Confessions of A Horrible Parent (And Tech)!

{excuse any typos...still upset}

Not sure where the best place to post this would be, but thought I would share to try to get it off my chest before bedtime.

Today, as I was teaching SIL to install her Radian and a Scenera, I noticed how incredibly dirty my van was, so this afternoon, DH & I decided to clean it up. The kids' seats were disgusting, so I figured it was time for a good cleaning. So, I got both seats inside & we started cleaning out the van (we're HORRIBLE about letting them snack, so there's always a mess).

Well, we have a middle bench in the van, and I noticed that the seat felt a little wobbly. I looked at the back of it, and from the little illustrations on the handles, I gathered that if the buttons weren't sticking out, the seat was locked in placed. Okay...still a big shaky, but locked in, right?

Vacuumed, came inside, made dinner, kids to bed, set to cleaning car seats and changing the covers...

Then I got them all done, and DH & I headed to the garage to reinstall them tonight since I have an appointment tomorrow. So, we're casually talking, and I mention to DH that I don't like the way the seat is shaking & give it a jostle). He says "HOLY SHIT! That thing should not be moving that much!"

Yeah...he runs around the van in a panic & we figure out that the seat isn't completely locked in the van! We don't know how it happened, but somehow, the handles on the back of the seat got pushed from the up position to the down position. We don't know who pushed the handles down (they should be up). We have no idea how long it's been like that. And worst of all, we have no idea if the seat would have held in a crash.

Our car seats were installed and checked by not one, but two techs, but a lot of good that would have done if we can't even make sure the stupid van is put together correctly. I don't think I've ever felt as scared/upset as I did standing there thinking about what could have happened.

I bet you felt horrible

Dont beat yourself up. It was not done on purpose. Just be glad you were never in an accident. I know, easier said than done.

Yeah, I'd have to go with what Vanessa said - you can't sweat it! It's done, and be grateful nothing happened, and you'll probably find yourself checking that ALL THE TIME now. I felt awful - a friend of mine and I went for a ride in my car, she put her DD in my DD1's seat - we got to our destination and realized her seat wasn't buckled in - someone must have unbuckled it.. and we never noticed! I felt worse that it wasn't even my own kid, but my friend just said "we didn't crash, no harm, no foul" and though I've been hyper-vigilant since, she's right I totally empathize - have a hot bath and try to forget for now. HUGS!

(((((HUGS)))))

Thankfully, you found out the easy way

We all face similar frightening moments once we become aware....

Don't feel so bad...I took my car to a fire station and carseat inspection and it passed with flying colors. Come to find out later down the road....I had it wrong... I had belts and latch being used at the same time, then found out that was wrong.. Then I got right and thought it was all handled but I guess not...still was never told that tether should always be used when either latch (if ok on weight) or buckle is used..It's definetely a learning experience...

Don't feel bad at all. It happens. We were on the freeway last weekend when DD1 looked over and discovered that DD2's Husky was unbuckled. (We had just dropped off a friend of DD1 after a sleep over. The friend must have hit the wrong button I guess) I know darn well I need to check the seat after someone sits next to it, but I didn't this time.

If being human makes me a horrible parent (and tech!) then we should start a club.