I swear on a stack of driver’s ed guides that I will never buy a DVD player to calm the kids in my car.
My old instructor, Mr. Phipps, would agree. Such devices would be too distracting.
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You’ve got merging to do, horizons to scan, he would probably say. And stop putting your foot out the window.
For my cartoon brain, Sponge Bob and Bob the Builder would dangerously lure my attention away from the road. The Muppets? Undeniable.
So for safety reasons I snub the Car Toys salesman.
But let’s be honest.
I might just be a little cheap and a lot old-fashioned about what a car ride should be. With a 3-year-old son and another baby on the way, I think a lot about where to draw these kinds of lines.
Everything I cave to becomes the baseline as these kids grow up. Up the ante, and the ante will be upped. I’ve already seen how kids get bored when the pace of new toys is too swift.
Nature’s seasonal pageantry should be sufficient entertainment. That and 90.3-KEXP on the radio (hipster tunes).
Otherwise, I’m in trouble.
Hopefully, my boys will inherit my wife’s rich genetic history of intense motion sickness. Her defense mechanism is still to fall into a deep sleep on long trips to places such as Lake Wenatchee.
For my kids, those long trips could be to the grocery or the outlet mall.
If my boys are more like me, they’ll be a happy golden retriever – window open, tongue wagging in the wind. Maybe a stack of library books when it’s raining.
However, I can be persuaded by a good logical argument, even from my toddler. I can hear him now: “I’ve saved enough allowance for the DVD-game player-refrigerator combo that’s at Target.”
Until then, I’m going to cherish these next few years, as they’re firmly anchored in their car seats and can’t reach each other.
With the close of winter, let’s share some tricks for passing the time in the car, either on cross-country trips or while waiting for a parking spot at the mall.
Has technology given parents a needed edge?
And try to change my mind on the car DVD player.
Question: “When are they going to return to finish the overpass over the freeway at 172nd?”
– Joan Lindsay, Arlington
Answer: The state Department of Transportation opened the Smokey Point Bridge to traffic Dec. 9.
“Although we were not completely finished with construction, we wanted to provide the benefit of a wider Smokey Point Bridge to drivers as soon as possible,” spokesman Travis Phelps said.
“Once we have warmer and drier weather, crews will begin repaving and restriping the roadway on the Smokey Point Bridge.
“Weather permitting, we hope to finish this work by the end of April.”
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