What inspired you to get involved with car seats?

CRS

Senior Community Member
I often think it's so odd how I can be so in-depthly involved with something like car seats, of all things! Now scrapbooking, painting, pottery, sure, but car seats? What inspired you to become involved with car seats?

What started the 'passion'? (or for some of us, obsession, LOL). For myself personally I guess it stemmed from a complete (appalling) lack of knowledge on these things and the complete shock upon learning about all the (very dangerous) mistakes I had made in the past!
 
ADS

mamato2

New member
I guess my 'obsession' came in steps. The first was when I went to a car seat check with my older DD who was then maybe 3 or so. I was incredibly amazed at how much tighter the firefighter got that seat in, and appalled that it had been too loose.
I then delved into the wonderful world of car seats when our second dd joined our family and the seats we had just did NOT work in the car at the same time, no way, no how, no matter what I did. I went to BRUS and went through 4 (!) seats before buying one that did NOT have a defect and I could keep.:eek: Unfortunately DD 2 did NOT like her new seat and screamed every where we went until a friend loaned me a RA.
What pushed me 'over the edge' was older DD outgrowing her combination seat in height well before weighing 40 lbs. I stumbled upon this forum and discovered the Husky. :)
What I read here opened my eyes big time. Spending so much time on the road with my kids has made me passionate about keeping them as safe as possible. My almost 9yr old is still in a Husky in our vehicles and only uses her Parkway as a spare. My younger one rode RF in her RA (with a 1 yr stint FF in the middle) until 2 days before turning 5. She's still in it 4 months later.
C.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Seems this is asked about once a year :D Would make a nice newcomer sticky question ;)

Anyway: I grew up in my dad's Orthotic & Prosthetic facility -- my 1st friends were kids who had either born with severe disabilities or who suffered permanent disabling injuries (to the brain and/or body) during car crashes....

I still never knew there was such a CPSafety "crowd" + technicians until Leila was outgrowing her harness seat at almost 2 years old, not even 25# (WAY too little & immature for a booster!) but even this was long after the Pediatrician told me to turn her FF at only 4 months old because I couldn't get any convertible seat installed RF correctly :(

An AP mama linked me here, I found my local CPST (they've since started radio adds *YAY*) & turned her back RF. I also printed the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on CPSafety, gave it to Leila's doc & he posted it in the waiting room :)

What is really shocking, confusing, infuriating & disgusting to me is that my siblings could care less about CPSafety even after seeing the same results as me *SIGH*
 

LuvBug

New member
Well it was my son of course, but really it started before then. My mom has always been pretty good with car safety, so she rubbed off on me. Also we lost my aunt in 91 in a rollover, and then my uncle in 98 in a head on... this left my cousin an orphan.
Once I got behind the wheel of my own car(age 15, permit) I was a freak about being careful! The first year I drove 20 miles under the speed limit lol! Then when I turned 16 I drove around the limit. I always wore my belt and ANYONE who was in my car had to wear theirs or they werent allowed.period.
Then of course once I found out I was pregnant I started thinking about how to keep him safe in the car. I knew the local techs and got most my info from them to start. Then when DS got close to outgrowing his infant seat I found this place(through another parenting site). I wanted the absolute safest seat for him, so I researched and researched. I got addicted to the information and the cause. CPSafety is so bad here, I wanted to know everything I could so I could try to help.
And now here I am...
 

scatterbunny

New member
For me, it was when my dd outgrew her Alpha Omega by height at just 2.5, and the shock I felt when I learned that the AO was not truly "the only seat you'll ever need", and when I learned how much I didn't know.

