Memo to car seat manufacturers:
I'm onto you. So are the "Freakonomics" people. (Read more about it here.)
Look, I consider myself an experienced parent. I have three kids, been installing car seats for 5 years, worked at Babies R Us, (discounts, hooray!) and even took a few car seat safety classes. No other kid gear intimidates me more than the car seat. I'm still never fully certain if I have ours installed correctly.
Would it be too much to ask if you could simplify things? I can break down a Pack N Play in my sleep, can strip down any highchair on the market...I can even walk and chew gum at the same time. What I am trying to say is that I am an educated, quasi-intelligent consumer, and I struggle with the seats. Surely there must be a better way.
I understand where y'all are coming from. Any changes made must be thoroughly tested before introduced to the general populace, especially in our litigious society. I get it. I am willing to pay more if I can rest well knowing that damn thing is in right. Yes, I know there are car seat inspectors. It's about the convenience factor. I am a mom to three....do you have any idea what it takes to get them loaded up and ready to go? Furthermore, do you have any idea what it takes to get your product installed in my vehicle? Again, willing to pay BIG money for an easy to install correctly seat. Big, BIG money.
LATCH was an improvement. But like a hot-to-trot frat boy on a Saturday night, I need more. I need a seat that buys me dinner first. Hell, I'd even settle for one that didn't act like a recalcitrant two year old constantly refusing to do what you expect it to do.....get in the car like a good little seat. It is completely appalling that I need a shower every time I install one. Y'all are just trying to get me naked like that frat boy. Well, I got news for you....the show ain't all the great anymore, so the joke is on you.
Please, I beg of you. Make a seat that's easy to install correctly. Or I may have to resort to drastic measures.....
You really don't want to see pics of me naked installing the seat. Trust me.
Look, I consider myself an experienced parent. I have three kids, been installing car seats for 5 years, worked at Babies R Us, (discounts, hooray!) and even took a few car seat safety classes. No other kid gear intimidates me more than the car seat. I'm still never fully certain if I have ours installed correctly.
Would it be too much to ask if you could simplify things? I can break down a Pack N Play in my sleep, can strip down any highchair on the market...I can even walk and chew gum at the same time. What I am trying to say is that I am an educated, quasi-intelligent consumer, and I struggle with the seats. Surely there must be a better way.
I understand where y'all are coming from. Any changes made must be thoroughly tested before introduced to the general populace, especially in our litigious society. I get it. I am willing to pay more if I can rest well knowing that damn thing is in right. Yes, I know there are car seat inspectors. It's about the convenience factor. I am a mom to three....do you have any idea what it takes to get them loaded up and ready to go? Furthermore, do you have any idea what it takes to get your product installed in my vehicle? Again, willing to pay BIG money for an easy to install correctly seat. Big, BIG money.
LATCH was an improvement. But like a hot-to-trot frat boy on a Saturday night, I need more. I need a seat that buys me dinner first. Hell, I'd even settle for one that didn't act like a recalcitrant two year old constantly refusing to do what you expect it to do.....get in the car like a good little seat. It is completely appalling that I need a shower every time I install one. Y'all are just trying to get me naked like that frat boy. Well, I got news for you....the show ain't all the great anymore, so the joke is on you.
Please, I beg of you. Make a seat that's easy to install correctly. Or I may have to resort to drastic measures.....
You really don't want to see pics of me naked installing the seat. Trust me.
You send this letter out to Graco, etc...I will sign it. Especially after last week. The scene: Me, alone, trying to install a car seat in the back seat of a rental car before my daughter arrived. Oy.
Thanks for the comment at my place and for liking my feet. They're not perfect feet, but they've done right by me this long so I think I'll keep 'em.
Posted by
Mom101 |
3:37 PM
Heh. As you know, my kids are 11 and 8, so I come from the stone age of baby equipment. All I can say is...A.Fricken.Men. Whatever happened to the integrated car seat idea? They teased us with it and then never delivered. I thought that was brilliant. Like, Nobel prize brilliant.
Great post, and I too will sign off on this, even though mine have graduated. I imagine I'll have grandkids oneday. Naked granny installing carseat...ew.
Posted by
Blog Antagonist |
4:05 PM
Before Chicky Baby was born we brought our car seat straight to the state police and had them install it! But now she's turning 1, so that means turning the sucker around and reinstalling it. Oh, crap. It might take the Hubby and me until she's 2 before we get it right.
Thanks for stopping by my site. I think Rod Stewart on AI is the sign of the apocalypse! I'm stocking up on duct tape as we speak.
Posted by
Chicky Chicky Baby |
6:41 PM
I know what you mean. My wife and I were recently gifted two base stations and a carrier for a car seat that latches in and out. The latching is the easy part. When we bragged to friends we had installed it with little difficulty, they were quick to show us how flimsily it had been installed. "It's not supposed to move around like this," they said shaking it vehemently from one side of the back seat to the other. For the life of me though, I could not figure out how to make that belt any tighter short of tying it to the rear bumper of another car and slowly inching forward. Very frustrated.
Posted by
kevin black |
9:13 AM
I'm embarassed to say that I always let Husband deal with the car seats.
I can friggin figure it out and I guess if I didn't have him, I would go to the local firestation and make some cute firefighter install it!
Posted by
Mom on the Run |
1:27 AM
LOL
just popped by and can say that, "I concur."
Sometimes I wish it was the 70's and the kids could just pile in.
Posted by
Mrs. G.F. |
9:16 PM
Ok, you posted this a few months ago, but I'm just giving a resounding "YES!" to it. I too have done my fair share of sweating while trying to install the car seat. And very often I wonder WHY does it have to be so very difficult? and, after all the effort, is it even installed correctly? It really makes you wonder.
Posted by
EmilyJane |
7:28 PM