Car seat hysteria?

[ChrisnSteph]

I was being sarcastic!!!!!!!

Ok - got it. Sorry. Can I blame my knee jerk snarkiness on PMS??

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It is a shame that any child (who's state requires them in a booster) has to worry about what their friends say and get teased for it.

Very sad.


But if the child is small for their size anyway--aren't they subject to more teasing b/c of it?

I only ask--b/c while I would do everything to help my childs self esteem--safety risk is not one of them.

So on prom night--seat belts will be required. I don't care if it wrinkles the dress.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Ok - got it. Sorry. Can I blame my knee jerk snarkiness on PMS??

Phew, glad that you two solved that, because I was really getting ready to lay into her! OK, deep breathe... And what kind of snarkiness was it, anyway???

 

[luvflorida]

I can relate to a lot of the stories on here about traveling years ago without booster seats or seatbelts. When I was growing up, I would travel in the backseat of the family car with my two siblings. We used to play a game where the three of us would balance on the edge of the seat. The first kid to fall over or touch their feet to the floor was out of the game. The winner was the one who was left still balancing on the edge of the seat. I even remember my father jerking the steering wheel so that we would fall off balance! And my youngest brother used to ride standing up holding onto the back of the front seat. It horrifies me now to think about how unsafe, and stupid, we were!!

With my own three kids, they were always in car seats and booster seats until they reached the proper height/weight or age requirements. For youngest daughter, that meant she was in a booster seat for quite awhile because of her size. We also always took car seats on planes when the kids were younger.

Of course, there were times when we were traveling somewhere and there weren't seats or seatbelts available. My kids discovered that riding in a taxi in the middle of New York City was more thrilling than any ride Walt Disney could ever dream up!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hey T&B

Do you think they should have car seats in grocery carts?

I mean--at any time they can just fly through the parking lot right?

And the added security--junior won't be reaching for the cookies to eat them before purchase if he is properly restrained.

 

[Alice's Mom]

When I was a baby we moved to Germany (army) and they had carseat laws so my parents bought a carseat. When we moved back to the US I guess they still did not have carseat laws...I only have flashes of memory and scars from the time I was 3 and sleeping in the floor well when my mom took us down a hill and we flipped over a few times. I was lucky, only a broken arm and broken glass in my arms.

I'm not a car seat nazi by any means. I did not take a carseat for my daughter on our last trip to Florida and we planned on using Disney transportation the entire time. Here at home she uses her carseat and will as the law requires it, which is 6 or 60lbs.


ChrisnSteph have you seen the Fairy Godmother posters showing "4'9" is the magic number." Is there a new requirement now?? My daughter will not be 4'9" when she turns 6.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

ChrisnSteph have you seen the Fairy Godmother posters showing "4'9" is the magic number." Is there a new requirement now?? My daughter will not be 4'9" when she turns 6.

Advocates suggest that seat belts don't fit properly until children weigh about 80 pounds and are 4'9" tall. With that criteria, I myself beat the booster seat by 2 inches as I'm only 4' 11"! However, the law hasn't changed - it's still 6 or 60. You can check it out at CHP's website:

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/boosterseats.html

 

[DisneyPhD]

They couldn't take them because they were worthless. Once a carseat has been in one accident - even low speed - it's absorbed impact and is no good. Another reason why I don't understand the holier than thou "use a carseat on the plane and then get on ME and have them put the seat under the bus." Ummmm - no. One suitcase being thrown on top of that seat can be all the impact it needs to render the seat worthless. No one seems to want to deal with the facts, though. Oh well.

They had absolutly no intention of ever using those car seats again after getting to the closest Walmart and buying new ones. Their kids were 2 and 4 I belive (big boys for their age.) The oldest was in a boster. You mean that it is safer to sit where the seatbelt is not in the right place then in a car seat that was in a roll over (no impact) then use them one last time until they could buy new ones. I don't think so.

In their case there was nothing you could do. They could not carry extra ones "just in case" they would have been in the car too. So it is safer to let children drive an hour in a snow storm with no car seat then use the old ones? I don't think so, just for seatbelt and restaining reasons.

