Vent Prime example of booster misuse

wvmommy007

New member
Today, I watched a friend send her 4.5 year old child off in the middle seat of a truck which had no head rest in a no back booster. She was buckled into her Turbobooster without armrest screws in a lap belt only. I know every soul here is thinking I should've said something, but I'm tired of wasting my breath on this mommy. She thinks I can't possibly know better than her about car seats because my child is younger than hers. We argued last summer over the lap belt only issue. (Yes, her kid was in a booster last summer.) She thought that if old cars had lap belts only, they must be ok for use in any situation. She was telling me this as her 3.5 year old was sitting in her TB, with the back on at the time, in a lap belt on her knees!!! I know I should try to help her child be safer. Any good links I can lead her to on proper booster use, preferably for dummies? :) I'm talking something like a walk through guide to booster use, perhaps with a mention of the need for screws in a TB. It won't be true unless she reads it on the internet...:mad:
 
ADS

canadiangie

New member
No, I don't think you should be doing a darn thing. Maybe pitch a TB manual at her if you have one handy, but honestly she sounds ridiculous. If she needs to read "it" online *and* you have the time, I guess you could pull up the TB manual as a reference and c/p the portions of it that talk about needing a lap/shoulder belt, screws, and a headrest behind the child's head, throw it all in an email and hit send. You are a good friend, my dear. ;)
 

mamabear

New member
oh !, for a second I thought you saw my SIL driving my 2yo (yes...2!!!) and just turned 4yo nieces around in their Turbos (without armrest screws either) I've already told her all ways that it's just wrong......she just won't listen:rolleyes:
 

wvmommy007

New member
I just don't get it. Things like this make me want to become a tech so maybe my family, if not strangers, will listen to me. Actually, I don't think that would even help. ugh...
 

wvmommy007

New member
I was looking for the model number for her TB to download a manual, which I haven't been able to. But that's not my point. My point is I can't believe how ignorant/stupid people are. Look at the Q & A on this! Some of those answers are so terrible! My favorite of course is the answer to "Do the arms come off, and are they easy to remove? (Can I do it to put this into a suitcase?"

Anyway, here's the link.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Graco-Turbo-Booster-Car-Seat-Annette/10099848

BTW, this is her booster but I can't find the manual on Graco's site. I guess she'll just have to find hers or take my word for it...:rolleyes:
 
I was looking for the model number for her TB to download a manual, which I haven't been able to. But that's not my point. My point is I can't believe how ignorant/stupid people are. Look at the Q & A on this! Some of those answers are so terrible! My favorite of course is the answer to "Do the arms come off, and are they easy to remove? (Can I do it to put this into a suitcase?"

Anyway, here's the link.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Graco-Turbo-Booster-Car-Seat-Annette/10099848

BTW, this is her booster but I can't find the manual on Graco's site. I guess she'll just have to find hers or take my word for it...:rolleyes:

I will give you the model number from my turbo if you need it.
 

wvmommy007

New member
I found the model number on Walmart's site, but not on Graco's. The last thing I want to hear from her is "This isn't even for MY seat..." So I guess I'll forget it.

I think about the best I'll be able to do is looked surprised the next time I see the seat and say "Oh, no! You lost a screw out of your armrest. Oh, no. They're both gone! You better call Graco for replacements. Maybe they can send you a new manual too, if yours is lost." Anything more direct will just be disregarded as my idiotic banter about something I know nothing about. I am sooo disgusted.
 

wvmommy007

New member
This is another seat all together, but I wanted to share this review for the Evenflo Chase Deluxe Booster Car Seat. (FF only)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evenflo-Chase-Deluxe-Booster-Car-Seat-Abigail/12960877

"Great car seat, 02/06/2010

I love this seat, my daughter is 8 months old and weighs 20 lbs, so this seat is just for her. I love the fact that she will be able to use the same seat until she reaches 100lbs, which means I will not have to buy her another seat (booster). The only thing that I do not like about this product is the arm rests, they are cheaply made and they fall off all of the time, but they are JUST arm rests, not a deal breaker in my opinion."

