Anyone watching the dozen kids on TLC?

mominabigtruck

New member
Did you see all the kids squeezed into that van and not a seatbelt to be seen? There was at least 3 kids that should be in seats and only one was in a cosco combo seat and she wasn't even buckled in, just sitting cross legged:eek: I've noticed this when they do they shows on TLC about the people with all the kids that none of them know anything about carseat safety.
 
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Simplysomething

New member
Is it called "the dozen kids", is TLC now stalking large families in order to make television shows? I bet they are. I bet if we go reading message boards for large families we'll find feeler posts from people affliated with TLC. Yep yep.

Remember when TLC used to be The Learning Channel? I do. lol ANYWAY...wouldn't it be nifty if they used their new format to have some learning stuff for parents, instead of this voyeur stuff they have now?

Wouldn't it be cool, if every week, instead of following a family around in their van...watching gross misuse,they would show a family, with a specific seat of child passenger safety issues, and then show how to fix them. Now, granted, this show might have a small audience (that is, people who populate such forums as this. lol)...but it might catch on!

Oh! It would be better if it were on something like ABC..because..well, not everyone gets cable. It could be Extreme Makeover Child Passenger Safety Edition. Except they'd edit that to make people cry too much.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
It must not be the Duggars, they have what, 16 kids? ;) Now you have me curious to see if TLC reruns the dozen kids show later tonight, so I can see the car safety issues, lol.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
The Duggers have at least 16.
There was that other family (Irish last name... I can't remember what it was) who have 20+ kids.
Now there is this family with 12.

Wow.
 

JaRylan

New member
Last week the Duggar's went to a big gathering for large families. They drove in their motorhome. The only kids I saw in car seats were the 4 or 5 or 6 younger boys sitting all in a row on one of the side-facing benches. They were pulling a trailer so that would limit the number of projectiles (clothes, shoes, food)...but wait every human in the motorhome is a projectile!
 

LovinMyBabies

New member
Was it Siobhan with the 2 preemies? I haven't seen the show, but I post with her at another board, and she is SUCH a sweetheart. Maybe I'll try to catch the show so I can see what you're talking about and maybe mention it?
 

mominabigtruck

New member
The duggars are bad about carseats. I've seen all 3 of their specials and I just feel so bad for that poor baby they have riding around in that crappy evenflo joyride. The irish family wasn't bad, I noticed the babies had new snugrides and the other kids looked like they had reasonably new seats.
 

cmm7

New member
Does anyone remember the name or website of the family with, I think, quintuplets? I remember they were all restrained nicely in, I believe, a Dodge Sprinter.

They were a good example of CPS seen on TV! (At least I think they were on t.v.?)
 

ktmo

New member
I was just watching a TLC show, it was about a set of quads, not sure of their name, or what show. But, they were nicely restrained. They were under two and forward-facing, but other then that they seemed to have tight harnesses and good chest clips. It is funny what I notice now, when watching T.V.

Has anyone seen House of Babies? There is a midwife on that show that had her 6 month old son in a forward-facing Britax Marathon. I couldn't believe that a midwife would know so little about car seat safety.

Katie
 

Alicia-N-2SafeBugs

Senior Community Member
I don't think these large families are any different than any other average person out there as far as CPS goes...there are just a bunch of 'em so the misuse is staggering! If the parents are one of the 8 out of 10 who misuse seats, then all the seats will be misused.

I saw the Duggar one with 3 or 4 younger boys in seats on a side facing bench in a motor home---complete with loose and twisty straps.
 

RubysGirl

New member
the sextuplets in the sprinter (and twins too) are the Gosselins.

I know that the Mathias quads were on one and they're kindy aged, all in shield boosters. I think I might email them (not hard to find) but I don't know how well recieved it would be or if the mother would even get to read it. Sure are cute kids, so tiny, they really should be harnessed or atleast in real boosters.

It would be nice if the shows fixed the problems before putting them on tv.
 

Simplysomething

New member
I don't think these large families are any different than any other average person out there as far as CPS goes...there are just a bunch of 'em so the misuse is staggering! If the parents are one of the 8 out of 10 who misuse seats, then all the seats will be misused.

