Reason #6001 to have a spare seat

[vonfirmath]

My son is at childcare unexpectedly this afternoon. I am about to head home, and have to SIT AT HOME without my son because I don't have a car seat to put him in to take him home with me (Its in the car my husband has, and my husband is 45 minutes south of our house).

We've got a car seat on order, but it has not arrived yet.

[melniemi]

I don't have any spare seats:o

[CDNTech]

Enjoy your alone time. :o :D

[ketchupqueen]

I was SOOOO glad I had not only a spare, but a spare that fit in my car (extra Radian) when someone stole my car seat right before we went out... Oh, and the other spare (which might have fit, barely) is in my mom's car (Uptown.)

I think I need more spare seats. I'm beginning to get nervous that something will happen and I won't have enough. ;) (Though honestly now that we have the RSTV things are a lot better 'cause I can get 3-across in most cars even without the Radians. Doesn't help with my dad's car though... He needs tether anchors before she can use it in there.)

[Niea]

I'm sorry, that sucks. Well, enjoy the time alone, I guess :)

But I totally hear you on spare seats. I only have a seat for DS (a Scenera). I have no idea what to put DD in that's cheap! Like really cheap, since it may never even get used. As it is, my car has seats, DHs car has seats, and my parent's car has seats. So the only people who might need them are the ILs. They've yet to need to transport the kids anywhere, but an emergency is, by definition, unexpected. So. . .I don't know what I should do.

[NannyMom]

oy, that stinks. That's why I have a million seats for 1 child

[babygirlsmom1005]

I don't have any spare seats:o


Ditto, the Surburban is the only car we have that she rides in.....

[melniemi]

Ditto, the Surburban is the only car we have that she rides in.....

We only have our van. It is full to the max with seats - well it will be in a couple months. No family lives close and no one else transports my kids. Dh does have a turbo in his work truck (that I can't drive) but he uses it every Sunday because the boys take turns going to guitar lessons with him after church.

[babygirlsmom1005]

We only have our van. It is full to the max with seats - well it will be in a couple months. No family lives close and no one else transports my kids. Dh does have a turbo in his work truck (that I can't drive) but he uses it every Sunday because the boys take turns going to guitar lessons with him after church.

LOL - mine is due to my husbands truck is a absoulte mess, he is the only one that rides in it. If I do have to drive something else (like when my surburban went into the shop to get a ding fixed), I switched it over myself...other than that, if she goes somewhere, so does her seat, but I can only think of one other person she has ridden with in 3.5 years and that is my sister and she had extra MA in her van so we didn't do the swap over.

[mimieliza]

Now that DD isn't in a home daycare (and the daycare provided doesn't need one of our seats) we actually have a spare seat. Our EFTA is sitting in the garage - it gives me peace of mind.

[ketchupqueen]

We are a one car family too-- we still have a gajillion seats. ;)

[2mykids]

I feel your pain, we didn't have any spare car seats until we were faced with "Reason #2841 to have a spare seat"

I dropped DS at a "by myself class" for two hours and went to the mall with DD. When leaving to go pick him up, I locked my keys in the car. :o While I was waiting for a tow truck to come help me out, DH had to leave work and sit with DS in the parking lot until my keys were rescued and I could go pick DS up with the car seat.

And BTW, mall security was no help at all.

Moral of the story, you don't need a spare seat right now, but you will. :evil grin:

[heyruthie]

Yes, IMHO there are basically 2 seats that you can buy that NO MATTER WHAT will get you through in a pinch. If any Mom owns them, she is ready for whatever (emergency, unexpected neighbor's kid, whatever!) You just need BOTH a:

-Cosco Scenera (any child from birth to 30-40 pounds, either RF or FF)
AND
-Cheap Low Back Booster (any child from 30-40 pounds+ in emergencies)

That way, you can at least make it to either

-Home
OR
-The nearest Wal-Mart to buy a better seat

I can't tell you how many times we've used either our Scenera or LBB in a pinch. It's WAY better than not having anything, and your total cost can be as low as about $50 for both seats combined, if you buy them on sale. They're my "insurance policy" seats :)

[*Spoiledinmyhouseofblue*]

I had one carseat for each child until June 2007. THen Michael had too and a few months later Logan got a spare. Then I started driving my daycare kids places and needed more seats. Now, both boys have tons of spares(thanks to daycare seats). ;-)

Hope you enjoyed your alone time. ;-)

[codex57]

What's a "spare" seat? Any seat beyond the first one for each child? We have a seat in each car for DS. Does that mean we have "spare" seats?

