Safety First
November 9th, 2006
As Lex quickly approaches the limits of our current carseat, I’ve been researching new carseats and discussing them with my local twin’s club. The overwhelming consensus is the Britax line of carseats. They allow 5 point harnesses up to 80 pounds! And California is considering an 8 or 80 law for carseats. That means my children could be in carseats until they are 8 years old or 80 pounds. I have NO issues with this law, it is to protect the lives of our children. Shoulder straps in the car kill children because they are not designed for children. I also don’t personally like the belt positioning car seats, I prefer the 5 point harnesses even though that means a lot of buckling and unbuckling hassels for the next 5 years. Sure beats the alternative if something were to happen!
So, the seats we’re looking at purchasing in the next couple of months is the Britax Regent.
Thanks TVMOTC and Erika especially for the great information!
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"The Upside Down Show"Probably the BEST show on tv for kids these days.
Although I agree w/ safety and all that goes along w/ that for my/your children… I remember being w/o a car seat or seatbelt growing up (maybe we did have car seats for babies, IDK) and all the kids I know made it through to adulthood w/o issue.
Don’t get me wrong Son, you know I don’t mean anything neg about it. It could be that its really 1:30AM and I have to get up and get packing to come home. Hmmmm.
All I keep thinking is those kids will not want to be in a car seat until 8. Mine were (still are) hard to keep in now and she is only 6. They don’t want to feel like a baby any more. They want to mature. JMO. Sorry.
On the flip side, if you are going to do it. Those are mighty nice looking seats.
Gina - I totally get where you’re coming from. My mom tells me tales at how they drove to CA from TX when my brother was just itty bitty, with NO carseat!! They just put his crib mattress in the back seat and made him comfortable there. We never had carseats when we were little and no one wore their seatbelts either.
The difference is, that now there are MANY more cars on the roads and many more children/adults being hurt in car accidents every day.
I’m preparing for the long haul with these seats and will revisit the issue once my boys are much bigger and if/when they begin to have a problem with it. But I do know that Lex is in no way ready now for a non 5-point harness and that is what 90% of the next size car seats offer.
Thanks for the info Son - I will have to use this resource one day on my blog. I haven’t had to think about this sort of thing for something like 20 odd years (sheesh that really dates me hey!) Now I have Janice come w/ her boys and other young moms. I bet they will appreciate your research and info. Thanks for sharing - coming to your blog is like visiting you x2!
I completely understand everyone wanting to keep their child safe. My question is this, I have one Britax and now need a second. My daughter is 4 and 1/2 and there are really no options out there for a booster with a 5 point harness since I do not have a Latch System. Do 80 pound kids really sit in carseats, I mean at 70 pounds are they going to start saying “Mom I look like a baby!”. Anyone have experiene with an older child and the carseat/booster situation? Please share, thanks so much for any help or insight!!