Where to draw the line?

I am pondering tonight. Pondering about our forthcoming holiday to France. Pondering about what we will fill our days with doing. Pondering about the journey there and then I realised I have a problem.

We are driving down to the ferry port the night before, which will take roughly 4 and a half/5 hours and then the following morning once we have reached France we are driving to Vendee which will take the same amount of time. Now to me this is great, after all, I'm used to driving to Nice in the South of France most years (which is my destination of choice but now baba has come along we wanted something a bit closer.) However, Benjamin gets fed up when we drive to Bakewell which is only 45 minutes away! If we so much stop at a traffic light, he senses it and starts squirming and it quite frankly stresses me out.

So I've been pondering about what I can do to prevent this happening. I thought maybe I could borrow my parents iPad and buy a holder to strap it to the headrest, download some cartoons and we'd be sorted...I can hear the peace now.

But then what use is that?  From the start, I've never wanted to be a parent to indulge my son in the latest gadgets or gizmos. I know he is only 21 months but I mean when he is older. I just don't think its necessary and what's wrong with good old imagination? I know he can't fully talk yet but what's wrong with eye spy and playing car games?

Courtesy of Pinterest

So where do you draw the line? My boyfriend, Luke is the youngest of five and his parents were really strict when it came to technology. One television programme after school only and then he had to spend the rest of his evening at some sport or hobby or with friends. And certainly no games consoles. In some way I found that quite refreshing.

Courtesy of Pinterest

I know technology is available to a wider audience and there are apps created for very young children, which is brilliant but I'm just not sure what I feel about this. I mean, I don't want my son to feel left out at school because he is not up to date with the latest gadget.

I suppose it is just finding a balance and moderating the amount of usage. I remember when me and Luke first met and went out for a meal, there were a couple on the table next to us with two young children about 7 and 9. The parents were chatting among themselves but the children were completed zoned out on Nintendo DS games. There meals arrived and they still didn't put their games down and the parents said nothing! I was astonished and said from that point on, if I were ever to have children that I would never allow that to happen.

Where do you draw the line? And also what tips do you have for travelling with young children?

TTFN

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