Your parents and seat usage

Cath3114

New member
I was thinking last night about all the car trips we took when I was a kid. Looking back on it, my parents were terrible about our safety in the car! This was early-mid 90s. Here's a few things I remember (and don't remember) -

I don't remember EVER using a car seat or booster. Maybe there's pictures somewhere where I'm in one. Who knows.

Lots of late night and long trips. My brother and I would frequently lay down in the bench seats in my mom's minivan. Either with no seatbelt, or with just a lap belt looped around our bellies while we were prone.

I would also lay down on the van's floor sometimes.

I always sat in the front seat when it was just me.

Projectiles galore. My dad would rig up a 17" tv and VCR for those long trips, just kind of propped between the front two seats.

I remember my (now) 21 year old twin cousins FF at a very young age in OHS seats. They were micro-preemies and one has CP. They both definitely should have RF, but even more so for him.

I think that's it. What about all of you?
 
ADS

aym4Him

New member
Oh wow..

I was born in '74. I was a preemie. I have no knowledge of what I was driven home in but I have seen an old car seat hanging up in my parents' barn. It basically looks like someone sawed the legs off a chair, added a bar across it and then a little strap for between the legs. I have NO idea how it worked..

I remember the "mom-belt." That was Mom's arm going across me when we came to a sudden stop. That must have meant I never wore a seat belt up front.

I remember, in the back, one of our cars actually had shoulder belts. I used them to pretend like I was wind-surfing. I would pull it out as far as it would go and swing back and forth.

ETA: and I rode in the back of a pick up truck more times than I can count! Once, sitting in a FOLDING CHAIR (Dad actually pounded on the back window and told me to get down). When we had a truck with a camper, I rode back there for a 3 hour trip. I thought it was SO cool- instead of a bed-liner, it had shag carpet. I also rode in Dad's work truck (like a UPS truck). It didn't have a passenger seat- it was a big wooden BOX. Yup.

I remember sleeping up above the back seats in the little space between the top of the seats and the back window. When we had a Pacer, this was super-easy.

I remember riding with my sister's friend when I was 5 or 6. She drove a Chevette and rear-ended someone. I remember being thrown forward and my face being between the passenger seat and the door. Yeah. :eek:

We've come a long way, my friends. This is why it's harder for us to convince our parents/in-laws, etc, about car seat safety! Wowza.
 

amelia222

New member
This was me in my infant seat in '86
388808_10150550741131508_713196507_11046251_365638700_n.jpg


I remember going on road trips laying across the backseat with the centre lapbelt around me. And being in the front seat from about 5 years old sleeping with the seat reclined all the way back.

Then there was my Grandpa driving with an open can of beer in his hand and never wearing a seatbelt.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Carseats weren't required by law when I was a baby, but were when I was a preschooler. I rode in a carseat from birth through age four, but then was in a seatbelt, either in a lapbelt-only, or with the shoulder belt behind my back. :eek: I also was permitted to lay down in the "way back" on long trips.
 

beetlemama

New member
My mom never even made us wear seatbelts. She's not great about it still. I remember taking long day-trips with my one friend's family. We were coming home late at night, so they put the back seats in the volvo station wagon down and made a "bed" for me, my friend and her younger sister and brother and we all slept and giggled on that.

My mom respects my decisions with car safety in that she would never tell me not to, but she thinks it's crazy that my 2.5 year old is rear facing.
 

aym4Him

New member
Then there was my Grandpa driving with an open can of beer in his hand and never wearing a seatbelt.

That was my DAD! Before a road trip, we'd always stop at the package store and he'd buy beer. My job was to hand him one when he asked (from the cooler in the back seat). After we had the "Drugs and Alcohol are Bad" talk at school, I tried to refuse his request. You can imagine that didn't hold up for long. :rolleyes: I'd gripe and he'd just huff and take a swig. Thankfully, Dad wasn't a binge drinker when driving and could hold his own. WOW, was that ever unsafe and SO illegal. DAD! (I miss him. A year ago, today, he passed away)
 

Cath3114

New member
Oooh, some of yours remind me of a few others.

