Hi Emily! I figured this post may be the best place to ask this question!... Would you consider sharing your family's latest road trip successes and your ideas for screen-free road trips? My daughter will be newly two when we drive about 6 hours this summer for a family gathering. We are considering getting a Yoto Mini (used with parental supervision, of course!) but not sure if that might be a premature purchase. Most of our other road trips are shorter and we can time them during naptime, but this will be a new adventure for us! (I do love your posts on EFM about this topic) :)
Katie! You are in luck!! The month of April is road trip month on TCF, so we will be covering low-screen asphalt adventures from every angle. Stay tuned! And if there's anything else you're specifically hoping I'll touch on, drop it here!
Yay, this is so exciting! I'd love to know how you've adjusted your rhythms as the kids have gotten older. What do you do differently for Annie compared to June, for example? Can't wait to read your posts!
I’ve been looking at something like this but it’s been hard to rip the bandaid for a bigger purchase. How well do the cards stand up? Could they survive if a one year old tried to eat it?
Ha! We are past the in-a-mouth-all-the-time stage, but I think they'd hold up pretty well! They're very similar in construction to a credit card - heavy plastic. Easier to snap than eat. The good news is that even if the card gets damaged you can still play the story through the app!
New TCF reader here, this article was in my Substack reads email. I’ve been seeing these yoto players everywhere lately and very curious about them. I have a very busy 4 year old boy and we haven’t introduced an iPad or screen while driving, and we drive a lot living rurally! This article has me convinced!
Long-time EFM reader and fan! Have always loved your thoughtful writing, analysis and approach to life! Excited to follow along here and learn from you re all things family!
I typically skip over these audiobook players, but I think you may have changed my mind. I love the card style, autonomy, and that it can grow with your child. Thank you for sharing! So excited for TCF! ❤️
We love our yoto! Their customer service is also amazing, we've had issues where the charger stopped working randomly and a piece of the yoto broke on the interior (didn't affect playback though), and both times, with no hassle at all, they replaced the charger and then the second time, the whole player for free! They sent shipping labels for sending broken things back and sent out the new ones without even charging shipping. It's the customer service that claims my loyalty every time :)
This was really helpful showing the difference between the Yoto and tonie - the figures with the Tonie have definitely felt like the biggest drawback! Excited to see what other content is to come here!
What a wonderful recommendation! I always appreciate all of your kid-content related posts: so thoughtful, quality, and values-aligned. I am grateful for your little corner of the internet!
We’ve had our eye on Yoto or Toniebox for Haddon down the road, so this was super helpful! Grateful for your insight always, Em, and excited for this new platform!
As an FYI, there's a new recall out on Yoto Minis from 2021-23.
https://support.yotoplay.com/en-US/yoto-mini-battery-replacement-kit-1000296
Just requested ours last week! ❤️
Hi Emily! I figured this post may be the best place to ask this question!... Would you consider sharing your family's latest road trip successes and your ideas for screen-free road trips? My daughter will be newly two when we drive about 6 hours this summer for a family gathering. We are considering getting a Yoto Mini (used with parental supervision, of course!) but not sure if that might be a premature purchase. Most of our other road trips are shorter and we can time them during naptime, but this will be a new adventure for us! (I do love your posts on EFM about this topic) :)
Katie! You are in luck!! The month of April is road trip month on TCF, so we will be covering low-screen asphalt adventures from every angle. Stay tuned! And if there's anything else you're specifically hoping I'll touch on, drop it here!
Yay, this is so exciting! I'd love to know how you've adjusted your rhythms as the kids have gotten older. What do you do differently for Annie compared to June, for example? Can't wait to read your posts!
I’ve been looking at something like this but it’s been hard to rip the bandaid for a bigger purchase. How well do the cards stand up? Could they survive if a one year old tried to eat it?
Ha! We are past the in-a-mouth-all-the-time stage, but I think they'd hold up pretty well! They're very similar in construction to a credit card - heavy plastic. Easier to snap than eat. The good news is that even if the card gets damaged you can still play the story through the app!
New TCF reader here, this article was in my Substack reads email. I’ve been seeing these yoto players everywhere lately and very curious about them. I have a very busy 4 year old boy and we haven’t introduced an iPad or screen while driving, and we drive a lot living rurally! This article has me convinced!
So glad to have you, Delta! Sounds like you'll fit right in :)
Long-time EFM reader and fan! Have always loved your thoughtful writing, analysis and approach to life! Excited to follow along here and learn from you re all things family!
As a long-time blog reader grateful for your clear + insightful writing, I can’t wait to see what’s next here!
I typically skip over these audiobook players, but I think you may have changed my mind. I love the card style, autonomy, and that it can grow with your child. Thank you for sharing! So excited for TCF! ❤️
I’m brand spanking new to substack but very excited for your next endeavor!
I shared this with our classical school communications page! Always on the hunt for gifts revolving around books:)
So excited for your new substack and this giveaway!
Excited to hear more from you here!
We love our yoto! Their customer service is also amazing, we've had issues where the charger stopped working randomly and a piece of the yoto broke on the interior (didn't affect playback though), and both times, with no hassle at all, they replaced the charger and then the second time, the whole player for free! They sent shipping labels for sending broken things back and sent out the new ones without even charging shipping. It's the customer service that claims my loyalty every time :)
This was really helpful showing the difference between the Yoto and tonie - the figures with the Tonie have definitely felt like the biggest drawback! Excited to see what other content is to come here!
I haven’t understood these before this post, lol. Thank you for the explanation-the photo of the binder was what did it for me!
What a wonderful recommendation! I always appreciate all of your kid-content related posts: so thoughtful, quality, and values-aligned. I am grateful for your little corner of the internet!
We’ve had our eye on Yoto or Toniebox for Haddon down the road, so this was super helpful! Grateful for your insight always, Em, and excited for this new platform!