myself to spend the money on it. I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to most things, and throwing money after something like that would just seem like pushing my retirement further back into the nether regions of time...

Just thinking that our European cars were and are much smaller than American ones: probably so our parents could and can handle more there children?
(There are every years the same stories in the papers: 'what to do with children on car travels'.)

Strapped in Babies! When I have mental time and no other outrages in the front of my mind, I deplore the flowering of boredom in This Age of the Car Seat.

Remember, baby is not only belted in--baby is belted in on the back seat, facing the upholstery. If mobile mama wants to sing or chat, mobile mama better holler--loud so the back facing baby in the rear can hear.

Of course, mobile mama who has not been equipped with eyes in the back of her head, can't get visual cues for how baby is reacting. Baby may well feel misunderstood without those visual cues--after all, mama knows everything.

Car Seats are a Noble Idea--but the tradeoffs for safety's sake are boredom and frustration.

Passive is not a natural state for a wee one--unless the wee one is sound asleep, dreaming of sugarplums.

I grew up taking car trips with my family, and the three of us children bickered, whined and fought with each other all across America.

Now I have a child of my own...an only child...and my only options are to entertain him with TV, DVDs, video games, books, art supplies, card games, etc. He has no siblings back there to fight with. My husband prefers to be the driver, so sometimes I sit in the back seat with my son so we can talk, play games, etc. But I'm 48 years old, for Chrissake! I can't play games with a 9-yr.-old for 8 or 9 hours a day without goin' out of my flippin' mind!

Soz, you are right. You need an entertainment arsenal. That's why we usually fly...it doesn't require us to entertain our strapped-in child for nearly as long. It's so much easier on all of us.

Yep. I haven't even attempted a car trip of more than 2 hours, yet. The Iowa trip was about the longest total so far -- drive to the airport, park, take the little train to the main terminal ("wheeee!"), walk to our gate, get on the plane, fly (........), disembark, see Grandma and Grandpa, hang out a bit, walk to parking lot, get in car, and drive to Great-Grandma's house (about 2 hrs.) Door-to-door it was about 6 hours (wow), but with lots of diversions and changes of scenery, and carefully timed so that she would nap for the last car leg.

Noddy, precisely. Two inventions I have found invaluable, though, are 1) a mirror that you pin to the the top of the backseat, and angle so that you CAN see the baby's face in 2) a small mirror that you attach to the rearview, and angle to see the backseat mirror. Et voila, baby. I have no idea what I would have done without them, with no aural cues. Still use the small rearview attachment now that she is front-facing. Got 'em from a deaf mom friend -- best baby shower gifts I recieved, by far.

Sozobe--

Those mirrors should come with every car seat!

If a baby/toddler/child were strapped in a chair in a house for an hour every day, this would be classified as child abuse.

If the baby/toddler/child is strapped in a car seat for hours on end, this is part of Mobile Motherhood and in the child's best interests! I know that safety seats save lives--but so much of a child's time in a car is not life-threatening time.

The mind boggles.

Forget about better mousetraps. I want more sociable child safety seats.

Wow. We didn't even attempt to fly with our son until he was past the child-seat stage. The thought of dragging him, all the luggage, toys AND a child seat through the airport, on & off planes, through baggage claims...it was just too much for us. My hat's off to you!

We take 4 hr. car trips regularly to visit relatives...we've been doing that since he was born. When he was younger, we tried to schedule our driving times for his naptime, as you did. It worked pretty well. Or else we would drive at night, so he'd sleep all the way. (We'd take turns sleeping & driving.)

It DOES get easier as they get older, I promise. He started flying with us when he was 3-1/2. When he was six, we even took him to Italy...a 12 hr. plane trip!...and he did just fine. (They had a TV in every seatback & headphones, which helped a lot.) Plus, by then we had figured out how to schedule flights so he wouldn't be up too late and get sleepy/cranky in the airports.

This Spring Break we really pushed our luck. We did a car trip from Tulsa to Dallas, Houston & Galveston. That required 5-6 hrs. of driving for several days. My son actually did pretty well. He got to bring all his favorite movies, his GameBoy, and Dad even got a converter thingy so he could run his PlayStation in the car. He still takes naps on car trips, even though those days are long gone in regular life.

So....hang in there. It's actually very good that you're taking her on trips this young. By the time she's five or six, she'll be a pro, just like our son. He had his fanny pack (for his water bottle), his backpack (for his blankie & sleepytime bunny) and his little red suitcase on wheels. He could read numbers & a few words, so we made it his job to find the gates, which he managed to do pretty well. He's a great traveler now.

Jeez. With all the planning, strategy, and tactical calculation involved
I think hands-on moms and dads should be running this country. It's complicated!


Just a note: Aftermarket stereos are usually a far better deal than whatever comes with a car. You can generally get twice the system for half the price, so I imagine that might go for DVD/video systems as well. (The car dealer has their business locked in, while the aftermarket shops really compete with each other to make a sale).

Or better yet ... a portable DVD/video system that can be used anywhere: parties, at work, waiting a couple hours anywhere, planes, trains, and automobiles.

I was as guilty as most (???) of using TV from time-to-time to babysit my kids when the need arose. A dinner party for adults, the kids would have pizza and movie night in the family room, but an entertainment system in the vehicle ... no.