Lots of riding in the bed of the truck around the farm. Never on the road though. But I loved to sit on the hump where the tire came up.

Reclined all the way in the front seat.

And this one will REALLY get your jaws dropping...

My bio dad used to let my brother and me sit in the bucket of the front end loader he kept on the farm. He would actually drive around the farm with us in it and raise the bucket up and down. Nothing keeping us in but holding on to the edge. O__O
 

Cath3114

New member
beetlemama said:
they put the back seats in the volvo station wagon down and made a "bed" for me, my friend and her younger sister and brother and we all slept and giggled on that.

YES! I just now remembered one trip where the third seat was totally removed from the van. We had a huge pallet back there where we rode and slept.
 

2angels2love

New member
My parents were always super good when it came to carseat/seatbelts, thankfully. I supposedly had the top of the line carseat for 1982. I don't ever remember sitting in one though. My in laws on the other hand....it's horrible. (They don't wear seatbelts, incorrect carseat useage, no boosters, etc. DH still has at least 2 siblings that need a seat/booster) So my DH gives me fits about buying carseats and my insistence on rfing and EH. He does respect my wishes though. I am thankful though that my parents set a good example for me!
 

abreuer88

New member
Oh man! I remember sleeping in a horse trailer once while we were on a big road trip! Dropped off the cows and slept the night us girls on a foamie. The next morning my friends mom wanted to leave early and us girls didn't want to wake up so she just drove and we slept! Eek..
My dad has a ton of heavy machinery and he would drive around with me in the bucket . One time he lifted it up as faarr as it would go and he turned it off and left me there. He thought it was funny..
Now I wouldn't dream of letting ds do any of those things!
 

ElfJewel

New member
My mom was pretty good for the early "80s. I remember riding in a booster-like seat (solid white plastic and shaped like a nbb) and she volunteered in a program to have rental seats available to take babies home from the hospital. We were supposed to be buckled but I do remember putting the shoulder belt behind me and laying down, and sometimes riding in the trunk area. My dad was not so good, he let us ride in the back of his pickup truck (with a camper top) all the time. I think it only had 2 seats so someone was always back there. He loves to tell the story about how he got out and I put the truck in neutral and it started rolling down a hill... with my mom and baby sister in the back :eek: I must have been about 4.

ETA: They are both good with my kids though. My dad is clueless (had my brother in nothing at 4 even though he was in a booster in my car until Nov when he turned 12) but neither of my parents have ever questioned what I put my kids in. If I put it in their car, they use it the way I tell them to.
 
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skylinphoto

New member
My mom says I ff'd at 4 months and was in a ohs until 3.

I remember riding with the shoulder belt behind me. I remember riding with two kids in one seatbelt.
We took 8+ hr drives up to multiple times a year (vacations approx 4 times a year and visitation with my dad at other times) and we always slept in the back with the seat layed down.

Oh, and my mom STILL does the mom arm thing when I'm in the car with her.

My grandparents are who I grew up with (I lived with them). They do not agree with my decisions regarding car safety with my kids. They have however gotten the message about not commenting. In other words, I had the "if you don't agree with my decisions and undermine me in front of my kids..you will not be seeing much of us" conversation with them (regarding car seats and pretty much everything I do with my kids). And I had to follow through with not visiting when they continued to undermine me. Now, they don't say anything about anything. Yay.

My mom started off skeptical...but is now very great with the carseats! She is very happy to know they are safe in the car and understands why they rf to 4 and will be harnessed and booster for as long as they need to be. :)

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Car-Seat.Org
 

aym4Him

New member
Oooh, some of yours remind me of a few others.

Lots of riding in the bed of the truck around the farm. Never on the road though. But I loved to sit on the hump where the tire came up.

Reclined all the way in the front seat.