The point is most everyone gets in a situation where they need to transport a child and there isn't a care seat. (especially when they are older and we are no longer talking about car seats, but bosters.)

 

[DisneyPhD]

Advocates suggest that seat belts don't fit properly until children weigh about 80 pounds and are 4'9" tall. With that criteria, I myself beat the booster seat by 2 inches as I'm only 4' 11"! However, the law hasn't changed - it's still 6 or 60. You can check it out at CHP's website:

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/boosterseats.html

I am 5 feet tall myself. I wieghted 90 pounds as a senior in H.S.

I have a feeling my now 19 pound 20 month old and 35 lb 5 year old will be rather simlar.

I will of course keep them in car seats, I don't know how old, but if I followed the recomendations they might be in HS and I have no intention of that.
(or middle school for that mater.)

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Hey T&B

Do you think they should have car seats in grocery carts?

I mean--at any time they can just fly through the parking lot right?

And the added security--junior won't be reaching for the cookies to eat them before purchase if he is properly restrained.

Hey, you want to get me going, don't you?

BTW, my DD really did land on her head when she was little falling out of a cart! Well, it's really not that funny I suppose, but she wasn't hurt, other than the VERY loud screaming that she did.

And that reminds me--we really should start another thread about kids eating food from the grocery store before it's paid for. And of course returning carts to the cart corrals!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Advocates suggest that seat belts don't fit properly until children weigh about 80 pounds and are 4'9" tall. With that criteria, I myself beat the booster seat by 2 inches as I'm only 4' 11"! However, the law hasn't changed - it's still 6 or 60. You can check it out at CHP's website:

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/boosterseats.html

I'm 5'5" and have to use the height adjuster on my belt.


There have been studies that show that seatbelts aren't fitting height challenged adults either.

So the minimal length I can adjust the seatbelt is a step in the right direction.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hey, you want to get me going, don't you?

 

[ChrisnSteph]

And that reminds me--we really should start another thread about kids eating food from the grocery store before it's paid for. And of course returning carts to the cart corrals!

Just a couple days ago we were in the grocery store, and our son was really tired and grumpy. He's my kid that when his blood sugar gets low, he's impossible! My dh decided to perk him up with his favorite treat, a donut, which we intended on paying for when we checked out. It perked our son right up, but we totally forgot to pay for it when we checked out! So we went back inside, showed the cashier our son with his chocolate covered face (sprinkles on his cheeks and all) and the empty wrapper. The manager wouldn't let us pay for it because "your son is just too darn adorable!" He told us not to worry about it, and have a nice day. But we did return the cart to the front of the store, so we can't be all THAT bad.

 

[beattyfamily]

No seatbelts on our school buses either.

I think it's rediculous and so judgemental to say that if you dare have not have your child in a booster seat when they are under 8years/80lbs, but legal, you are not doing "responsible parenting".

My 6 year old is in a booster seat at home still and will be till I think she's too big for it; when it's uncomfortable because of her height. I'm guessing it will be around 8 at the oldest but we'll see. Our state law is 5 years and over 40 lbs they can just use a seatbelt.

My 9 year old (almost 10) has been out of a booster seat for at least a year now. She sometimes sits in the 3rd row of our minivan, like on the 5 hour trip to PA last weekend and she even lies down sometimes.

When we travel to Disney World, we always rent a car. I sometimes leave their booster seats home; I have twice now. Bad parenting, I know.

We stopped bringing the carseats on planes by age 3. Once, when our youngest was 2 years old, we left the carseat home because we were going to Paris and would have had NO use for it once we were in Paris. The horror.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Just a couple days ago we were in the grocery store, and our son was really tired and grumpy. He's my kid that when his blood sugar gets low, he's impossible! My dh decided to perk him up with his favorite treat, a donut, which we intended on paying for when we checked out. It perked our son right up, but we totally forgot to pay for it when we checked out! So we went back inside, showed the cashier our son with his chocolate covered face (sprinkles on his cheeks and all) and the empty wrapper. The manager wouldn't let us pay for it because "your son is just too darn adorable!" He told us not to worry about it, and have a nice day. But we did return the cart to the front of the store, so we can't be all THAT bad.

