old vs new and why DVD players are good.

since i've been picking on my husband lately (see the fast food menu blog), i thought i'd post another blog about something we disagree on. and that topic would be whether or not a DVD players should be installed in cars these days. so we bought a new car recently, and this car's purpose is for family trips for the next 8 to 10 years (or however long it lasts). our kids, right now, may not really be into movies and stuff, but in the next 2 years or so (save kendal and the wonderpets), watching movies will be great pacifiers for long, boring trips. and, i want to put a DVD player in our car. nathaniel feels differently. he says "we didn't have one when i was growing up and we'd travel from CA to IN every summer." suppose that'd be a long ways, maybe a 2 or 3 day trip? anyway, here is where i think his argument has a loophole. back in the 70s and 80s: #1, cars were bigger. there was room to move around. i remember traveling to buckroe beach with tuter and father and mom and me and melissa and aunt joy and amy and ramey and smitty and sandy (smitty's mama) and god knows who else. two of us could fit in the floor behind the driver seat (i remember playing cards with amy there). #2, we didn't have to wear seatbelts "back in the day" so, unlike kids (and adults) these days, we weren't strapped to our spot for hours on end. nathaniel, (jon, amy, or others that are probably going to argue with me here because you also traveled across country without a DVD player), could you imagine having to sit in ONE spot for LONG PERIODS OF time without being able to move around and stretch your legs? and not that a DVD player helps this, but it does distract from the numb-feet affect of... #3, back when we were little, we didn't have to sit in a car/booster seat until we were 12 or over 80 pounds. i'm sure my sister would agree that once a kid reaches a certain age, their feet start going numb when they can't fit them all in the seat with them (and there is nothing to rest them on). i remember the first time bubba got to that age/size. i was in the car that trip. it was a long trip. thank God for CARS (the disney movie) because it distracted him from his uncomfortableness. #4, not only do kids now have to sit in carseats in smaller cars, they can't even turn sideways to play a game like, eh, connect four. once they are in the booster seats, that shoulder strap still has to be across their shoulder. and like a youngin' in a infant seat, if you AREN'T BELTED IN PROPERLY, YOU CAN CAUSE MORE HARM THAN DONE if you are in an accident. so, wouldn't it be advantageous to encourage children to look forward and sit up and straight (rather than want to shift to the side or wiggle their arms out of the seat, etc.)? traveling isn't what it was 30 years ago when we were little. traveling is "compact" now (and faster). compact isn't comfortable. a DVD player helps distract from the uncomfort. i'm FOR getting a DVD player in the car. ASAP. now if i could only convince my old fashioned "i used to walk to school in the snow up hill both ways" husband to concur. even though i didn't know it snowed in S-CA.