When people find out you're a "carseat nut"

Do they then expect nothing less than perfection from you? OR is that just my dad?
He knows my kids are still in harnesses, and argued with me about it one time. He figures if something (shield boosters) are on the market then they're safe.
On Thanksgiving, my uncle asked us if we had a dvd player in the van and dh mentioned our tiny one. We used to have a HUGE one. Like, not one of the small laptop style ones, but like a small TV for a bedroom version, a big cube basically, that had a car adapter. But when I realized what a horrific projectile that thing was, I stopped using it. So anyway, Dh explained about that, because my dad had asked where it was.
So then the next day at my parents' house, my dad noticed that one of my tires was low. So he says, "Kelly, you talk so much about safety, but have you ever seen a blowout on the interstate? Those tires are very unsafe!"
I do usually keep an eye on them, and of course understand that the whole package is important - carseats properly installed, limited projectiles, well maintained vechicle. but good grief, I make ONE tiny mistake that my dad the mechanic notices, and he makes it out like I'm a huge hypocrite! Ugh!
vent over.

Sounds like my brother -- I don't listen to him ... I do what needs done & that's that: because in the case of my brother, it has a lot more to do with some immature contest he thinks exists between him & pretty much everyone else @@

Well, I haven't dealt with that with regards to car safety since most people don't know how into cps I am. But I've experienced similar. I'm big into cloth diapering. I've cd'd DS since he was 2 months old. I swear by it (no rash, no leaks, ect) and I sew them, sell them, and I'm constantly making my own patterns and experimenting with different fabrics, styles, ect. Yeah, I'm a goofball. Anyways, when we first moved here, I was having difficulties washing because the water here is so much softer than what I was used to and we were having stink problems. So I put DS in disposables for about a month while I got everything under control. Oh, you would have thought the world was going to end. So many people were like, "OMG *why* is that child wearing a disposable!?!?" Almost like they were waiting for some horrid story about everything going wrong and I'd finally given up. Not even close, but they *expected* me to justify why I was temporarily using disposables. I felt like saying, "You use disposables day in and day out. What's wrong with YOU!?" But I didn't. (I don't really care if people use disposables btw)

Oh, and the food thing. DS had eating issues and I was extremely careful about what I fed him before he was about 14 months old. It was necessary to be diligent. Now if someone sees him eating a french fry they're like . I'm not going to micro-manage *everything* for crying out loud! He's almost two, he can have a french fry!

I think it's because I have a tendency to do the opposite of what a lot of other people do and I'm pretty passionate about certain stuff so if they see me loosen up a bit, they're confused. Like, since I'm so passionate, I have to be perfect in those areas.

Yeah, I get what you're saying.

Did you remind him that tire deflation can happen suddenly overnight when temperature changes and that they looked 'normal' the previous day?

It did on my car this past week Front passenger tire went from 24lbs to 10lbs when the temperature went from upper 70s down to 20s the first night of 'winter' just before it snowed here. Freaked me out!

Might not have happened with your vehicle, but hey, it still sounds good in a defensive maneuver

I have a friend who FREAKED when she found out CJ was playing tackle football this year, especially *gasp* without a neckroll!

On your tire you do vehicle inspections before you leave, not when you arrive at the destination. Your car wasn't on the road, let alone running. I can't see what you did wrong.

Becky, I can see why your friend freaked out. As long as he's not playing with someone whose 6 ft tall and 200lbs, whats the concern. Kids are tough, and they teach the kids how to land, and how to tackle without getting hurt.

Well, some of his teammates ARE nearly 6 ft tall and 200 lbs , he's one of the smallest kids on the team. However, he didn't play line at all, so was never exposed to the really tough hits.

I realize this is probably an ongoing thing and you must get pretty frustrated with it... I'm the "nut" in my family when it comes to homebirthing and homeschooling. But from an outsider's perspective, maybe you could praise your dad for his knowledge of mechanics, and thank him for pointing that out to you? (about the tire). I think other people are more likely to listen to our knowledge, when we acknowledge their strengths and knowledge as well. Anyway, good luck, and if this doesn't apply to your situation, please just disregard, since obviously I don't know you or your dad.

-Helen

one could even escalate the debate and say that you don't have the safest tires on the market for your particular driving climate/habits, let alone improperly inflated tires. most people here are fanatical about car seat safety and other aspects of motoring safety, to the point of being completey obsessed with and beholden to NHTSA/IIHS ratings, yet fail to heed even more basic cautions such as making sure you have safe tires. as a long-time car enthusiast, i can't comment enough about the importance of spending a bit more and getting the best tires out there. it can be the difference between life and death in a panic situation. and as a car enthusiast, i can also tell you that most cars come from the factory with absolutely mediocre tires. sure, they pass all gov't standards, but then all cars also meet gov't standards for crashworthiness. so if we become so obsessed about crashworthiness, why aren't we obsessed with other passive and active safety features?

i bring this up rhetorically, and would encourage debate. frankly i see myself assimilating into car seat fanaticism myself, although i do try to keep things in perspective. we all like to take on certain "causes", and it's fine if we don't exercise the same degree of fanatacism with all things as we do with one or more pet causes (such as car seats). we mostly operate within a "safe window" of judgment in all areas of life, while heading toward the extreme end of the bell curve in a few areas. if we lived our lives obsessed with any and all things safety related, we wouldn't have lives worth living.

that said, while you guys educate me about carseats, i'm going to do my best here to encourage all safety concscious parents to make sure they are hauling their precious cargo on the safest and most capable tires, because frankly, i think they are as important in preventing or minimizing a crash as carseats are in protecting during a crash

-spb