How does your husband feel??

crazycarseatjess · Apr 28, 2012

Since we are all car seat crazy and most of us CPSTs, what do your significant others feel about all this new safety information and all this car seat stuff? Are they totally onboard or could they care less?

My husband and I have a 10 month old son (Sawyer) and another baby boy on the way due September (Gavin). My husband is VERY comfortable with me being a CPST and being so crazy about car seats. He wants our kids to be as safe as possible wherever they are and he knows that's only possible if we make that happen by restraining our kids properly. He is totally onboard for learning how to properly buckle our kids in and install the seats. He actually has been doing the majority of the installs lately since I am a big pregnant woman and am limited to what I can do in the car (that's what she said!!!!). I go over, make sure it's installed properly according to the manuals, and make sure it's tight enough and 90% of the time he has it correct!! It makes me feel so good that my husband can be as passionate as me!! He has buckled our son in correctly since day 1 since I taught him how to do it when we were leaving the hospital. Its nice to see a misused car seat and DH goes "that's unsafe!!"

It feels good to know he's learning this stuff and knows it's important! He always buckles Sawyer in his car seat now since he says "I can do this, leave it to me!!!" I LOVE it!!

How bout your hubby??

LISmama810 · Apr 28, 2012

Mine is very much on-board. He has always been very safety-conscious in general, though. Sometimes I think *he* goes overboard with stuff. (Not car-seat-related, but otherwise.)

He's a fireman, so he sees bad stuff all too often. Thankfully he's one of the firemen who actually learns from it and practices what he preaches.

StillThankful · Apr 28, 2012

Totally on board with extended rear facing and getting the best seat to fit our needs.

Not on board with the extra seats I have.

Jessica61624 · Apr 28, 2012

Mine could really care less. He was not interested in learning how to install the seats. He has gotten good about placing the chest clip on the chest! But he never questions why we erf or extended harness.

lourdes · Apr 28, 2012

Mine is great, he talk to other people about ERF, he install the Radian really good but the CA is my department. Ones I show him all the information about ERF he was convince, he also gets mad when we see other people misuse (which we see a lot here)

christineka · Apr 28, 2012

I've talked a lot about car seat stuff to my dh. He tells me he understands rfing is safest, but he complains about leg room, so I make sure my kids have seats with ample leg room for rfing. He's realized that 5 point harnesses are much easier to do up in a three across than a booster, but he also rolls his eyes at me insisting my over 8 year old kids need boosters. He was there when I proclaimed that 12 yo could safely ride without a booster in her seating position. He was also there when 12 insisted she ride in a booster because it makes her feel "big". He doesn't argue boostering the 12 yo anymore!

My husband has no interest in learning how to install car seats because he's certain he knows how. (He doesn't. Last time he insisted on installing the car seat, it was too loose. The time before he made it tight, but the locking clip was on the wrong side of the seat.) Fortunately, my oldest 5 can now ride in boosters, which need no installation.

Phineasmama · Apr 28, 2012

My husband thinks I'm a little over the top and is always muttering about how we're statistically unlikely to be in a bad accident. But I have personally been in several bad accidents so I'm extra paranoid! He does not complain about RFing or ERF, when I first put DD in a booster (for training not full time) at 5 years old he was freaking out "is that safe!?!?" haha.

He does wish I wouldn't buy so many car seats :0 and he gets kind of annoyed when I am always changing things up but he deals with it and not too much complaining.

skylinphoto · Apr 28, 2012

My dh is great about it.

When our oldest was little he thought I was a little over the top. But, I asked him if he was working high up (his job requires this at times) would he leave a buckle on his harness undone, loose, or worse yet..wear a harness that doesn't fit at all? He of course said no ..and then realized that a carseat needs to fit properly and be used properly in order for it to save your kid.

He's totally on board now. He was happy to rf our kids to 4 and is still happy about getting new seats as needed. He even talks to other about how to properly restrain their kids (though he's not a very tactful person!! Lol).

OP, nice 'thats what she said' joke. Hehehe.

crazycarseatjess · Apr 28, 2012

skylinphoto said:
My dh is great about it.

When our oldest was little he thought I was a little over the top. But, I asked him if he was working high up (his job requires this at times) would he leave a buckle on his harness undone, loose, or worse yet..wear a harness that doesn't fit at all? He of course said no ..and then realized that a carseat needs to fit properly and be used properly in order for it to save your kid.

He's totally on board now. He was happy to rf our kids to 4 and is still happy about getting new seats as needed. He even talks to other about how to properly restrain their kids (though he's not a very tactful person!! Lol).

OP, nice 'thats what she said' joke. Hehehe.

