Carrie_R
Ambassador - CPS Technician
I was taking dckids to school this morning, and I was buckling the 7yo into the Apex (booster mode,) I was telling him that I was working on getting him a new booster. He and I both HATE the Apex, but I'm trying to sell it before I buy something else, and his booster was passed down to his brother.
Anyways, he agrees with me that he needs a new booster, and then says, "We could use this seat for J." I replied no, J rides in his backwards seat (what we call RF,) and that even once he was done with that I didn't like him in the Apex. 7yo says to me, "No, I mean for us, in our car."
I asked him what he meant, since J has a "lovely seat" in Mom's car (an EFTA, which I'm thankful he fits in for another dozen pounds,) and he says to me that oh, A's been riding in J's seat lately, so J's been riding in C's booster. What's C been riding in? Seat belt only.
A is the 2yo niece; J is 2y9m. C is 5y10m.
I flipped my frickin' lid. I have spoken to the parents ad nauseum about boosters for the older boys (C definitely needs one; Z should probably have one, but I haven't been able to check his fit -- he's within weeks of being 8 and both tall and heavy for his age.) But I've never, ever gotten an indication that mom was thinking of moving J out of his harnessed seat. The booster she has him in isn't highback! There's no WAY it fits him, in any way, shape, or form. According to C, it's only for short rides... "if we go to [visit family 4-5 hours away,] I have to use it."
These boys give me zero trouble, none, about having to use boosters. C gets a little sassy when I have to harness him, on rare occasions, due to having to swap car seats for some reason or another. Can't blame him. J loves RFing, loves his MR.
How the flip long does it take to throw a couple HBB in the back of a van? And this is my question, why do I bother? Four, five, six times a day I wrestle half a dozen kids (sometimes FOUR of them rearfacing) in and out of the van, out of winter coats, into harnesses, under blankets, buckle seatbelts into buckle stalks where they don't fit... to make sure these kids are safe. (I can't even count the number of nails I've broken and knuckles I've scraped over the years, lol.) I spend hours on here, trying to make sure I haven't screwed anything up with a seat selection, install, or use... to make sure these kids are safe. I've spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars getting the RIGHT seats, not the cheapest seats... to make sure these kids are safe.
WHY DON'T THEIR PARENTS GIVE A CRAP???? It's not like they don't know -- I've told them, I've explained it, I've sent them videos. They worry about everything else, what the kids eat, their activities, their behavior, make sure they get good medical care, etc. These are good parents, of course we don't see eye to eye on everything, but they care about their kids and generally make decisions that are in the kids' best interests. But in the car, where they're more likely to die than anywhere else... it's like I'm talking to a brick wall!
I know I'm not the only one who goes through this, I'm just so very frustrated right now I could cry. I already reacted totally inappropriately to the kids this morning (somehow I don't think, "Well, tell Mommy next time she puts J in the booster, that if you guys get in an accident, he could die," is the right thing to say to kids,) so I need to vent a bit before I attempt to talk to Mom about it. I just don't get it. It's really hard to understand why I bother busting my butt on a daily basis when their parents just don't care.
End whining.
(Thanks for listening.)
Anyways, he agrees with me that he needs a new booster, and then says, "We could use this seat for J." I replied no, J rides in his backwards seat (what we call RF,) and that even once he was done with that I didn't like him in the Apex. 7yo says to me, "No, I mean for us, in our car."
I asked him what he meant, since J has a "lovely seat" in Mom's car (an EFTA, which I'm thankful he fits in for another dozen pounds,) and he says to me that oh, A's been riding in J's seat lately, so J's been riding in C's booster. What's C been riding in? Seat belt only.
A is the 2yo niece; J is 2y9m. C is 5y10m.
I flipped my frickin' lid. I have spoken to the parents ad nauseum about boosters for the older boys (C definitely needs one; Z should probably have one, but I haven't been able to check his fit -- he's within weeks of being 8 and both tall and heavy for his age.) But I've never, ever gotten an indication that mom was thinking of moving J out of his harnessed seat. The booster she has him in isn't highback! There's no WAY it fits him, in any way, shape, or form. According to C, it's only for short rides... "if we go to [visit family 4-5 hours away,] I have to use it."
These boys give me zero trouble, none, about having to use boosters. C gets a little sassy when I have to harness him, on rare occasions, due to having to swap car seats for some reason or another. Can't blame him. J loves RFing, loves his MR.
How the flip long does it take to throw a couple HBB in the back of a van? And this is my question, why do I bother? Four, five, six times a day I wrestle half a dozen kids (sometimes FOUR of them rearfacing) in and out of the van, out of winter coats, into harnesses, under blankets, buckle seatbelts into buckle stalks where they don't fit... to make sure these kids are safe. (I can't even count the number of nails I've broken and knuckles I've scraped over the years, lol.) I spend hours on here, trying to make sure I haven't screwed anything up with a seat selection, install, or use... to make sure these kids are safe. I've spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars getting the RIGHT seats, not the cheapest seats... to make sure these kids are safe.
WHY DON'T THEIR PARENTS GIVE A CRAP???? It's not like they don't know -- I've told them, I've explained it, I've sent them videos. They worry about everything else, what the kids eat, their activities, their behavior, make sure they get good medical care, etc. These are good parents, of course we don't see eye to eye on everything, but they care about their kids and generally make decisions that are in the kids' best interests. But in the car, where they're more likely to die than anywhere else... it's like I'm talking to a brick wall!
I know I'm not the only one who goes through this, I'm just so very frustrated right now I could cry. I already reacted totally inappropriately to the kids this morning (somehow I don't think, "Well, tell Mommy next time she puts J in the booster, that if you guys get in an accident, he could die," is the right thing to say to kids,) so I need to vent a bit before I attempt to talk to Mom about it. I just don't get it. It's really hard to understand why I bother busting my butt on a daily basis when their parents just don't care.
End whining.
(Thanks for listening.)
