(no subject)

[birdwatcher]

In recent crashes and old ones, in big vehicles and small, in one-car crashes and multiple-vehicle crashes, there is no evidence that car seats do a better job than seat belts in saving the lives of children older than 2. (In certain kinds of crashes -- rear-enders, for instance -- car seats actually perform worse.)
[from marginalrevtion]

Comments

[ant-fugue.livejournal.com]

I have a SERIOUS issue with mandatory carseats. My daughter could not bear to be in one as an infant, and I believe that there was some kind of a physical reason - she hated being in any kind of a similar half-lying-down-without-being-swaddled arrangement. I don't know whether the found it scary or whether her body hurt in that position. She was happy riding in a car in my arms.

While I agree that most kids should be in carseats, I wish there were an opt-out form, just like there is for claustrophobic adults. Parents should be required to have one in the car and maybe document their attempts to get the child to ride in one (Valya accepted the carseat once we switched to the toddler version), but they should not be required by the state to make their children cry until they are blue in the face just while going to the babysitter.

Surely in our situation driving with a screaming infact (we tried the "crying it out" proposition b/c living in central Indiana without using the car is extremely limiting, and she lasted for more than an hour at 3 weeks old) was much more dangerous for us and other drivers on the road than taking a small risk of going without a carseat.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

Ужас.

[ant-fugue.livejournal.com]

Yea, well, guess which decision we ended up making about driving with a baby. Turns out that breastfeeding babies are nicely concealed under a blanket while a carseat with a top closed and covered by another blanket does not look conspicuously empty.

I went through a stage of strongly disliking police officers on sight. While rationally I understood that they were just doing a job, emotionally they were the people who hated my baby and wanted to make her cry.

On the plus side, since we did not want to tempt fate and the police force more than absolutely necessary, Scott learned how to do grocery shopping all by himself. :-)

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

:)
Но без Скотта ты просто не могла никуда поехать? Не за рулем же кормить?

[ant-fugue.livejournal.com]

Нет, мы могли только вдвоем.

[ant-fugue.livejournal.com]

Где-то после полугода Валя начала понимать, что если сесть в машину и потерпеть совсем чуть-чуть, то мы приедем к ее любимой няне, и она согласилась не рыдать в сиденье по утрам на это время. Это очень помогло.