What sealed the deal and made this a true passion/obsession was when I learned that car crashes are the #1 killer of our kids. No one thinks it will happen to them/their family/their kids, but it can and does.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
Like most new parents, one of the first things I did when I found out I was pregnant was to research carseats. However, we basically went by Consumer Reports and then made the final decision based on the way the handle on the Evenflo Discovery was turned to make it easier to carry. :rolleyes:

He didn't ride in the DH's Wrangler (I don't think...) until he was ready for a convertible. We got the Evenflo Triumph b/c at that time I believe it was one of the few (if not the only one) that offered EPS foam. It had high sides, too. So that went in the Wrangler, and I bought an OHS seat for my car b/c it was "pretty" and had the nice "bar" for him to put his hands on. :eek:

I finally decided the OHS wasn't so great and put it in my inlaws' car. Many of our friends were buying the Roundabout, but we opted for the Marathon. :D He's still in it today... Of course, we turned him around FF too early...

So I didn't really get into CPS until a few months ago when I started researching what seat to get next - or actually, which booster to get. Then I saw the Kyle video and that did it for me. Since then, I have gotten rid of our Mighty Tites, decided on a HWH for Nolan's next seat, and gotten certified as a CPS tech just last week. And I just love it. :p
 

MommyofBoogieBear

New member
i think it has always been in me...the whole safety thing. before we had children, we had our "first born" which was our dog. I made sure he had a harness in the car!

It has always been a rule with me (even as a teenager) all passengers in my car MUST wear their seatbelts. seatbelts saved my dad's life when i was two.

THEN.........the thing that pushed me over the edge to make it now my passion/obsession: i went to great lengths to get a Comfort Sport down here where i live to have ready for my DD. My DS was using the same seat..and that was all we knew. by the time i got the seat here...I realized that my DS had outgrown his by height!!! i was in a bind!! you can't find convertibles..etc...where i live. soooo..i was really upset with myself that i didn't research it better before i had gone to great lengths to get the WRONG seat down here. so i began my search....found this board in the middle of my search....and am thankful for all I have learned! :) I must say...I could think of worse obsessions...so i am ok with it! ;) the actual forum has also given me an outlet to be with other moms like me. again, where i live, this is just what i needed on many levels.
 

southpawboston

New member
it happened in stages for me. first i became obsessed about feeding the family healthily (no artificial foods in our house), then financial security, then automotive safety, then carseat safety. god knows what'll be next. :)
 

ktmo

New member
I was on another site and a few posters there are here, and they were advocating extended rear-facing. I watched the crash test videos and knew that I wanted to keep DD rear-facing as long as possible. Part of it is just having the knowledge of what is safe/safest for my DD. I try to pass along the information to my friends, but they haven't seemed to have responded the same way I have. I don't know why.

Katie
 

bbartlettnfld

New member
I have loved baby gear since I was about 5! I used to disapear from my parents in the department stores to see what baby stuff was there... Mom and dad new they would always find me in the baby section! I was a catalogue junkie too, no one could touch the sears catalogue before I had seen the baby stuff... I still love the new latest and greatest stuff!
My parents are both medical professionals and safety was always a big deal. My brother and I both had car seats then booster seats long before it became standard.
When I was 23 I applied for a job at my local Once Upon a Child, I didn't get the job but the manager asked me if I would be interested in a CPS class that was being offered the next month. I agreed and thats how it started..
It wasn't until 2 yrs later that I had my DD. So lucky for DD she has been well buckled since day one.
 

stayinhomewithmy6

Senior Community Member
It came completely naturally for me. My mom was always a stickler about us buckling up (my dad wasn't, which was a source of major arguments between the two of them!) and she always had us in car seats up until the ages that were recommended at the time. I can remember my little brothers, who are now 20 and 22, being in a shield booster - ughh, but that's what was available at the time. When I was pregnant with my oldest DS, I was obsessed with all things baby, high chairs, cribs, strollers, and of course, car seats. I researched and researched and ordered online (one of the first things I ever ordered online) a 5 pt Snugride with the up-front adjuster. It was rare back then to see 5 pt Snugrides. I had friends having babies at the same time and they all had 3 pts because that was what was available in the stores around here. The nurses at the hospital were even impressed with it, which made me feel good! :D And, then, 3 years ago, my cousin's 4 yr old son was killed in a car accident. He was in a regular adult seatbelt, no booster or anything, and died from brain injuries. This cousin is more like a brother to me, he even lived with my family when I was young. So, I know firsthand that losing a child is the worst thing that a family could ever have to go through. It was one of those very rare severe rear impact collisions and was the fault of a man who fell asleep at the wheel. At that point, I went back to my research and stopped using our Mighty-Tites! Now I can't believe that I relied on them for so long, especially when it's pretty easy to get a seat in without it! I feel like doing my research and spreading the word about CPS, if it spares another family the pain of losing a child, is worth it.
 

