Question Bad mom of the year

mlohry

New member
I feel I need to confess. My 3yr old ERF in a MA70 directly behind the driver seat of our Ody. Tonight we were in a hurry to get to church and to throw me off my DH and oldest DS who sits next to my DD had left early for church, so they were not with us, it was just me and my DD and middle DS who sits 3rd row. To make things more complicated our neighbors were coming with us to our church for the 1st time and as I put my DD into her seat, I was talking to my neighbor about following me to church. I put the DVD player on for her and got in and drove off. We drive 25 minutes on a large FL freeway, going 70 mph. We got to church and I went to get DD out and you guessed it, she wasn't buckled in, at all!!! OMgoodness!! She sat perfect, I had no idea! I had to laugh when I put her back into leave and put her straps on and she said, I'm ok! Like she didn't need them! Thank goodness she didn't climb out driving down the freeway!!

Guess it goes to show me that those routine things we do multiple times a day sometimes get taken for granted. I told my husband it was a good thing we were on the way to church and we had lots of angels watching over her on the drive!
 
ADS

DrummerBaby

New member
I did that a few months ago. It was a much shorter drive- between two shopping centers, but still on an extremely busy road. DS was RF in his Radian, I was helping him with something else before buckling him and got distracted, and never buckled him in. Got to the next store and he was just sitting there with his snack, perfectly in position. I swept him up and told him he was the best boy ever for staying in his seat and I thanked God for keeping him safe.

MIL said he's so used to not being able to move in the seat that he probably didn't even think to try, especially since he had a snack to keep him busy!

My lesson of the day was to do the buckling BEFORE helping him get his snack/book/toy/whatever. And I am a total car seat fanatic, and as a kid was in the habit of buckling up even to go up the (long) driveway.

It is such an awful, sinking feeling to think of what could have happened. Doesn't make you a bad mom at all, just a human one.
 

Phineasmama

New member
I did that once :eek: We weren't on the freeway but we did go on a 2 lane road that was like 55 mph. I was pregnant and DS never got out of his seat, I didn't notice till we got home! I have been extra paranoid ever since too.
 

TarynB

New member
I think almost everyone has done that once. I have done that and also had one half of my son's RA harness unbuckled(I thought it was). Once they get older and can talk they'll tell you. I know he's reminded me a few times when I forgot when he was in his Husky before he could buckle it himself at 5. He's 9 now and in a booster.
 

moonmommy

Senior Community Member
I forgot to buckle my son once when he was a baby. He wouldn't let me forget to buckle him now... he freaks out if we move and he isn't properly restrained. I didn't buckle him when we drove in the cemetery from the moseleum to my grandmother's grave, and he totally flipped out, crying and screaming and trying to get himself buckled.
 

CrunchyMaineMama

Senior Community Member
I did that once when DD was a baby. I think most parents have had a moment like that. Once DD was old enough to talk I told her she always had to be buckled before the car moved and if it ever started moving with her unbuckled to tell me. There have been a couple times since then that I almost left without buckling her due to one distraction or another and she freaked out the second the car moved an inch and yelled "I'M NOT BUCKLED!!"
 

babyherder

Well-known member
My dad forgot to buckle me once/make sure I was buckled when I was about 5. We were driving down the road and I looked down, realized I wasn't buckled, and told him. He was way more upset than I was.
 

Eresh

New member
When our getting the kids into their seats routine changed after moving ds2 to a convertible, I forgot a couple of times to go back around to buckle ds1. After the first time when I freaked out he's told me and we haven't gone more than a few feet with him buckled.

Once when ds1 was 5mo my dad flew out to visit. We all went to a restaurant and ds1 was in his infant seat. I had him out to nurse towards the end then put him back in his seat and put the straps over his arms then got interrupted by something. Got home and found he was unbuckled. I freaked and my dad totally didn't get the big deal. Apparently my brothers and I never road in a car seat a day in our lives. :(.

