Is this terrible?

Would it be wrong/unsafe/terrible for me to get this: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog...184&categoryId=85218&subCategoryId=86220#tabs

We will be driving from Michigan to Alabama for Thanksgiving and that is an awfully long time to have your legs dangling. DS will most likely be riding in his Marathon so that DH can sit in the back to keep both kids occupied. I think the Regent would take up too much room. DD will be in a RF Wizard. She won't need a tray LOL She will need a sedative God preserve me driving accross country with a 1 year old who hates more than 10 minutes in the car. DS has a hard tray that I got on ebay years ago. It's made by Britax and it fit his Roundabout perfectly, but doesn't snap right on the Marathon.

So, would this be dangerous? It says "safety tested"....

I'm not sure about the safety of that product but I remember seeing a thread about making a foot rest out of a pool noodle and rope. Maybe someone can elaborate.

Terrible is a good word for it, yes.

I've seen footrests made from pool noodles and rope. They don't look as sleek, but don't interfere with installation, won't be a hard surface for him to smash into and won't cause major damage if they get loose in a crash. Hopefully you can still find some now that summer is over.

I just imagine that tray being forced into the child's abdomen and it doesn't look so handy to me anymore

but something like this I would feel okay using they are pretty soft and flexible (but I would not connect it to the seat)

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2585667

I see a lot of posts about the dangling leg issue and I guess I'm just confused because I also have a MA and my VERY long legged daughter rides in it. Her solution is such an easy one, but I guess it entirely depends on your car. Her seat is installed in a captain's chair and there is plenty of room between the base of the MA and the front of the seat itself. So she simply puts her feet there. If she gets tired of sitting like that, she will occasionally prop her feet up on the back of my seat. Somehow she's able to comfortably position her feet so that they rest on the lip of the map pocket on the back of my seat.

Save your money and the hassle. I wouldn't trust those things at all. Hard tray vs. soft child -- Hard tray wins. :thumbsdown:

Since dd's been in the Regent and her legs dangle, I got her a small rattan box from Target.com. It made it so much easier before this last growth spurt to climb up into the center seat.


You might not need something like this at all. For us, it fit onto the center hump just behind the console in my Camry. It holds the 'soft' stuff that used to roam around my car -- ergo carrier, lt raincoat for me, + dd's rain poncho & a sweat shirt. She likes it and so do I.

But if you don't want even the hassle of this, use what you got, just for your trip -- for instance: soft duffle bag filled just with clothes will help pad area below the seat.

I did get her the soft table tray from Target...
It's very squishy, but we ended up using it only twice. Just because she prefered to listen to stories, read, or play with her dolls... or catch up on needed sleep. But I'd recommend it if you really want a tray


Honestly, our life saver was picking up some 'new' stories on cd plus these Lobz headphones that fit nicely on dd. They were clearanced for $3.50 from $30 and PINK!! Since they're designed to fit around the back of the head, they were perfect on her as normal headphones... plus, the soft flannel kept it from being too loud.


So dd happily had her stories + we were able to drive as adults. It was easy keeping the player in the front seat and changing at her request.

Hope these tips provide some ideas for you.
Good luck

When considering trays for use in the car, I suggest thinking about how much a properly restrained crash test dummy in a 5-point harness still moves forward or toward the point of impact in a crash test, and then imagine that tray positioned in front of the dummy. I also equate the plastic aftermarket trays for the car to some degree with the plastic fold down trays used on airplanes, which are supposed to be stowed in the upright position during portions of the flight where the risk of crashing is generally higher (taxi/takeoff/landing). Your risk of crashing at any given point in the car is far higher than on a plane from a statistical standpoint. I really wouldn't want a hard plastic tray in front of a child at any point during a car ride of any duration. :twocents:

The softer foam tray made by Fisher Price and suggested by the PP would be an alternative option to a hard plastic tray: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4990692
I think I've seen it for sale at BRU online as well.

Safe and happy travels to you and your family!

We use the Snack & Play Travel Tray http://www.amazon.com/Star-Kids-Products-LLC-Travel/dp/B000KJBFC8 for when we go on long trips. It is soft and lightweight so I think it would be safe in an accident.

For a footrest for my DS, I finally decided that it was easiest to put an old comforter in a kitchen sized garbage bag and cram it in the van down by his feet. It works perfectly. Sometimes it gets muddy, but I can put a towel over it to absorb any wetness from his boots now. It might not be pretty, but it works, and I didn't have to mess with making one out of pool noodles. It wouldn't have to be a comforter... could be anything soft like that.

what part of AL will you be travelling to?

