Portable DVD players in vehicles?

DH is getting antsy to buy a portable DVD player for our vehicles for Jeremy. *rolling eyes* I think he wants it so he can use it on business trips instead of burning out the battery on his laptop, but anyway... What's the deal with these things? Since Jeremy's RF, I guess the only kind that would work is the kind with the strap that goes around the rear seat headrests. That doesn't seem any safer to me than using a baby mirror on those headrests, which is a no-no. So, DH goes and finds this LCD screen that has a bracket that installs on the headrest posts. You actually remove the headrest entirely, fit the LCD screen bracket through the two metal headrest posts, and put the headrest back on the the vehicle seat and lower it until the bracket is fitted tightly between the vehicle seat and the headrest. Does that make sense? I'm thinking that still wouldn't be safe, either on the front of the rear-seat headrests for a RF child, or on the back of the front-seat headrests for a FF child. So, what do you all do if you don't have a vehicle with a built-in DVD player and screen?

I think that one would be the best one for a rf child since its held down much more securly than just a strap. I also wouldn't use it with a non tethered seat though since they cacoon up. I wouldn't worry about using it with your seats though, sounds like a good idea and would be great for long trips. I have no problems letting my kids watch movies in the van, I think its great, we can have adult conversation on long trips.

Rachel
cpst

Anyone know why Canada's weight limits are lower?

The marathon is approved to 65 lbs in the US but only 48lbs in Canada.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind it?

The only thing I can figure is that they don't trust parents to re-install the seat with seat belt instead of LATCH, but latch isn't supposed to be used past 40lbs anyways.

Just curious if anyone knows the reasoning... it bugs me that there's so many seats approved past 48lbs in the US and yet none in Canada and only a limited # approved even to 48lbs with the marathon being the only convertible available...

Urgh... sorry I thought I was starting a new topic but had hit reply instead & I don't see an edit option for the post... so my apologies for the off topic comment.

rachel3612 said:

I think that one would be the best one for a rf child since its held down much more securly than just a strap. I also wouldn't use it with a non tethered seat though since they cacoon up. I wouldn't worry about using it with your seats though, sounds like a good idea and would be great for long trips. I have no problems letting my kids watch movies in the van, I think its great, we can have adult conversation on long trips.

Rachel
cpst

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I think Jeremy is still too young to be watching DVDs in the car and we really don't go on long car trips that often, so any DVD watching would be considered a "treat." But, since I plan on RF for at least another year, it will become an issue as he gets older. Aside from trading in one of our vehicles and getting one with a built-in DVD player, I'm not sure what the next safest option would be.

Just don't worry about it. It's not ever going to be an 'issue' no matter how old he is. No reason to watch TV in the car. I've never had a problem having numerous foster kids and taking many long distance trips without television. Kids entertain themselves. My kids never watched TV in the car, even though we had a van with a built in DVD player with 12 inch screen (why it needed to be so huge I have no clue). Well, I can't say never never. I did, once, let my 3 year old watch it on the way to the airport for about 20 minutes, because I knew it would keep her awake and I didn't want her falling asleep and getting a power nap and then refusing to sleep on the plane. But other than that we never watched it. And if they asked, I told them no, and that was it. Compared to a friend of mine whose child FREAKS OUT if you put the car in reverse without turning the TV on first. She even starts the car and turns the TV on before buckling her into the seat, otherwise she won't cooperate. The kid is 3. There is no reason for that.

So, on to your real question... I think that would be fine safety wise. But I don't see why you think it is going to become an issue when he gets older. He doesn't need to watch TV in the car. He probably doesn't even want to. I'd rather look at the landscape than watch television when in a vehicle, especially since it would probably make me carsick!

The problem I have personally had with letting my kids watch movies in the van is this: when we go on long trips (about 8 hrs each way), which we do about 3 times a yr, watching movies keeps them awake. On these trips, they always need to nap so that they have enough energy when we get there, and again on the way home, they're so exhausted that they really need to sleep. Every time we have let them watch movies, they wouldn't sleep the whole way, which made the trip much harder on them in the long run. Now, I keep the DVDs out of the van and they take books along instead. They really haven't complained much because I just made it a rule. This might not help at all, but it is just the experience that I've had...