[melniemi]

I consider spare seats to be ones that are just sitting in a closet or something "just in case."

[NannyMom]

What's a "spare" seat? Any seat beyond the first one for each child? We have a seat in each car for DS. Does that mean we have "spare" seats?

I consider spare seats to be ones that are just sitting in a closet or something "just in case."

me too. Though, Sofi has one in Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa's cars. And a spare in the house too (that is really only used by my friend's DD).

[Niea]

I consider spare seats to be ones that are just sitting in a closet or something "just in case."

Me too.

Each child has 3 seats but they are all installed in cars and used frequently, even if only one is really the "primary". So IMHO, none of those are spares. But the Scenera sitting in my dining room definitely is :D

As far as an extra seat for DD, I'm not really sure I want to get a lbb for her, simply because she's not even 4 yet (but will be in a few weeks) and has never ridden in one. But at the same time, while she does fit in the Scenera FF, she is 37-38lbs. Though to be honest it could be another year before she makes it to 40. Hmmmm. . ..I've got some thinking to do.

[ketchupqueen]

Yes, IMHO there are basically 2 seats that you can buy that NO MATTER WHAT will get you through in a pinch. If any Mom owns them, she is ready for whatever (emergency, unexpected neighbor's kid, whatever!) You just need BOTH a:

-Cosco Scenera (any child from birth to 30-40 pounds, either RF or FF)
AND
-Cheap Low Back Booster (any child from 30-40 pounds+ in emergencies)

That way, you can at least make it to either

-Home
OR
-The nearest Wal-Mart to buy a better seat

I can't tell you how many times we've used either our Scenera or LBB in a pinch. It's WAY better than not having anything, and your total cost can be as low as about $50 for both seats combined, if you buy them on sale. They're my "insurance policy" seats :)

My daughters all outgrew the Scenera before they were ANYWHERE near ready for a booster of any kind.

I'd go for an Uptown instead. ;) (Well, I have an Uptown instead. We're actually getting rid of our Scenera because my daughter outgrew it by height RF before she was legally or per man. instructions able to use it FF.)

But luckily, I don't have to worry about it at this point. When I have a van I'll probably keep an extra Radian stowed in the back, adjusted for one of my kids, so that I'll be able to take one of my kids' friends by putting them in the easily-adjustable SafeGuard my kids will ride in while I put one of my kids in the Radian if it's ever necessary on short notice...

[atsuydam]

I, too, consider it to be the seat sitting in the closet/garage/shed that child still fits in and is used for "just in case".

We only have one car. My parents are 20 minutes away, my dad works 3 minutes away and childless friends will drive 40 minutes to come see me and the girls. Occaisionally they will offer to take us out somewhere. I use these seats for that. I also keep them because we had a much older cars before with iffy issues. It would break down and I could do nothing as he had the only car seats (usually they were in the more reliable of the two cars and with his job being 45+ minutes away...)

So DD1 has had her TB since she hit 40# and DD2 has the "ugly" scenera for right now (still in it bag with the receipt because I don't really want it and will be returning it as soon as I decide what car seat to get :) )

[Judi]

I need a spare vehicle. Something that seats more than 5.

[Thanksgiving_Twins_Mom]

Y'all are starting to make me feel a bit nervous that I gave our last harnessed spare seat to DH's cousin, even though my girls are 7YO and have a total of 5 HBB's and an RSTV. The extra boosters are handy though for all those carpools and playdates, and as much as I feel guilty that they didn't EH much, I'll have to admit that it's convenient to just have to move boosters around instead of having to move and install harnessed seats.

[April]

This thread is going to help me convince DH that we need more spares. Right now we have only 7 seats for four kids in two cars. That is just no good at all. I figure we need at least ten seats, just in case.

What's a "spare" seat? Any seat beyond the first one for each child? We have a seat in each car for DS. Does that mean we have "spare" seats?

No, you don't have spare seats, and you need to go shopping. Let us help you with that.....

Me too.

