For years parents have been suffering during long car journeys as their children would get restless, bored and agitated asking ‘are we there yet?’ constantly. However, due to the use portable gaming systems such the Nintendo DS and MP3 players, the children are quite content to sit patiently; it’s the parents who now get frustrated and ask ‘are we there yet?’.

A recent survey showed that 56% of children spend their time on car journeys playing on games consoles such as the Nintendo DS. 50% of youngsters also choose to listen to their own music on MP3 players or iPods, so that they don’t have to endure the musical tastes of their parents.

According to survey, it takes just 24 minutes for parents to get irritated on car journeys, whereas children can happily last for an hour and a half before they suffer the boredom of the trip.

10% of parents questioned said they became irritated in the first ten minutes of a long car journey.

Dowshan Humzah, director at More Than Insurance stated:

Children increasingly have plenty of options to keep themselves occupied and happy on long journeys. It’s parents and guardians who are now faced with a range of stresses from getting stuck in traffic jams to avoiding menaces on the motorway.