Traquy
New member
I have a friend that has 6 kids so I get that her life and minivan are crazy. It's a blended family (pretty much the brady bunch) and their youngest is the only "theirs" and she is about 10 years younger than the next. Add to that the fact that we live in a mostly rural setting and she has been super lax about car seats with her little girl (4.5 yrs now). I have known for a while that she routinely lets her climb around circa 1970's when they go on road trips and that whe she does buckle up around town it's in the built-in car seat, and that's IF she buckles up. I've had conversations with her, and I know another friend has too but she has not been receptive.
So yesterday I went to help her pack to move and ended up taking her daughter over to my house for a playdate to get her out of my friends hair. She sat in our Compass HBB and 3 times she tried to put the seatbelt behind her arm or behind her head and I had to put it on right and tell her "that is not safe, in my car you need the seatbelt here"
her: "but I don't like it, it hurts".
Me: "in my car you need to wear it, it's just a short ride". So she did, and about 2 minutes into the trip she said happily "This doesn't hurt!! I like this seat!" Hmm, ok... I see the problem.
I asked "do you feel safe in that seat?"
her: "Yes, I like it. I told my mom I wanted a seat but she said we can't afford it. Our car buckle hurts my neck"
Me: "If you had a pretty seat like this, with pink flowers would you use it?" (she is a girly girl)
Her, clapping and bouncing "YES YES YES! I would love it!!"
Well, the kicker here is that I happened to have an Evenflo big kid HBB with pink flowers sitting unopened in a box in my trunk that I needed to return to WalMart that I got as an extra for carpooling (that ended up not needing). So I showed the picture on it to her when I got to her house, she LOVED it, and I took it up to my friend. After her daughter was done being excited and telling her Mom how much she loved it and wanted to go put it in the car RIGHT NOW I sat down and talked to her. Turns out she was very receptive and actually teared up as we talked. She said her DD had said several times in stores "if you buy me that car seat I will sit in it" but being super broke she never took it seriously since her DD hated the car seat they already had (the built in). Now if they actually keep using it I will never know since they are moving out of state, but I feel I had that seat in my trunk for 3 weeks and never made it to WalMart for a reason and if her DD is comfortable she WILL use it. I sure hope so, I worried for that little girl.
So yesterday I went to help her pack to move and ended up taking her daughter over to my house for a playdate to get her out of my friends hair. She sat in our Compass HBB and 3 times she tried to put the seatbelt behind her arm or behind her head and I had to put it on right and tell her "that is not safe, in my car you need the seatbelt here"
her: "but I don't like it, it hurts".
Me: "in my car you need to wear it, it's just a short ride". So she did, and about 2 minutes into the trip she said happily "This doesn't hurt!! I like this seat!" Hmm, ok... I see the problem.
I asked "do you feel safe in that seat?"
her: "Yes, I like it. I told my mom I wanted a seat but she said we can't afford it. Our car buckle hurts my neck"
Me: "If you had a pretty seat like this, with pink flowers would you use it?" (she is a girly girl)
Her, clapping and bouncing "YES YES YES! I would love it!!"
Well, the kicker here is that I happened to have an Evenflo big kid HBB with pink flowers sitting unopened in a box in my trunk that I needed to return to WalMart that I got as an extra for carpooling (that ended up not needing). So I showed the picture on it to her when I got to her house, she LOVED it, and I took it up to my friend. After her daughter was done being excited and telling her Mom how much she loved it and wanted to go put it in the car RIGHT NOW I sat down and talked to her. Turns out she was very receptive and actually teared up as we talked. She said her DD had said several times in stores "if you buy me that car seat I will sit in it" but being super broke she never took it seriously since her DD hated the car seat they already had (the built in). Now if they actually keep using it I will never know since they are moving out of state, but I feel I had that seat in my trunk for 3 weeks and never made it to WalMart for a reason and if her DD is comfortable she WILL use it. I sure hope so, I worried for that little girl.