WWYD Especially for nannys/child care providers

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should keep my daycare girl RF when she tops out her current seat. She's 2yrs 7 mos. 31lbs in a 33lb MA. I need to stick with the seats I already have.

Quick version...would you keep her RF and make your own kids a little less safe or would you FF her so your own kids can be the safest they can?


Longer detailed version....

Her parents are aware of RF benefits. She was RF in their cars until 2. I'm sure they'd be fine if I turn her in mine.

These are my seats:

MA 33lb RF limit
Radian XT 40lb RF limit
Frontier
Recaro Vivo

my kids: DD2 almost 6. Rides in harnessed Frontier and Vivo...rule follower and good booster rider
DD3 almost 4. Just turned FF in Radian. 39lbs.

I drive a Ford Flex. Bench 2nd row so 3 seating spots and 2 seating spots in 3rd row. Side airbags, top safety pick all that good stuff.

I watch her 3x/week. I frequently remove her seat during the off days so I can haul friends/teenager's friends easier. This wasn't a problem with the MA. If she moves to the Radian, it will have to stay installed all the time. A RF Radian only works in 1 spot in the second row. It makes it so I can't flip the seat so 3rd row passengers must go through the hatch or climb over.


Option 1) DCG: FF MA, DD3: FF Radian, DD2: Frontier
Option 2) DCG: RF Radian, DD3: FF MA, DD2: Frontier
Option 3) DCG: RF Radian, DD3 Frontier, DD2 Booster full time

So WWYD?

I'd give her parents the choice between rf and ff. If they want her rf then ask them to provide a seat for her.

If it were me, I would turn her. Her parents turned her at 2 which is still way better than most people, and you have RF'ed her to the limits of her seat. I wouldn't turn my carseat world upside down to continue RFing a 2.5 year old whose parents don't RF anymore. JMO:twocents:

I like option 2, but I tend to be pretty conservative w/how my dck ride. I feel like if I'm transporting someone else's kid, I need to transport them the safest way possible. If she were a year older, my answer would be different, but at 2.5 I'd deal with a bit of hassle to keep her RF. :twocents:

(ETA: What part of #2 makes your kids less safe? I don't see anything that would do that, which might affect my opinion. Also -- max out that MA before you change anything! )

Option 2.

No one is any less safe than they were before.

posted from my iPhone, please excuse the auto-correct!

If the Radian will fit RFing, i *might* consider switching her to the RF Radian, and your daughter in the FF MA.

That being said, the Radian is your daughters seat, and honestly, it you're wanting to use her seat for her, (and to save space in the car) i would leave it as is until the 2yo maxes out the MA RFing, and turn her around. It could take her another 5 months to gain those 2lbs, and she would then be 3.

Since her parents have her FFing, and she's past 2.5yo, i would turn her.

Quite honestly, unless a 2.5yo is exceptionally small, i have to turn them in my car at 2 - 2.5. I cannot lift a 3yo into the car.

I'm definitely planning on maxing out the MA RF. Just thinking ahead. The reason I think option 2 is less safe for DD2 is because of that Canadian Transport report. I get that it's not concrete, but I'd prefer to put her in a seat that has good head excursion numbers vs a seat that might not.

I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking all of this. I weighed her this morning and was surprised how much she's gained recently. I don't have her over the summer so I do only have three months. She'll turn three before she comes back in September. Think a toddler diet would be ok? JK

Carrie_R said:

I like option 2, but I tend to be pretty conservative w/how my dck ride. I feel like if I'm transporting someone else's kid, I need to transport them the safest way possible. If she were a year older, my answer would be different, but at 2.5 I'd deal with a bit of hassle to keep her RF. :twocents:

(ETA: What part of #2 makes your kids less safe? I don't see anything that would do that, which might affect my opinion. Also -- max out that MA before you change anything! )

Click to expand...

:yeahthat: I just flipped my 3 year old dcb because they had maxed out their radians (1 by height, 1 by weight) so I had no other rf option, but my personal minimum is 3 years. For a few more months, I would probably deal with the inconvenience of keeping the DCG rf.

I'd go with option 3 since you said your oldest was a good booster rider.