Each child has 3 seats but they are all installed in cars and used frequently, even if only one is really the "primary". So IMHO, none of those are spares. But the Scenera sitting in my dining room definitely is :D

As far as an extra seat for DD, I'm not really sure I want to get a lbb for her, simply because she's not even 4 yet (but will be in a few weeks) and has never ridden in one. But at the same time, while she does fit in the Scenera FF, she is 37-38lbs. Though to be honest it could be another year before she makes it to 40. Hmmmm. . ..I've got some thinking to do.

Apex from Big Lots?

[vonfirmath]

We have two cars, but did not think we needed a spare because he ALWAYS travelled in the van. If someone else needed to take him someplace, we just switched cars and the Boy ALWAYS travelled in the van. But I was at work when my husband got called in to an interview 45 minutes in the opposite direction of where I work. So he dropped the Boy off at Child care and went on to the interview. Too far for me to trade cars to pick Boy up, and no car seat for my car. So there we go.

(And child care is not walking distance from our house. I considered grabbing a stroller and doing that)

[Pixels]

I thought we had plenty of seats, including a spare. One in DH's car, one in mine, one for brother's car that only got installed during use, otherwise it was in his living room. He lives downstairs (another unit in the same building) and we have a key, so that's like in a closet for us. Until DH's seat got left in brother's car for some reason, and spare seat was in his car too, and my car was in the shop. Brother was at work, so no seats at all for baby.

[loufrando]

My girls each have a seat installed in our vehicles (A- Regent/Husky, S- MA/RA) and A has a Parkway as her spare for those times she needs to ride in other people's cars. That has come in very handy a few times because even if I could move one of her main seats, the Regent/Husky aren't easy to just throw into someone else's car! I did it though until she was about 4.5 because I wasn't comfortable with her in a booster before that, even though she hit 40 lbs on her 3rd bday.

S doesn't have a spare though, I've always just moved the RA or MA into the other cars. The RA is about to expire though and I'm about to trade the MA to my sister for a new Nautilus. She'll have the Nautilus and the Husky then. Those aren't as easy to move as the RA/MA. I'm wondering if she's gonna needs a spare now. What do you guys think would be a good cheap backup for her? She'll be 3 next week, weighs 33.5-34 lbs and has about a 15 in. torso. Do you think the Avenue is worth it? I don't think I'd put her in a booster even in an emergency for at least another year (age 4).

[skylinphoto]

As soon as my replacement Signo arrives I will use the Scenera I just bought as a spare. .....
BUt, that's only one spare seat...and two kids....hmmmmm.
I need another scenera.

[ZephyrBlue]

I hear ya. Learned early on that spares are a good thing. I can't count how many times I've had to drive one of my kids' friends, or a toddler/preschooler/big kid that I'm watching for someone and if we only had seats enough for our kids, we'd be screwed. As a rule, I like to have 2 seats per child. Mostly we keep them installed in my and DH's vehicle, but he doesn't drive them that often, so the ones in his mini van are spares. I do keep a "spare" spare booster in the closet, though. Right now we're down one harnessed seat and it's stressing me out! I'd rather pull my fingernails out one by one than uninstall DD's Frontier to move it to another vehicle, so another seat is definately in order.

[mykidsmom]

He should have taken the seat out and left it at the center for you to use later at pick up time. I've seen that kind of thing many times. But sometimes when I see this I question the seat for the child and also whether or not it gets reinstalled properly!

Of course a spare is always good too!

[niccig]

He should have taken the seat out and left it at the center for you to use later at pick up time. I've seen that kind of thing many times. But sometimes when I see this I question the seat for the child and also whether or not it gets reinstalled properly!

Of course a spare is always good too!

We did this with the babysitter. She started picking DS up one day a week from preschool. We bought a new seat for DH's car, and used the Uptown as our spare/babysitter seat. I would leave it at preschool, but a couple of times I forgot and had to turn around to drop it off. I taught her how to install it and she could get it installed as well as I can.

DS still fits in the Uptown. It's also our travel seat. I use it for DS's friends too. I'd say it gets used once or twice a month.

Another reason to have a spare is when your DH drives to work in your car with the infant seat still in it. My friend was lucky as her older son had outgrown his convertible, so she had that to put in the car. But she can't install seats at all. I saw her later in the day and she asked me to check it. RF but using FF belt path, harness at top slot instead of 2nd from bottom slot. It wasn't good.