Question Inexpensive FF recommendation please

[dogmelissa]

Today I babysat for my babysitter's daughter (yes, a little confusing). I had thought that I might take the kids to a splash park or the library so asked mom to leave H's seat. She brought it in my house and it freaked me right out - I can see that it meets the criteria, but it's a piece of absolute garbage, IMO. An Evenflo Traditions. Exp Dec 2013.

They are tight on money but I may be able to work a deal to basically buy her a better seat in exchange for babysitting time. Looking for a recommendation for the following:

3 year old girl (as of June), weighs 34 lb fully dressed including shoes. Not sure but close to 36" total height and I'd say "average" to perhaps a little tall in torso height (her shoulders are at the 2nd highest slot on the Traditions).
Must be FF &/or FF-booster combo. Her main ride is the front passenger seat of a Ford Ranger truck (I have no idea if it has air bags, year of the truck or anything). I think, though I may be wrong, that the truck has LUAS.

Looking for an inexpensive seat, something easy to install as it appears it is often moved to different vehicles. Preferably something with harness adjustment NOT on the chest, like in the Traditions.

In the meantime, I need a little help clarifying where the harness should be. As I mentioned, H's shoulders are at or perhaps just below the 2nd to top harness slot, but the harness is currently threaded through the top slot. It should be moved down, right?

This is a young mom, naive in many ways. I don't want to step on her toes at all here - I know the "Golden Rule" to never give advice to parents of children older than yours - but they live on the outskirts of town, drive on the highway a lot, and I'm not really sure this little girl is as safe as she could be. Any advice for how to tactfully approach this?

Thanks in advance,
Melissa

 

[An Aurora]

I'd just leave her in the Traditions. The straps can be in any slot above the shoulder, although it's generally best to have them in the slot closest above the shoulder.

 

[tam_shops]

:yeahthatlove:

The seat might not be to your liking, but it is not expired and it does not sound too small (harness slots need to be above the child's shoulders).

If I remember correctly, the harness slots on that seat are not that high, so if she outgrows and/or when it expires, it before she is 40# and/or 5-6yo, then I'd look at the Maestro. While , it's also evenflo and has that same flimsy plastic, it has SIP and will be more up to date...

I've never heard that golden rule of not offering advice to parents w/ kids older than yours, kind of like it! Hope I haven't unknowingly offended anyone, not knowing it! LOL

tam

 

[smackeen]

If she fits the seat, then she is fine.

Lower priced seats would be the Maestro -47lbs (booster outgrown shortly after harness) or the Harmony v7. Harness 50lbs, Booster to 110. Converts to a no back booster also.

 

[snowbird25ca]

I agree with not worrying about her being in that seat. It actually probably even has EPS foam on either side of the head area. It has a decent harness height and if it's questionable of whether or not she's even with the 2nd highest, it sounds like it's probably better to have them in the highest - different seats install at different angles in different vehicles and it's possible that she may be over the harness slots in some vehicles and not others.

The on-chest harness adjusters can be very problematic for small kids, but for a 3yr old they usually are ok and as a side benefit it can sometimes prevent a child from being able to slide the chest clip down if you have a houdini.

If you notice that the harness seems a bit loose, then I'd probably mention it casually with a tip of "I found this easy way to tighten the harness, how do you usually do it?" and then give her the tip of how to tighten the harness best on the seat, then leave it at that.

(The tip is to start on the side opposite where the adjuster is and grab the hip strap and pull on it so the chest strap is snug. Then pull on the opposite hip so that the slack from the first hip is pulled over. Then tug on the chest strap above the buckle and you should be left with all the slack sitting between the buckle and the adjuster and you just pull the tail to take the slack out until it is properly tightened. It is much more complicated to describe than it actually is to do, lol.)