urmysunshinex3

Senior Community Member
It would be nephew who will 18 yo this year. He had a fisher price t-shield that would nearly turn over every time you went around a corner. I took care of him a lot when he was young, and always took my sister's car with the car seat. That fp t-shield started it all. From that point on I researched everything I could to make sure that seat was installed correctly. It continued with my second nephew to make sure he had the right infant seat, and when my niece was 7mo (she's 9yo now) I bought an evenflo seat for her that rear-faced until 30 lbs. That evenflo was extremely rare for that time, but my niece was already above the rear-facing limit on all other seats, and the rear-facing until at least 1yr rule had just started to be known. Of course this continued with my own children as well.

Coincidentally, it was that same nephew who started my stroller obsession. I was pushing him in his umbrella stroller, at a christmas parade, and a wheel completely snapped off. It was a long walk back to the car with that 3-wheeled stroller. I would have just carried him, but he was a chunck! I have never owned a umbrella stroller since and still despise them until this day.
 

arly1983

New member
I think for me it was when we were in a bad rollover wreck when Jackson was 9 months. It totaled our Explorer and banged me up but Jackson didn't have a mark on him. I wanted to know what I had done right so I could do it again. It turns out that I had picked one of the best (easiest) carseats out there because I like the cover (Biritax Roundabout). I also read and followed the instructions because I am weird that way( like to put things together, I fix the toilet in our house) The more I learned the more I realized there was to learn... and here I am:)
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Correction!

until Leila was outgrowing her harness seat at almost 2 years old
Oops -- not "almost" ... she had turned 2 already, just barely (I was actually a little late finding this place & had battled with trying to keep a toddler sitting still in a booster for a few months first :eek: :() I almost cried when I found this place! ;)
 

tchrgrrl

New member
Re: Correction!

I have always been a safety freak (my 4 year old tells big kids they aren't safe when they ride bikes without helmets :eek: ). I had already browsed/posted a couple of questions here and was already practicing extended rear facing and extended harnessing when we were in an accident last November. Since then I am a car safety freak. We just replaced our wrecked van this past weekend and DH thought that would curb my obsession... uh, no!
 

CRS

Senior Community Member
I find it interesting that for some of us the 'obsession' may have stemmed from our own personal experiences in car crashes. I've never been the same since a car crash that happened a few years ago so that's probably part of my paranoia!
 

bp2002

New member
Ive always been baby obsessed.. I mean, since i could walk/talk I've loved babies. As i grew, this included any baby gear. I started being a nanny when i was 12, and Im still responsible for many children. I guess I was about 16 when I became really interested in carseats. Once I was transporting a child, I wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly. This forum has educated me alot on extended RF and HWH. So now I really know that kids with me are safe, and I hope it means my future children will always be as well.
 

JaRylan

New member
When I began researching my options for a HWH seat for my 4.5 year old son. I have learned so much from reading and asking questions on this board. A big thank you to everyone who participates here and on all the other car safety boards, you are making a difference.
 

lynsgirl

New member
it happened in stages for me. first i became obsessed about feeding the family healthily (no artificial foods in our house), then financial security, then automotive safety, then carseat safety. god knows what'll be next. :)
:D ;) :p It's a slippery slope....rotfl because you are right - who knows what'll be next? LOL
 

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