Eating my words

Well, I am forced to eat my words.

After going on and on about how we dislike cars outfitted with DVD players and screens, how children get so glued to the tv during car rides, how bad it is for the eyesight etc etc, I am forced to swallow some humble pie as our new car will - sigh - be one of those cars to have a DVD screen for the kids.

We went to sign the papers for the Wish over the weekend. Maybe the salesman was in a good mood - he threw in the DVD player and screen FOC.

The children were ecstatic. They cheered. I frowned and glared at KH. KH shrugged helplessly. It's free, he said.

I wagged my finger at the grinning monsters and muttered something about setting rules. Gillian was already busy planning the next road trip and which DVD to bring along and watch.

Our road trips up north have always been a major production. With 5 kids in the car, the amount of luggage has increased and so has the volume level. The chap in the second row would be armed to the teeth with his books. The girl would be Manager in Charge of Sweets, handing out the snacks to the guys at the back as well as the driver in front - who always needs his Cadbury chocolate fix (and that had better be Fruit & Nut too!). The two little ones behind would be covered in blankets, surrounded by luggage and pillows. And not so long ago, everyone would be in their PJs as we usually drove at night down to Malacca.

Along with the comforters, big towels, pillows, cushions, bags of crackers, snacks, chocolates and sweets and the inevitable litter that follows, there will be squabbles about which CD to play, which track on the CD to put on perpetual play mode, who is so NOT the American Idol in the car and so on.

And now, with deference to technology and progress, our arguments will just shift from the humble CD to the DVD. Instead of what to listen, the kids will just argue about what to watch, who gets to choose the DVD du jour and could the big oaf in front please lower his/her head so the little guys at the back can watch and so on. Its happening already - in our living rooms. Gillian inevitably wants the fluffy light pop romances - anything with Lindsay Lohan or Hilary Duff in it. Isaac will lobby hard for anything that has guns and explosions or hobbits. Caitlin will plead for anything that has Barbie's plastic smiles and Owain is happy to settle for any cartoon - but preferably The Incredibles. I foresee those arguments moving from the living room to the car.

Oh joy.

Ground rules definitely need to be set. And soon.