Car Seats Make Me Crazy!
By: Joanne | February 12, 2008 | Category: Home and Family
But before you think I’m a horrible mom, allow me to explain myself. For the past 7 years I have been wrestling irritable young children into car seats and strapping them in for a safe ride. Safe, yes – but you try having a rational discussion about crash safety with an immobilized and indignant toddler. Gone are the carefree days of the free floating children in the back of the station wagon. That was me, playing cards, napping, and waving to everyone on the highway.
These days it’s different – we know more about child passenger safety than our folks did. So I will wrestle and wrangle and do what I need to do to make the kids safe in the car.
The thing that really bugs me the most is actually positioning a seat in the car. Am I alone in thinking that it’s frustrating and back breaking and I feel like I have to be an iron man contortionist to get the dang thing installed properly? How my mother laughed at me when I told her that my infant car seat came with a 36 page instruction manual!
That’s why I was so excited to see that the National Highway Traffic Safety Association has done something absolutely brilliant – they’re now publishing ease of use ratings for child car seats.
I’m past the point where these ratings will help me plan my car seat purchases – what’s done is done. I do hope that they’ll spare some of you some pain in the back and a pain in the neck as well!
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I was a free-floating child in the "back, back part" of my dad's Ford LTD station wagon back in the 70s. The only bad part of sitting back there though was being next to the radio speakers. My dad used to blare his favorite station, which played that sleepy, "beautiful music" format. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_music
I was the only kid in the neighborhood who used to yell at her parents to "Turn down your stereo!"
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Comment PermalinkI am fortunate though, because the hospital near my house offers free car seat safety checks once a month. This also may be offered in other areas by local car dealers and fire stations.
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