I saw the Duggar one with 3 or 4 younger boys in seats on a side facing bench in a motor home---complete with loose and twisty straps.

Well, no they aren't any different than the average family, but the average family isn't on national television...so it's no fun to talk about the neighbors. lol
 
Well, we don't have a dozen (or more)-- *only* a half-dozen. :p But I'm sure you'd have been appalled at the ignorant misuse you'd have seen if I went on a reality show before my accident last summer. :( Convertible seat (FF w/ 25 lb. 2y/o) EXPIRED, 34-35 lb. 4y/o in a HBB (well, at least it was a decent one), and the other very petite kidlets all restrained with vehicle belts only. Oh, and the convertible never was installed quite correctly-- it wobbled horribly and we propped it up on one side with whatever was handy-- an empty sippy cup, a toy... The seatbelt was at such an angle that the locking latchplate never latched correctly, so was constantly loosening, and I didn't always install it with the H-bar thingy. It took too long to get it "right"...

I think it's like a PP said; we just happened to be one of those 8 out of 10 doing it incorrectly. BUT, since we have 6 little lives to be responsible for at all times, the risk is exponentially larger and more shocking when CPS is not up to par.
 

Splash

New member
Gaw, the Matthias quads one really got to me. The mom probably won't care what you have to say. I base this on the fact that a few times I saw them in the boosters WITHOUT the belt (so just sitting there) and on the trip down to Disney they put two of the girls in the back in just the seatbelt (with shoulder behind their backs of course) to make more room. That and the seatbelts were always SO twisted...
Anyway, based on all that, I think it's a lack of caring more than a lack of knowledge.
 

cmm7

New member
I don't think these large families are any different than any other average person out there as far as CPS goes...there are just a bunch of 'em so the misuse is staggering! If the parents are one of the 8 out of 10 who misuse seats, then all the seats will be misused.
QUOTE]

I have sadly seen cases where this isn't the case. Down the street from me is a family with six children.
DS11 about 80 lbs and 4'8"ish?
DS8 about 4'3" and 60 lbs?
DD5 about 40 lbs and <4'?
DS and DD3.5 both under 40 lbs and about 3'8"?
DD2 about 30 lbs and 3'6"?
These aren't exact weights/heights, but guesses based on other kids I know.

The seats in their vehicle? DS11 rides in front, DS8 in a HB Turbobooster, DD6 in nothing, DS3.5 backless booster, DD3.5 AO harnessed with TWISTY straps like ropes, not tightened, and belly clip, DD2 in an Evenflo Triumph. The Triumph is in perfectly... the AO slides when they take turns.

I went with them once as we were doing a walk together and they offered to car pool since it was far. The mom took the main vehicle with me and the youngest kids and the dad took the older two. Just last week I offered to pick up DD5 from kindergarten since they are at the same school as a child that I watch and I was picking her up already. I told them to leave a seat for her (thinking they would leave DS8's Turbo)....

NOPE! I got there and the teacher pointed to a shield booster with NO PADDING on the shield! Thank God for the extra seats I carry! I put her in my HBB and S in the backless since S is bigger.

I know this got really long and maybe I should have made a new post... but I just couldn't believe how some of the kids were perfectly restrained and others not!
 

broken4u05

New member
The show twins twins and more twins also has problems with seats. I dont know if that is what someone was talking about. She has 6 kids i think with someone else than they had 7 more kids and 3 sets of twins. I think only the babies twins 5 months (born 4 months early i think) had good seats but i do not reamber now. But i know the other kids some were in old OHS and the 5 year old twins had nothing.
 
cmm7, I was thinking that perhaps, with so many children, they were given some of the seats at different times, hence the inconsistencies.... but then again, if I had twins (or children near the same ht/wt, which actually I do), I'd want them both protected equally well; not one in an appropriate seat and the other less protected. :confused: It makes no sense to have younger kids sitting in BBs and an older child in the one HBB. I find myself wondering if they use the BBs because the children pitched fits over using their carseats, or because it's easier to use them in the particular seats they're placed in within the vehicle....?

Never mind. I'm just all around confused by this. :confused:
 

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