You will rot in hades for that!!! Weren't you in that thread about grocery store eating, too? If I were feeling really you would inspire me to start another thread about it... I think that we should elect Lisa loves Poohto do the dirty work!

 

[MidgeD79]

Is anyone concerned about parental rights being taken away? I'm getting more and more concerned about being told what to feed my kids, how to transport them, how they should be dressed and how to play. I don't agree with a law being made that tell parents how to parent. There are too many variations on what is "right". Is it 40, 60, or 80 pounds?

 

[sakura-panda]

Seven pages and no one mentions that the point of a booster seat is so that the lap belt rests across the lap (not the belly) and so that the shoulder belt falls across the shoulder (and not the neck)?

My SIL has taken her kids out of booster seats, and while I don't question her opinion there, I do question DH when he allows them to ride in my vehicle -- I can tell that the seatbelt is not resting properly on them AND I have leather seats so they spend most of the trip sliding around!

Of course, nothing has happened (they have ridden in my truck maybe three times total), but if we are in an accident... (DH and my SIL both know that I am unhappy; but they also know that I am not going to argue with the one driving (DH) or with someone else's judgement regarding their own kids. If she is okay with it, it really isn't in my place to argue, and I don't push my opinions on DH -- I let him use his own judgement -- even though I will mope and be cranky and let him know I'm unhappy. )

And yes, I'm one of those kids that used to ride right up in the front of our van -- you know on the part of the engine that is inside, how it makes a kind of console/table? I used to sit there -- right next to the windshield -- while my dad drove in rural Wisconsin, at night. And I rode in the back of a pickup on the expressway, sitting on the wheelwell. But I wouldn't let anyone do that now, and I'm going to keep DS in his carseat for as long as he needs to be for his safety.

--Katie

 

[bigmerle1966]

And of course returning carts to the cart corrals!

Why would you return the cart to the corral, don't you know that by doing that you are depriving a lot of people.

The person whose job it is to go collect those carts.

The auto repair shops from getting paid to fix the damage from the carts.

The car insurance companies from get more money by upping your premiums because you had to get the damage fixed.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Is anyone concerned about parental rights being taken away? I'm getting more and more concerned about being told what to feed my kids, how to transport them, how they should be dressed and how to play. I don't agree with a law being made that tell parents how to parent. There are too many variations on what is "right". Is it 40, 60, or 80 pounds?

Not really.

What we are talking about makes a child much more safe.

And sometimes child welfare laws take precedence over a parents rights in the name of keeping that child safe.


However--this makes an interesting point that if cars were manufactured so that anyone of any size above the pre-school set..can ride in a car and have the belt rest properly...well then we wouldn't need anything other than a simple seat belt law.

Just a guess--but changing child restraint laws is probably easier than changing the minimum standards in the auto industry.

 

[disneysteve]

Is anyone concerned about parental rights being taken away? I'm getting more and more concerned about being told what to feed my kids, how to transport them, how they should be dressed and how to play. I don't agree with a law being made that tell parents how to parent.

I have mixed feelings on this. In an ideal world, we wouldn't need these laws and rules because everyone would just do the right thing. But in the real world, it just doesn't work that way. People don't do the right thing. They don't take the time to research what is safe, what is healthy, what is appropriate at any given age. The laws provide much-needed guidance. Whether you agree with the law or not, it sets out a clear guideline and imparts punishment on those who choose not to follow it. I think we, as a society, have a responsibility to protect those who are unable to protect themselves: children. Even if the ones we are protecting them from are their parents. So I think these laws do more good than harm. Some parents - particularly the responsible ones - may feel the laws are intrusive. But those aren't the ones the laws were created for. I do the right thing because its the right thing, not because the law says I'm supposed to. But many others wouldn't do it if it wasn't required by law. These laws save lives. I don't have a problem with that.