In our ever evolving world, I have begun to notice more and more my traditional style of parenting. I make most meals at home; we rarely go out to eat anymore. We bring our little family to church every week and almost never skip a Sunday. I am a stay at home Mom and I cannot imagine a day without my sweet child. I've trained my 2 year old to help with the laundry already and line dry my clothes when I can. I prefer to go to bed early and wake up early, hang out on my front porch, sew, and take my daughter to the park. And I LOVE being a Mother!

And yet, somewhere in between my strong views of being a Mother lies the "traveling with a DVD player" dilemma. My initial response is, of course, no. However, my awesome sister bought us a portable DVD player last year just in time for our trip to the east coast where we flew to Forida and drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Raleigh. I have to say- it was a lifesaver. We used it on the plane and in the car during the long days of driving. We've since used it on shorter trips as well and it has equally good results.

I became comfortable with the decisions we made regarding when to use or not use the DVD player. Plane rides, and really long car rides when entertaining options are limited or non existent. However, I soon found myself with an even bigger dilemma: What do you do when you suddenly find yourself the (very grateful) recipient of a (like new) hand-me-down car that comes with more bells and whistles than you know what to do with, including a standard built in DVD player?!

While John spent time admiring the leather seats and navigation, I skipped straight to the DVD player. Could I hide it from my two year old? If I used it once would she always remember? Will she have a fit everytime we get in the car?

I am happy to report that my experiences with having a built in DVD player have been better than I expected. Yes, she does know that it's always there, but she also knows that we don't always watch it. In fact, this week I drove to my Mom's house and on the way there she slept the whole way. I was a little concerned for the ride home because after passing one accident, one stalled car, inching along the 405, changing my mind and taking the 101, then the 5, I figured she'd surely need something to get her through the 2+ hours of driving home. I was wrong. What did get her through it? Lots and LOTS of toys, singing, snacks, talking, music and one ring pop. Yes, it would have been considerably easier to have popped in a DVD, but where's the challenge in that? I didn't go through 9 months of pregnancy and 4 days in the hospital to stick my baby in front of a movie every chance I get. Yes, my daughter will grow up to have real memories of her childhood. Which will hopefully make up for her many trips to the dentist as a result of having too many ring pops!