Drive-in Movie, Anyone?
April 18, 2006
So, I was checking in with all of my blog peeps, when I saw this post by Miss Zoot.
It’s in defense of the portable DVD player, and comments that are being made on other sites about TV, and children, and watching too much. It also discusses a post that was made about a person who brought a portable DVD player to a restaurant so that their child would sit still throughout the meal. Having endured meals that sounded eerily like that, my first thought was “BRILLIANT!”. However, on further reflection I may have been too hasty.
So, without further ado, I bring you my thoughts on this vexing matter.
First of all, I don’t have a DVD player in my van, but I know many people who do and swear by it. There have been times when we have been on trips that after listening to my kids argue, or whine; I have wanted to kick myself for not owning one. I’m certain I have discussed the prospect of owning one with the hubby on many occasions. And yet, I don’t have one.
It’s not because I think my kids watch enough television, or they should suffer like we did as kids (truth is: we all suffer on road trips in our own ways); or that they can pass the time looking at scenery, playing games, or just talking. While those are nice by-products of my reasoning, it’s not the real reason we don’t have one.
It’s because I’m (we’re) cheap. Plain and simple.
There are just too any other things we can buy with our “discretionary income” that we’ll get more use out of. There are other things that we need as a family to have than a portable DVD player. I’m not saying I haven’t wanted one, or that we haven’t researched and discussed getting one; we just haven’t followed through on the purchase. It happens.
Here’s what someone posted about this issue:
When I am waiting at a stoplight behind a minivan or an SUV with one of those entertainment systems with a DVD of that blue fish movie playing I start ranting about how kids these days can’t do anything without the numbing sight and sound of TELEVISION placating them. When I was a kid I got dragged around on long drives with my parents and when we got bored we sang songs or played games or looked out the windows and imagined what it was like to live in the places we passed.
I’ll agree it annoys me to see the screen (especially at night) if only that it distracts me when I am trying to pay attention to the road. I’ll admit, I’ve even asked my husband to stay behind someone longer than he wants to, just so I can see more of the movie that they are watching on the darn thing. It does what it sets out to do, that is for sure. That doesn’t mean that the people in that vehicle aren’t conversing, or that the player can’t be turned off at times to sleep (which Scamp does really well, even without one of these things), or read, or sight see. It would be shocking to learn that for an entire trip, a DVD player in a vehicle stayed on from the moment it left the driveway until it arrived at it’s destination and not a word was spoken amongst the group or something not pointed out by the non-viewing people in the vehicle (read: parents). (This would apply for a long drive, not a trip to the supermarket.)
What I don’t agree with is the “When I was a kid…” stuff. Yes, when I was a kid I endured long car rides and played license plate games and ABC games and all that. I was also an only child so I alone provided entertainment. If I had a sibling who wanted to annoy me or steal my book, or have what I wanted to have at that time; I’m sure the trip would have been annoying and explosive for all concerned. Truth is, I enjoyed long car rides most of the time, but I’m sure I had my share of crankified moments that my parents (if they were alive) would be reminding me of as they read this.
What bothers me is the assumption that since we didn’t have it, our children shouldn’t have it, because we didn’t need it. I’m sure many (if not all) of our parents would have something to say about that. Bottom line, we didn’t have that kind of technology available to us at that time. Had it been available, I’m sure we would have our own stories to tell about watching movies as we traveled the highways and byways with our families. We’d be discussing our “Favorite Movies for Car Trips”, and “Top 100 games to play with the movie playing in the background while on those car trips.” The point is we didn’t have the ability or the technology for this type of thing: so it’s silly to say that we did just fine without it because we never had it to begin with. We never had the choice. More importantly, our parents didn’t have the choice.
Our children do. Probably because we (and in we, I mean all of us) did have horror stories about family vacations and long car trips; a technology was made so that our children could have what we didn’t have: entertainment on long car trips. Peace and sanity for the parents. An opportunity for everyone to slightly better endure the hardest part of the vacation itself: the getting there.
(Can I get an Amen up in here? Thanks.)
We did this. We provided this technology that although my parents (and probably my in-laws) would say we didn’t need then, we did just fine without it; but if given the choice “back in the day” might have seriously considered it.
I’m sure my parents would have, just because they could have.
As I’ve said, I don’t have a DVD player in my van. We use audiobooks on CD or in my Zen to listen to on long car trips. We play many of the same games that the hubby and I played with our families growing up. We sleep (except the driver, thank goodness!). There are times though, when it’s quiet for long stretches because the scenery is boring, or the boys in the back are spinning each other up about something; that it would be nice if we had that distraction to have available to us.
Besides, we took some of the money we could have put into a portable DVD player and instead bought a small TV/VCR combo we take with us for the hotel room. I put a selection of my kid’s favorite shows on a tape, and set it up in a corner of the hotel room so they can “wind down” after the traveling. So I guess, in theory, I’m doing the same thing, just not at the same time as discussed.
I’m surprisingly okay with that.
However, it’s way too big to bring in to a restaurant, although I’d be lying if I didn’t at least consider it from time to time.
Seriously.
