tarynsmum
Senior Community Member
SO I preface this by saying that we were visiting in VERY rural Pennsylvania (think 45 minutes to get to a grocery store).
I was shocked (SHOCKED) by the gross lack of information. We had a family (DH's) reunion/cookout, which we do every year (it's a 5 hour trek from home). One of DH's cousins was watching her sister's (not related to DH - just follow me here, OK?) 3 girls - 4 years, 3 years, and 9 months - for the weekend. She drove up, and I walked out after the kids were out of the car, and she was holding the bucket - OLD evenflo 3 pt. bucket. Ya'll the straps were so loose, I was afraid this child was going to fall out WHILE THEY WERE WALKING UP THE DRIVEWAY. Fast forward to nighttime, they were getting ready to leave (the sister was there to pick them up - I had yet to meet her). I asked (well, I wasn't taking no for an answer) if I could tighten the straps - I pulled about 6 inches of slack out - THEY HAD NEVER BEEN TIGHTENED BEFORE - the strap had indentations from being in the same position for so long. I fixed the chest clip (it was on backwards and the wrong direction).
Then we went to the car. There were no seats for the older girls. Mom said that her husband had the seats in his car, but I don't believe her (she wasn't a very convincing liar). I told her that I tightened the straps, and why, and then watched her put the bucket on the seat, put the seatbelt OVER the seat, and buckle it in. She didn't have a base,but didn't thread the belt through then slots either (like you would do if you were installing without a base). She had ELR seat belts - the belt was, well, there for show, nothing else. it wasn't even touching the infant seat.
I had never seen something so terrible in my life. I was shaking from the thought of these little children in that car. My first thought - find out where she lived, and shuttle the girls one by one in my Marathon (they were TINY - both would fit RFing). DH literally grabbed me and said "this is how it is here, it's just the way it is".
So, I did the best I could: I had her move the crap in the back seat so that all three could sit in the back seat (there was a file box in the center postion, she had the 3 year old sitting in the front seat . I switched all the seatbelts to ALR, got the infant seat in (difficultly, since the baby was sleeping in the seat), and basicallt pinned the girls in the seats. I wouldn't normally do it, but it was 11:00, and I didn't know what else to do.
I searched, and I can't find any techs within a 3 hour radius (the closest being State College). I was looking, and I didn't see many car seats for ANY kids past the infant stage... I'm not really sure if there's anything I can do at this point...
And yes, I had nightmares last night.
I was shocked (SHOCKED) by the gross lack of information. We had a family (DH's) reunion/cookout, which we do every year (it's a 5 hour trek from home). One of DH's cousins was watching her sister's (not related to DH - just follow me here, OK?) 3 girls - 4 years, 3 years, and 9 months - for the weekend. She drove up, and I walked out after the kids were out of the car, and she was holding the bucket - OLD evenflo 3 pt. bucket. Ya'll the straps were so loose, I was afraid this child was going to fall out WHILE THEY WERE WALKING UP THE DRIVEWAY. Fast forward to nighttime, they were getting ready to leave (the sister was there to pick them up - I had yet to meet her). I asked (well, I wasn't taking no for an answer) if I could tighten the straps - I pulled about 6 inches of slack out - THEY HAD NEVER BEEN TIGHTENED BEFORE - the strap had indentations from being in the same position for so long. I fixed the chest clip (it was on backwards and the wrong direction).
Then we went to the car. There were no seats for the older girls. Mom said that her husband had the seats in his car, but I don't believe her (she wasn't a very convincing liar). I told her that I tightened the straps, and why, and then watched her put the bucket on the seat, put the seatbelt OVER the seat, and buckle it in. She didn't have a base,but didn't thread the belt through then slots either (like you would do if you were installing without a base). She had ELR seat belts - the belt was, well, there for show, nothing else. it wasn't even touching the infant seat.
I had never seen something so terrible in my life. I was shaking from the thought of these little children in that car. My first thought - find out where she lived, and shuttle the girls one by one in my Marathon (they were TINY - both would fit RFing). DH literally grabbed me and said "this is how it is here, it's just the way it is".
So, I did the best I could: I had her move the crap in the back seat so that all three could sit in the back seat (there was a file box in the center postion, she had the 3 year old sitting in the front seat . I switched all the seatbelts to ALR, got the infant seat in (difficultly, since the baby was sleeping in the seat), and basicallt pinned the girls in the seats. I wouldn't normally do it, but it was 11:00, and I didn't know what else to do.
I searched, and I can't find any techs within a 3 hour radius (the closest being State College). I was looking, and I didn't see many car seats for ANY kids past the infant stage... I'm not really sure if there's anything I can do at this point...
And yes, I had nightmares last night.