Id suggest making a footrest out of pool noodles

and using a soft tray.

teehee.. I love seeing my pics being used for examples.

ITA w/the above.

beebear23 said:

teehee.. I love seeing my pics being used for examples.

Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the pics and allowing them to be used

Its so much easier to show than describe when it comes to these things.

I am in MI too!:happy-wavehello:

I agree with all the above posters, that does not look safe at all.

beebear23 said:

teehee.. I love seeing my pics being used for examples.

ITA w/the above.

Click to expand...

I thought, wow, that kid looks like Cias, how strange! Then I thought, hey, that IS Cias! Love that Safari cover...

,,,

Yeah my dd has a wooden drawing tray you can carry around-its painted and really cute-she got it for xmas last yr and she has been using it in the car- and the other day I am like "Umm, what if we got into an accident and it jams right into her stomach. That would not be good So no more.

I would never use it & I would put it in the trunk during a seatcheck, informing the parent of the risk, asking them never to use it again -- if they were so attached to it that they refused to let me put it in the trunk, then the form would reflect this so as to reduce my liability when (not if) injury occurres during a crash because of this item....

I wouldn't be bothered by the soft fabric only tray, but Leila has never had need for one even though she's been on 2+ hour rides frequently since birth :shrug-shoulders:

For footrest, the pool noodle is a great idea. We've also used empty styrofoam boxes, a bag full of balloons and/or a rolled up old comfortor :twocents:

I took two empty Priority Mail boxes, taped them together, and put them on the floor. They made a great foot rest and when they got dirty, I threw them away and made a new one.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I pretty much knew I was going to get a resounding no. Here's a few more answers/questions.

We'll be driving from the northern suburbs of Detroit to Montgomery, AL where my mom has relocated. Its a 2 day drive. LOOOONNNG. DS is good in the car. He's 5, but he will get uncomfortable in his seat for that long. We take 4-5 hour drives to the cottage regularly in the summer and he gets uncomfy after a while. There's no way his feet can rest on the car's seat. I don't think boxes etc would work because he's really high off the ground. Plus that would take up room that will be taken up by toys/junk.

The whole projectile thing is just so hard for me. I understand it intellectually. But traveling a thousand miles with two kids its impossible to have a scrubbed clean car. We have a Rendezvous so all of the luggage will be in the back anyway. If we get into an accident it will be flying all around. I usually bungy over all the stuff, but I don't know how effective that really is. Plus we'll have all the stuff to keep the kids happy and busy. We'll probably have a back pack full of toys etc for each kid. Plus DS will want to watch movies etc. That usually means either my laptop or a portable player. The player we can attach to the back of the driver's seat because DS is forward facing. However that leaves DD with nothing. She will only be one and has not been exposed to any television yet. (We aren't a TV watching house. DS will watch a movie in the car when on long trips, but that's about it) I was hoping/ that the DVD player might be a novelty that keeps her interest as she hates the car. One trip to the cottage this summer she screamed for 3 hours straight. I'm a huge no CIOer and it literally made me frantic. I'm surprised I didn't drive off the road. I was sucking down the rescue remedy left and right LOL So, I was thinking the portable DVD player for her (she's RF) and the laptop for DS. Plus we'll have food and CD's etc.

So that's a ton of risks right there! :thumbsdown: I could do the soft tray instead of the hard britax tray I have now for DS, but I guess what is the point if he has a lap top on it that will kill him anyway.

What do other people do on long trips?

I actually have one of these in my garage, and I installed it under dd's Husky for "misuse" pics. I had no idea they were still making it. I would NEVER actually use it. It's a nightmare. It's quite well made, to be honest, but it would completely collapse in a wreck. We're not just talking the tray would be driven into the child's stomach - more like, child's abdomen would slam into the tray, collapse the whole things, and then tray would fly up and slam into the child's face, the footrest would collapse and likely break off, and who know what it would do...

Every single joint on this thing is adjustable - convenient, except that every single one of those joints will NOT take the force of any crash. Even a minor one is going to break all those adjustable points, which means you'll have several large pieces of plastic flying all around your child's body. Still not sure what to think about this "projectile" issue? This isn't even in the same category - most projectiles aren't actually attached to your child's seat! It's one thing to worry about a Gameboy that's going to fly out of the child's hands in a wreck; but this thing isn't going to fly away and MAYBE fly back towards the child - it's going to collapse AROUND the child.

I'd use an overhead shield carseat before I used this thing!