And this one will REALLY get your jaws dropping...

My bio dad used to let my brother and me sit in the bucket of the front end loader he kept on the farm. He would actually drive around the farm with us in it and raise the bucket up and down. Nothing keeping us in but holding on to the edge. O__O

Oh yes! The front end loader! I remember picking muscadines from the bucket many times. Also, riding in the back of the dump truck.

I wonder what the statistics were, back then, on children killed in accidents? Metal playground equipment, no bike helmets or pads and minimal-to-no car seats or seat belt usage. How did we survive?? :eek:
 

Cath3114

New member
Even with all their misuse years ago, my parents are great about my DD. They fully agree with ERF, at least for now. She's only 18 months, so they may start giving me problems when she's 4. Who knows. My dad knows how to properly install her seat. He gets it to less than 1" of movement, but I like it to be rock solid. But that's just nitpicking on my part.

My bio dad has asked when she can ride forward, and I told him when she was at least 3. I'd be ok with that for the 2-3 times a year she stays with them for a couple days. I'm not able to install the seat those times, though. I know I've shown him how to do it and how tight it should be, but I've never gotten to see how he does it. He's mentioned I have the harness too tight, but at least he doesn't know how to loosen it.
 

Cath3114

New member
aym4Him said:
Oh yes! The front end loader! I remember picking muscadines from the bucket many times. Also, riding in the back of the dump truck.

I wonder what the statistics were, back then, on children killed in accidents? Metal playground equipment, no bike helmets or pads and minimal-to-no car seats or seat belt usage. How did we survive?? :eek:

The front end loader memory is still making me laugh! And I shouldn't be - back in April, my uncle was somehow thrown off his bulldozer and killed. Sad thing is, it had a seatbelt he wasn't using. So yeah. I definitely wouldn't let my DD have any front end loader fun. I also remember tons of times riding along on the tractor.

I know my bio dad and his wife ride around the farm with my DD in their lap on their Gator or whatever they have. I'm not thrilled about it, but there are far worse things.
 

2BunniesMommy

Well-known member
I am not sure if I was ever in a car seat.
I remember we used to just use seat belts if we were going out of town.
On long trips it was ok to lay across the backseat with the lap belt on.
Once seatbelts were the law, we did always wear them, but the backseat laying was still ok.
Went on a couple trips with a friend's family and us kids were just on a mattress in the back of the van.
Oh and some pick up bed rides.
Also "drove" sitting on my dad's lap.
Many times of sitting in places where there wasn't a seat, like squeezing 3 people into a 2 seater, or 4 or 5 across a backseat...this usually with some seatbelt sharing.
YIKES!!!
Almost forgot, changing in the backseat of the moving car from school clothes into tights and leotard for ballet the year that end of school and start of dance class were too close together to have time to go home.
 

Brianna

New member
According to my mom, I RF'd until I outgrew my bucket, she doesn't remember how long, then an OHS then a booster until about 4. I was allowed to tuck the shoulder belt behind my back. On long trips we leaned against pillows propped on the window.

My dad had single cab pickups until I was a teen and most of the time I rode in the middle lap belt. I was allowed to take my seatbelt off to lay down if I was tired. I took several rides in the bed of the truck too. In the back of his girlfriend's Explorer I sat in the lap belt, but to listen to what was going on up front I scooted to the front of the seat with the belt completely loose.
 

jeminijad

New member
We rode 2,000 miles across the country, from New York to Montana, in the pickup bed. It was "safe" b/c Dad had a cap, and they laid a mattress in the bed.

I admit to remembering that fondly, although I certainly wouldn't allow it with my own kids. I'm certainly not going to bring it up to my parents in any negative light.

I did have an OHS seat of some kind till I was about 2, but the way my mother tells the story of her being rear ended and me ending up in the floorboard, I bet she didn't have the thing buckled in.
 

glockchick

New member
I rode in a convertible seat and then a shield booster under I was five. My parents were great about car seat use.
 

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