I recently heard two friends discussing vacation plans. They
both have pre-school-aged children and were thankful their vehicles
were equipped with video players.
I recently heard two friends discussing vacation plans. They both have pre-school-aged children and were thankful their vehicles were equipped with video players.
“I know just how far it is to Disneyland,” said one friend. “It’s exactly one Little Mermaid movie, one 101 Dalmatians and three episodes of Blue’s Clues. If we hit any traffic jams, we throw in another Blue’s Clues and were all set.”
Thanks to technology, parents today rarely hear the alarming traveling phrase of “Are we there yet?” Taking a page from airlines, which have shown in-flight movies for decades, parents can now make the trip easier for their children by providing on-board entertainment.
There are, of course, a few drawbacks. My co-worker is so sick of hearing episodes of Blue’s Clues, she’s seriously contemplated throwing all the videos out the window while traveling down the freeway at 65 mph. Littering laws and the fear of causing other cars to swerve wildly keep her from tossing the tapes. She knew things were getting to her when the only costume she could come up with for Halloween was that of a blue dog.
While my friend feels it could be easier to drive without the distraction of children’s shows, she knows she might change her mind if the in-car video player broke. Years ago, parents didn’t have it so lucky. Less than a decade ago parents had to endure continual questioning as to how many more hours, minutes and seconds were left until the destination was reached. Instead of simply popping in a film, turning up the volume and driving in relative peace, parents of previous generations had to be creative to make a trip bearable for all in the car.
One of the most popular ways to make a road trip fun for kids was plenty of snacks, drinks and playing games. On busy highways, the kids would try to find as many out-of-state license plates as possible. This was a group effort and we would all work together, trying to see if we could collect all 50 states.
When the kids got tired of this game, we’d turn our attention away from license plates onto road signs. Competing against one another, they’d try to find all the letters of the alphabet. The catch to this game was the letters had to be in a-b-c order. If one child saw a letter first, the others couldn’t use it. License plates weren’t allowed in this game.
Counting Volkswagen beetles, shouting “slug-bug” and punching each other in the arm was another favorite game. This one wasn’t encouraged by parents, as too often the slugging could get out of hand.
I always felt my kids had it lucky because they had each other on road trips. I was so much younger than my brother and sister that I usually traveled alone with my parents. While this meant that I didn’t have to share the back seat, I also had no one my age to talk to. My own kids would share magazine articles, hand-held games, play tic tac toe or hangman, or simply chat with each other. Yes, they would also argue. Just when I thought I’d go crazy with their bickering, they’d turn it off again and decide to be friends.
When my parents and I traveled, the moment we were out of the city, my mother would start a travel monologue. “Just look at those beautiful rolling hills,” she would say.
All I saw was brown, weed filled hills, but my mother would continue her observations. “Those are real California oak trees. We don’t have anything like that back in Canada.”
Several hours of rolling hills and oak trees later, I’d be bored out my head, but my mother’s enthusiasm and verbal commentary rarely waned.
My parents probably thought they had it tough traveling with kids. I felt challenged preparing for our road trips. But nothing today could compare with what the pioneers had to endure. Imagine months of traveling in a covered wagon, following dusty trails and trying to keep a passel of little ones from getting bored. The only thing worse could be months of traveling and listening to the same movie, over and over and over again.
It will be interesting to see what manufacturers come up with in the future to make traveling with youngsters even easier. I only hope future parents will appreciate not having to answer that dreaded childhood question of “Are we there yet?”
Cindy Brown is a Free Lance correspondent whose column appears every Monday.
