Mom to a few
New member
** It's been 2 full days of class, and still no seats have been installed in a car at all--and it looks like the earliest that might happen would be tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. We are working a seat check event on Friday, so I'm just kind of concerned about all the people in the class who've never installed a seat at all--and there are quite a few of those. It seems like there should be more practice time than that!!
** They haven't hardly mentioned much about ERF or EH at all. When they have talked about higher weight harness systems, they make it sound like they are only for obese children younger than four. They say that the highest harness weight limits for kids (other than special needs) only go up to 65 lbs--and they had a Radian 80 IN THE ROOM!!!!
** They said that the smaller child should always go in the middle--no doubt. When I asked how they felt about having the RFing (more protected) child outboard, and the FF child in the middle, they acted like I'd lost my mind, and they'd never even heard that suggested before.
** They did say to use a RFing tether IF it's recommended by the carseat manufacturer, but only if the vehicle manual designates a RF tether location (yeah...right). But they said that it isn't tested that way in this country, and might not be safe. They said that it doesn't actually help prevent rebound, but that it does limit rotation of the top shell of the seat--and that's a bad thing because you WANT your seat to rotate away from the point of impact to help move your child away, and to help absorce the impact by increasing the ride-down time.
** When I asked about bracing, they said that you can't do it unless the vehicle manual says that you can--and that topic is not addressed at all in my 2006 vehicle manual.
** They say that we have to teach parents to apply weight to the CR with their hand. They said using your knee makes it look more difficult, and we don't want to make parents feel like it will be hard for them. I asked if they were avoiding the knee method for fear of damage to the CR, and they said no. I mentioned that it's much easier for ME to use my knee because it gives me so much more leverage--and I can use both hands to pull the seat belt tight, and feed it back into the retractor. So they conceded that if it's a woman who weighs less than 100 lbs, that it might be easier for her (I'm well over 100 lbs by the way).
** I'm the only one there who isn't part of an organization, and a couple of people have called me "mom"--which is kind of annoying and degrading. I kind of get the feeling that they think I'm silly, so I've been trying not to say too much anymore...
There's more, but those were just the things that were depressing me today. Mainly, I just hate how the class is making me feel--like I'm stupid for having my youngest RF, for having my 4 yr old still harnessed, etc.
Am I the only one with a "less than wonderful" course experience???
** They haven't hardly mentioned much about ERF or EH at all. When they have talked about higher weight harness systems, they make it sound like they are only for obese children younger than four. They say that the highest harness weight limits for kids (other than special needs) only go up to 65 lbs--and they had a Radian 80 IN THE ROOM!!!!
** They said that the smaller child should always go in the middle--no doubt. When I asked how they felt about having the RFing (more protected) child outboard, and the FF child in the middle, they acted like I'd lost my mind, and they'd never even heard that suggested before.
** They did say to use a RFing tether IF it's recommended by the carseat manufacturer, but only if the vehicle manual designates a RF tether location (yeah...right). But they said that it isn't tested that way in this country, and might not be safe. They said that it doesn't actually help prevent rebound, but that it does limit rotation of the top shell of the seat--and that's a bad thing because you WANT your seat to rotate away from the point of impact to help move your child away, and to help absorce the impact by increasing the ride-down time.
** When I asked about bracing, they said that you can't do it unless the vehicle manual says that you can--and that topic is not addressed at all in my 2006 vehicle manual.
** They say that we have to teach parents to apply weight to the CR with their hand. They said using your knee makes it look more difficult, and we don't want to make parents feel like it will be hard for them. I asked if they were avoiding the knee method for fear of damage to the CR, and they said no. I mentioned that it's much easier for ME to use my knee because it gives me so much more leverage--and I can use both hands to pull the seat belt tight, and feed it back into the retractor. So they conceded that if it's a woman who weighs less than 100 lbs, that it might be easier for her (I'm well over 100 lbs by the way).
** I'm the only one there who isn't part of an organization, and a couple of people have called me "mom"--which is kind of annoying and degrading. I kind of get the feeling that they think I'm silly, so I've been trying not to say too much anymore...
There's more, but those were just the things that were depressing me today. Mainly, I just hate how the class is making me feel--like I'm stupid for having my youngest RF, for having my 4 yr old still harnessed, etc.
Am I the only one with a "less than wonderful" course experience???