Thank you! *bows*

christineka · Apr 28, 2012

Oh, and my dh let me have a car seat bank account. It's an account all my own. I can buy whatever I want from my own account, but I have to make money to replenish it. I sell a lot of stuff (usually car seats) to make money so I can buy more car seats. Sometimes I buy other stuff too. My dh doesn't care one bit when he sees a new car seat because he knows it was paid for with my money.

AtTheSouthDam · Apr 28, 2012

He's onboard with the safety aspect and wanting nice/well fitting seats for the girls.

As far as my tendency to want a new seat every so often... he's fairly okay with it. I usually part with an old and then get a new. The boards have been good and bad for that. (bad that I find new neat seats, good in that I can often trade so we don't have $300 seats sitting around.)

bobandjess99 · Apr 29, 2012

My first reaction is "strong and manly"

msg221 · Apr 29, 2012

He was totally fine with me wanting to be as knowledgeable as possible about car seats, beginning with one miserably hot day in May, nearly 4 years ago when we helped Nour & Zain's mom install the bases for her two SS1's that her dad had tried to help with but installed way too loose. It started there, then once N & Z were born and we started caring for them a lot starting at 6 weeks old, I ended up buying extra bases for our car. He didn't care. Then after they moved out of the infant seats, I bought 2 BLVD's, then I became a CPST, and a whole slew of seats have been through my car now! He either never noticed all the new seats that ended up in my car, or he just didn't care and never complained! He hasn't even said anything about the extra seats I have now!

He has never tried to learn how to install the seats, leaving that to me, but he does know how to properly buckle them in, though he does still ask me to double check! Although I do wonder how he'd do if I tried to teach him how to install a seat . . . That might be kind of fun!

Brigala · Apr 29, 2012

Totally on board. Not always super interested, but absolutely supportive. Both of keeping our DD as safe as possible and of me volunteering my time and spending money to do seat checks and that sort of thing.

He even says I can buy a Foonf if I want it and just shrugged his shoulders at the price (well, the price with tech discount; he kind of choked when I told him the retail price tag, but when I said 30% off he was like, oh, that's not so bad then.) I mean, if I buy a Foonf and it ends up sitting in the trailer with the other "spare" car seats he might not be too happy, but if DD is riding in it regularly he'd be fine with it.

birdflippin' · Apr 29, 2012

Jessica61624 said:
Mine could really care less. He was not interested in learning how to install the seats. He has gotten good about placing the chest clip on the chest! But he never questions why we erf or extended harness.

:yeahthatsad: I wish he'd learn to install seats.

MorgieBear'sMama · Apr 29, 2012

My xh can install all the boys different seats in his car using LATCH or seat belts. He doesn't question when the boys can go ff, he knows they will RF to the limits (radian's in his car

) and doesn't question DD being in a booster.

I would say He's pretty good about it overall. This is the same man who took DD without a seat once at 27 months, and never used a seat for his DS after 3 years. He's come a long way.

Ashley- Mom to Morgan 2/25/04 riding in SK Monterey and Clek Olli, Jackson and Colton 11/1/10 riding in Diono R120's and Recaro ProRIDE's

moonmommy · Apr 29, 2012

My husband thinks I am a giant car seat geek and teases me for it, but he is glad that I am obsessed with something that keeps our son safer. He refuses to learn how to install our son's seats, but has me show him exactly how to put our son in his seats correctly. Hubby gives me free reign on car seat purchases since CPS is my area of expertise and family finances is my job. He is VERY supportive of ERF, and still does not want our son FF yet at 4 years old.

hedgefun · Apr 29, 2012

I don't have a DH, but I want to play too!

DW understands the importance of certain aspects, but thinks I'm a little nuts/obsessed sometimes. It took a little bit of time to get her to understand why I do what I do. Specific examples: using pinch test when tightening the harness, adjusting straps so they're at/above or at/below. Usually the "little things" she used to say "don't worry about it, it's good enough." Now I have her on board, though, so it's fine.

We don't have kids yet, but she already knows that I plan to spend a lot on two things: car seats and strollers. She's on board with that as long as the $ fits into our budget at the time.

amyd · Apr 29, 2012

My DH is a tech as well so yes, he's on board. He helps with the clinics I organize and also does his own stuff (talking to the guys at work, seat checks, etc). We actually just got back from attending a Child Passenger Safety conference together

Ninetales · Apr 29, 2012

With every topic I've become passionate about - natural birth, anti circumcision, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, vaccinating and car seats - he's been of the philosophy "she who does the research makes the decisions." He's happy to let me do the work and listen to what I find out. He sometimes has questions but figures that I know enough about what I'm talking about to trust me.

How does your husband feel??

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