And like a flash it came to me: that's what I wanted to write about!
A little while ago we went with a friend to "the beach". The beach is this rather large lake about an hour and a half away from the city. It's basically the only one around and man was it ever packed. We had to squeeze ourselves into a small patch of sand, after having spent a good half hour looking for a parking spot. Quite the experience.
But that's not what I wanted to write about.
Our friend borrowed his sister's minivan and her two kids. Two really nice kids, a little under 10 years old both, nice to each other, smart and respectful of uncle's authority. I don't know the parents, but they did good.
That's also not what I wanted to write about.
Here is what I do want to write about. The minivan had a video entertainment system; a DVD player in the dashboard and a TV in the roof just behind the front seats. Once we got on the highway, we put on a movie for the kids which they listened to using cordless headsets.
I'm one of the people that have been dissing DVDs in cars. What is that all about, I've been asking? Why would you ever want something like that, which you can't even use while driving? My car is not so comfortable that I will rent movies to watch in there.
But I don't have kids. And now that I've experienced kids on a road trip my views have changed.
As soon as the movie started, silence took over the van. The kids weren't loud or annoying and didn't need any kind of discipline whatsoever to begin with -- like I said before, really nice kids -- but they were still kids and needed attention. As soon as the movie started, silence. Not a sound, other than the occasional muted laugh.
If you have kids, start thinking about getting a vehicle with a DVD system. If you ever wish to make road trips, it will save you from madness.
But do seriously consider the cordless headset. Without them, the sound comes out of the car radio. Not that it's a big problem, but what the headset gives you, that the car radio can't, is isolation. By putting headsets on your kids, you isolate them from each other. It practically eliminates all interaction with each other (the same way the movie practically eliminates all interaction with you), thus drastically reducing the likelihood of confrontation. Without headsets there is a chance they will start fighting with each other; with headsets, they basically forget each other exists.
Don't get me wrong, though: I'm not suggesting you isolate your kids from yourself and each other just so you don't have to deal with the noise. What I am suggesting is that during a road trip, when everyone is stuck in the same little confined space with no hope of moving around, isolating and distracting your kids is not such a bad idea. Lets face it: a car is not a fun place for a kid to spend hours and hours. But a DVD system does make it a lot more fun.
And that is why I will consider having a DVD in a future vehicle, when we have kids old enough to understand what the pretty moving images are.