Seriously? FFing 8 month old who is 20 lbs.? And armrests are JUST armrests that fall off all the time on a booster?!?!?! :jaw:
 

babyherder

Well-known member
This is another seat all together, but I wanted to share this review for the Evenflo Chase Deluxe Booster Car Seat. (FF only)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evenflo-Chase-Deluxe-Booster-Car-Seat-Abigail/12960877


Seriously? FFing 8 month old who is 20 lbs.? And armrests are JUST armrests that fall off all the time on a booster?!?!?! :jaw:


On the chase they are just armrests (as far as I can tell). The chase has an indent or slat like thing that supposed to position the lap belt. The arm rests better not be for anything safety related cause they don't go on that tight!
 

wvmommy007

New member
Sorry to be posting after so long, but I didn't want to start a new thread for my update. I finally got the nerve up to talk to this mommy about the need for screws in the TB. She argued with me and said they didn't come with her seat or she'd have put them in. Plausible, I suppose, except that she previously told me that it didn't come with the belt loop thingy, not sure what its called, for use when backless. But today during this convo, she said that the belt fits her kid great, but she wished she hadn't lost the "loop thingy". :mad: I also mentioned that the arm rests were responsible for keeping the lap belt in position (thus the need for the screws) and she said her kid's belt fit so well that it didn't even touch the arm rests, so she knew they were just for comfort. I am done, again, wasting my breath!

I also mentioned I would be comfortable FFing my daughter if/when we have another baby that would need her RN, since we won't be trying until DD is 3+ years old (and baby shouldn't need it until she's close to or older than 4). She told me as soon as her baby was a year she turned her. Her former story was "I turned her as soon as she hit 20 lbs, at 8 months, so she'd quit crying so much." :thumbsdown: Spare me the lies, its her daughter's safety.

ETA: I led her to the screw holes so she could see that indeed the TB has them. She swore it didn't have a place for screws. When she found them, she said they were air holes!
 

kidnurse

Active member
"air holes" - :ROTFLMAO: Does her kid sit under the booster :confused: Or maybe it is made of breathable plastic?

Sorry, I know overall this is not a funny post, but her rationalization kills me.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
since the armrests are just for "comfort", I'd have popped them out and shown her how poorly the lapbelt fits without them there... :D

SIGH... is it sad that this is why I'll recommend a harmony literider (and just caution people to ignore the 30lb limit as it is clearly for extremely lightweight 7yr olds...) over any other backless booster to people I talk to who I know are in the "under 30 dollars" budget... because I know they won't read the part about the screws... and that eliminates the problem... same thing with the cosco backless or the evenflo backless boosters... there is just less room for error with them. (I also like that the belt guide (loop thing) for the shoulderbelt is bolted onto the bottom of the literider... just like it is on my FPSV booster)
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
ETA: I led her to the screw holes so she could see that indeed the TB has them. She swore it didn't have a place for screws. When she found them, she said they were air holes!

Mama... you have clearly done your best. Good job for trying. Please *don't* beat yourself up that this mother is more concerned with being "right" than keeping her child safe. Let's just hope and pray it never gets "proven" who is correct in this situation, that her child is never in a crash, so her misuse is never an issue.

When you have a parent who is absolutely adamant that her misuse is correct, like that, I don't think you have a choice but to let it go. Chances are any further attempts to talk to her about booster use are going to fall on deaf ears, and will probably ruin your friendship.

If you still feel like you need to do something, I would get a model # for a Turbo, order a manual for yourself from Graco (it's free) and highlight the relevent portions. While you're ordering that, you could get a set of screws (also free) to have on hand in case she ever wakes up.

That's so sad that her daughter has a parent who is so adamantly clueless. It's awful that she's putting pride before her child's safety.
 

wvmommy007

New member
since the armrests are just for "comfort", I'd have popped them out and shown her how poorly the lapbelt fits without them there... :D

SIGH... is it sad that this is why I'll recommend a harmony literider (and just caution people to ignore the 30lb limit as it is clearly for extremely lightweight 7yr olds...) over any other backless booster to people I talk to who I know are in the "under 30 dollars" budget... because I know they won't read the part about the screws... and that eliminates the problem... same thing with the cosco backless or the evenflo backless boosters... there is just less room for error with them. (I also like that the belt guide (loop thing) for the shoulderbelt is bolted onto the bottom of the literider... just like it is on my FPSV booster)

She swears the belt doesn't touch the arm rests because she "makes sure it sits on her lap like it should". She used the word lock while telling me. I didn't even ask...

And its funny you mentioned the Harmony. She was telling me her cover was dirty, and I suggested that seat to her. I just told her how cute and comfy it looked. Secretly, I was just thinking "Please buy your child a booster that is fool proof!" :D
 

steph_s

New member
I would call graco and get a few copies of the turbo manual and highlight the sections of the manual she is ignoring! Especially the parts about how to assemble (complete with how to put the screws in) and the no lap only belt. I would then place it under her windshield wipers several days in a row until she got the clue.

Then again sometimes you just can't save stupid!
 

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