A long car trip with kids can be miserable so like many people, I bring along the item that allows us to arrive at our destination with our sanity intact. This, of course, is the miraculous portable DVD player. How did our parents do without such a device when we were kids? Quite well. In the era before car seats, we played on the huge back bench of our full size Chrysler New Yorker. We had ALL of our toys with us for hours of uninterrupted play. Most of the time the question "Are we there yet?" just didn't matter.



Now, kids are encased into car seats so tightly that if the head moves, it means that you didn't duct tape the bubble wrap tightly enough. Kudos to the emphasis on safety, it's just that current safe practices have come at the expense of our kid's comfort and of their enjoyment of the family trip. And we all know that when the kids aren't happy, nobody is happy. Thus our reliance on the Domestic Volatility Defuser, the ever present DVD.

While I'm strapping in the DVD player, I inevitably start worrying about what I call DVD head: the condition caused by watching too many DVDs over a prolonged period of time. The most noticeable symptom of DVD head is the blank stare on your kid's face when you first shut off the player. Interactivity with humans requires effort compared to the low-bar exigencies asked of DVD watching.

In addition, the latest brain science tells us about pathways and connections in the brain. The more we do something, the more neural pathways are created in the brain that assist in that task: practice does makes perfect. Just as violinists can physically alter their brains with repetition, so can a child repetitively watching the same DVD. When I was a child, I watched far too much TV but at least I rarely saw the same thing twice, re-runs notwithstanding. Today's child will watch the same DVD dozens, if not hundreds of times. Regardless of how benign the content might be, it doesn't seem wise to be imprinting images of Barney to such a degree on such plastic and developing minds, not unlike the phantom images that get burned onto your computer monitor when you don't use a screen saver.

So during your next trip, there are certain strategies you can employ to limit the use of DVDs. These do require discipline on your part, particularly if your kids are accustomed to their DVD fix whenever they set foot in the car:

1 - Set a finite length of time they can watch and stick to it e.g. each child can pick one DVD.

2 - Set a milestone where they can start watching e.g. pick a town on a map halfway to Grandma's and no DVD before then.

3 - Provide alternate games/toys. There are many great travel toys out there. Small Etch-A-Sketch, Doodle Pro and magnetic signpost Bingo are just a few that come to mind.

4 - Play guessing games like I Spy or Pick a number.

5 - Sing songs.

One other new piece of technology that could help is a portable, speaker based MP3 player. These devices designed specifically for children play music through a speaker, not headphones, so you don't need to worry about your child developing hearing problems. In addition to music, you can load up the player with stories to keep your child entertained throughout the trip.

Why is an audio player better for your child's brain than a DVD player? Humans have been listening to music since the dawn of time. Contrast this with the fast moving images of a DVD where there is no equivalent in the "natural" world. Also, listening to stories on an audio player, from the brain's point of view, is like being read to. Listening requires imagination, attentiveness and concentration therefore, effort. Many studies are showing that reading to young children promotes language acquisition and is linked with overall success in school.

The next time you are facing a long car ride with kids, put the DVD on pause and try some alternatives!