You actually do influence folks IRL...really!

In light of some recent (and not so recent) posts, I thought I would share a story with all of you. I've been a lurker here for almost a year. Due to your influence, I'm (obviously) RF my son until he outgrows his TF, hopefully around 3 years or a little better. AND, I've also spent the better part of a year talking up ERF with my parents and inlaws. Both set of g'parents were interested in the concept since carseat laws and best practices have changed in the last 15-20 years! I've been lucky; no one has been at all hostile to the concept, just questioning why it's better. I also didn't know, until I started reading here, that a Scenera was just as safe as a Britax Advocate and makes an excellent travel and backup seat. I've since learned, and my mom now has a Scenera for my 17 month old and didn't have to spend a ton of $$ to keep him safe.

Well, I didn't realize how far it had come until recently! My mom, who is a nurse and works in a public school, was talking recently to a teacher who is also a new mom. This new mom was talking about the difficulty of finding a carseat that would fit RF in her car and was looking forward to FF her daughter, ~9mos. My mom told her that RF was significantly safer AND that RF carseats could be more upright than 45 deg for older kiddos. The new mom was also concerned about buying a bunch of carseats (she needed 4, 2 for her and DH cars and one for each set of g'parents), and my mom was able to tell her that a Scenera was a very safe choice for her little girl, particularly for the g'parents' cars--and it's only $39 at Walmart and fits in most cars! My mom also recommended that she speak to a CPST for help with installs and figuring out what would work in her car. I knew my mom had been listening to me, but I figured she'd been humoring me at least a little bit. Apparently not, and she has really bought into the whole thing. This new mom, who thinks my mom really knows her stuff since she's a nurse and all, was really interested in everything she had to say, right down to the AAP recommendations. Go figure. My mom clearly wasn't hostile about it, but just explained the physics as best as she understood them (I'm an engineer, so I tried to help her understand them as well as I could).

So, you all have likely indirectly influenced a new mom into keeping her child RF for at least a few more months. Even if the little girl only RF until 2, that's 12 months more than she would have RF without your influence. Not so bad, right?

That is fantastic! I think this website has helped countless numbers of children remain rear facing a lot longer than they would have been had their parents not found it. It helped me, and I in turn helped my friend turn her (then) 14 month old back around (actually, she wanted him to stay rf, but had trouble installing his new convertible seats that way, so I volunteered to help her out).

I have to say I'm a bit jealous of how you got your mom all into it. No one that I know (not even my friend!) gives a hoot about carseats.

That is great :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Without this site I would have never known about ERF'ing. Because of this site and the knowledge of all on here I know more about car seats (and strollers, and carriers, and....) than I ever thought I needed to know. Because of the knowledge I have gained on here I now have a friend who is keeping her 1 year old rear facing until she is at least 2 - I now know I have influenced at least 1 person - and in my book thats a big win :thumbsup:

My son is almost 2 and RF due this site and the Carseat board on BBC that lead me to this site.

Glad to hear others have had similar experiences! I know I have great parents and in-laws; I tell others all the time My mother-in-law, who is also a nurse, now points out carseat arrangements that are really terrible while we're driving the small human around to run errands when I'm visiting. I just wish I could get my husband totally on-board. He's basically leaving it up to me and just installs carseats the way I tell him to. I haven't told him yet how long the small human will be RF; he thinks that we'll be turning the little guy next spring He'll come around.

My DH will do whatever I deem for the kiddos -- reall doesn't bother him if they RF or whatever. My mom hates that DD2 is still RF -- I haven't really told her how long she will ... I just say "she still is because it's best". My most recent highlight was today. I just sold 2 of my 30 lb RF Titans on Craigslist --- to a lawyer . She is expecting #3 in a few months. I told her dd2 just turned 2 and needed diff seats to RF longer. She said her dd2 was 16 months but she had to turn her because she was too tall. She was tiny. I told her no way and put her in the Titan and she had plenty of room. Then she said she thought she was over 30 lbs (I doubt it) but she would check. I think she was going to put her back to RF again!