So I'm noticing...

Mom2FiveGirls

Active member
car seats ALL THE TIME now. Its actually rather annoying that I just can't keep myself from looking in car windows because it usually just ends up frustrating me. One thing I've noticed a lot is people with high back turbo boosters that are at the lowest setting. Of course my first thought is that the child is either too small for a HBB or they just don't move it up for some reason? I know a lot of people put small children in HBBs before they are ready for one, but do a lot of people not adjust the height on them? I guess nothing should surprise me...
 
ADS

WhatAboutPuppy

New member
My SIL was in town for the weekend almost a year ago now and I noticed her average/large 5 year old at the time was on the lowest setting on his HBB. When I saw it I opened the back door and simply said this needs fixed. I told him to lean forward and I popped the headrest up where it should be.
She was shocked! Didn't have the faintest clue it adjusted. She just thought that when the fit got to be horrible she was supposed to take the back off.
Since that day I've never seen it in the wrong position.

A booster manual is the easiest and shortest one to read!! Sigh...
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Of course my average-to-tallish almost-6 almost-40 lb. daughter is only on the second setting on the TB. :)

One must remember that some kids are really leggy, too.
 
car seats ALL THE TIME now. Its actually rather annoying that I just can't keep myself from looking in car windows because it usually just ends up frustrating me. One thing I've noticed a lot is people with high back turbo boosters that are at the lowest setting. Of course my first thought is that the child is either too small for a HBB or they just don't move it up for some reason? I know a lot of people put small children in HBBs before they are ready for one, but do a lot of people not adjust the height on them? I guess nothing should surprise me...
Oh I know, my husband cant stand it, I look and then get discusted, once I left a note on a car cause it was parked right in front of my house with a sideways scenera in it instally hanging by the belt.. EVERYONE was furious with me.. so I try not to look anymore.
 

Mommy0608

New member
Join the club! :eek: It's so hard not to investigate the back seat of every vehicle you pass. I try to put blinders on when walking through parking lots but it's hard. I've sort of trained myself not to freak out any more about what I see though, as hard as that is.
 

mommy-medic

New member
On the flip side of the spectrum, my middle dd got all excited in a parking lot once when a minivan door opened and a girl about her age climbed out of a regent. "Mommy her parents keep her safe too!" she declared within earshot of the parents. They all just smiled. That's my girl! (I love spotting correct use)
 

Wiggles

New member
I know a 7 year old in a hb Turbobooster. When I got into the car next to her, I noticed that her shoulders were crammed into the headrest. I looked at her dad and said "Wow, she looks uncomfortable and the shoulder guide is WAY below her shoulder. Why don't you put the headrest up?" He said "It goes up?"

I reached over and adjusted the headrest to where it should be. He got all excited. I explained how she was now safer.

The next time I saw the little girl in her booster, the headrest was on the lowest setting again and her shoulders were again crammed into the headrest. I asked about it and her mother had decided that the headrest being up made the seat 'too flimsy' so it was safer to keep it down.
 

Jonah Baby

New member
DH has gotten sick of ME for this exact reason...

Blinders - yes, he actually threatened to get me a pair the other day.

What's funny is that at the same time, he notices all sorts of seat stuff too now and makes the best comments about it!
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I see turboboosters and other boosters like that in people's cars.

I swear, it relieves me more to see a 4yr old in a turbo when the headrest has been raised to fit than it would to see that same kid in a harness (knowing that all the harnessed seats around here I see are misused)...

I do think most people don't realize the headrest adjusts... or they don't care because they'll pop the back off as soon as they can, anyway.

But how sad for an older kid to be crammed in like that because her mother thinks it is more flimsy with the headrest raised... please tell me you were able to change her mind?
 

obamamama

New member
My friend has two girls, almost 7 and almost 9. 7 year old is about 5" shorter than the 9 year old.
She insists that she wants the headrest on the same setting, so they can switch back and forth between the 2 boosters that she has.

HELLO??? Just set them both the right size and MOVE the whole thing if they wanna switch. Wait, they SHOULDN'T switch... she lets one sit in the front seat in front of the airbag and the other sit in the middle captains chairs-- in a minivan that seats 7. DUMB!

She doesn't put the belt through the guide, just around the side of the booster. AND she doesn't make sure they use the belt properly, half the time it's so loose they could share a seat, and the 7 year old rides sideways half the time to grab crap on the floor.

Yet she gets all pissy when someone else doesn't use a booster at all. uh, you're not really all that knowledgable anyways... I really don't know if using one wrong is better than not using one at all.

:mad: I can't ride in her car, or even go near it for that matter.
 

Shanora

Well-known member
Unfortunatly you learn to not look eventually..... at least I have. I will glance, but thats is... I can't look anymore..... it freaks me out
 

Wiggles

New member
I
But how sad for an older kid to be crammed in like that because her mother thinks it is more flimsy with the headrest raised... please tell me you were able to change her mind?

I wish I had been. Her mum thought she'd be held in place better if the headrest was hugging her anyway, and she wouldn't budge on it.
 

aclayton74

Active member
I am the same way!! We travel to Lake Villa, IL a few times a month which is about 100 miles from us. We either take 294 around Chicago or 94 through Chicago. I am always looking out the window to search for car seats. This past November I saw a car with 2 FF Marathons Erin and either Ashley or Mariposa and a RF Roundabout with a Wicker cover. I wondered if it was someone off of here. Oh by the way it drives my husband nuts.:whistle:
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Oh, yeah, I'm well-known for saying on the freeway, "Hey look! They have a Cowmoo Marathon (well, I suppose now it might be a RA50.) And they didn't use the tether! I bet that kid's too young to FF." To which my husband will reply, "How on earth can you tell they didn't tether it?" I point out, "In that SUV, the tether anchors are up in the roof, you would SEE if it was tethered..." :ROTFLMAO:
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I honestly think using a booster wrong (especially THAT wrong) is as bad as no booster at all... cause how will the belt be when they crash?

Don't get me wrong... if for some reason Ruthie went in the car the next time and said she wanted to use Jeffrey's seat, since the fit is okay, if it were a short trip, I'd see what he thought... if he was cool with it, I'd let them... but DUH... I'd adjust the seats to fit... not just expect them to ride in unfitted seats... leaving them the same so the kids can switch is so silly... they each need to have their own seat adjusted to them.
 

babyherder

Well-known member
It surprises me how shocked parents are when I show them their boosters get taller! Lol. My uncle wanted to know if he should take the back of his just turned four year old's booster. My response was NO! Then I asked why. Lets just say that when I showed them the backs adjusted they decided to keep them on. I also showed someone I babysit for how to raise the TB's headrest. She probably won't do it on her own but I just check when I see them. She thinks its cute that I want to fix her son's carseat.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
What's even more ridiculous is that the TB has illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how and where to raise the headrest and a BIG HONKING RED HANDLE to do it with.

Makes you wonder sometimes. ;)
 

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