I'm going to answer, too, A, even tho' I know you are asking FJ 
I'd be very frustrated. I honestly don't know how parents and small children (who don't have writing skills) communicate effectively if the CI is out of commission and they don't use ASL or another sign approach. We've been caught on vacation w/ broken processor, no backup, we've had main and backup CIs fail, one after another because of a faulty coil, and have been without for 3 weeks one time. I've been up on skis on a mountain with Li-Li, when her processors slid down under the weight of a helmet, with no way to reposition with frozen hands while cruising down the hill.
And those are extreme, but I'd be frustrated daily if I couldn't communicate to my child while she was in the bath, when we first wake up in the morning, as well as while she's playing in the surf, rolling in sand or snow. I don't want there to be a tiny little battery connecting me and my child.
(But, I'd be able to account for many frustrated moments in which I couldn't communicate with my child if she didn't have a CI, too.)