Then once not too long after ds1 turned FF, I was getting him in the car and his whole seat moved. Apparently the seatbelt buckle had been released. It was probably when he was horsing around in the car while I was getting ds2 situated but the not knowing how long it'd been unbuckled freaked me out. I would have noticed earlier if it'd been unbuckled earlier, right?
 

mlohry

New member
Thanks for the support! A long time ago a co-worker was driving down the freeway, went to take a cloverleaf ramp and her son's car seat tipped over, he said, Ahhh mom, help! Her sister was supposed to have installed the seat and obviously hadn't :(
 

VoodooChile

New member
I did that once when dd was about 2 months old. I'd taken her into a restaurant in her bucket, and my mom and aunt had unbuckled her and covered her back up with her blanket. So when we left, I popped the seat back into the car, and didn't realize she was still unbuckled until we got to my aunt and uncle's house. I thought I was going to be sick, and I was, of course, sure that I was the only parent who had ever done something so awful.
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
I did that, more than once :eek: But it was just driving around a shopping center to get to another store (though it was purely by accident!). My Mom did that once with me or my Brother. When she saw we were unbuckled she pulled over to spank us. Then later realized she forgot to buckle us.
 

tam_shops

New member
She's fine, that's the main thing, no need to worry about it anymore...we've *all* done something wrong at some point. I've driven w/ ODS's car seat accidentally unbuckled at least once, probably twice and I made a habit of checking it each time b/c it was centre seat belt install...

I'm not sure when/how it happened, but ODS now knows to *remind* me if his straps aren't don't before I go...I'll have to admit he's reminded me more than once!

Years ago when I was a bus driver, I forgot to strap down a client's wheel chair. Fortunately, as soon as I hit the brakes at the end of the alley, her chair went flying forward and stopped at the front seat. With the little girl in it laughing away! Obviously I pulled over and strapped it in and was happy she found it funny, as I did *not*!


tam
 
Yup, I too have missed a strap or buckle (as has my hubby! I let him have it! poor guy:eek:) I can't even remember where wer were going but I we had been out running errands and when we finally got home I noticed that only half of her straps were buckeled. I freaked and then realized it was probably my fault. I was so embarassed, but glad nothing had happened. Now she buckles herself and lets me know if she can't.
 

monstah

New member
I've done it too. Once during the winter when DS was a newborn. I took him out of his bucket at Babies R Us and put him back in while shopping with a blanket on top and forgot he wasn't strapped in when we left the store.
The second time, DD2 was three in a Nautilus and she started shrieking at an intersection only a few hundred yards from where we started. I pulled over and buckled her up but I was mostly shaken up by her screaming, I thought we were being car jacked! :p
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
We discovered the buckle on DD2's then RF Blvd. wasn't buckled once after driving 75-90 miles home from the in-laws mostly via freeway. DD2 was just over a year old at the time if I'm remembering correctly. Thankfully, our trip was otherwise uneventful, yikes. :eek: Neither DH nor I remember specifically buckling her in, but her chest clip was still fastened when we got home, so either we forgot a buckling step, or DD2 managed to partially unbuckle it herself. We suspect the latter as she also proved to be a toddler houdini at home around that same time by easily defeating child locks on cupboards and drawers. We were more careful to double check and also to occasionally inquire of her and DD1 about whether or not everyone was still buckled on future drives (we figured DD1 would readily tell us of any unbuckling escape attempts by DD2 ;)).
 

skylinphoto

New member
I've done that as well.

Also, when my ds was rfing in our radian, I noticed it wasn't buckled in anymore! The seatbelt had been undone and I had no idea how long it wasn't even installed!! Yikes!

I don't think I've done that with dd.

Now, my ds yells out if he hasn't buckled his booster yet.

We've all done it!

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

amelia222

New member
I forgot to buckle dd once a few months ago. Her shoes had come untied walking to the car so I sat her in her seat, tied her shoes, then got in and started backing out of the parking spot. We hadn't moved more than 5 feet before she yelled "Mom you forgot to buckle me!!!". Now her favourite story for me to tell her is about 'the time I didn't buckle her'. She'll never let me forget again.
 

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