Extremely annoyed at carpool aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question..where do their legs go? Are they sitting indian style? Maybe my kids are just big.

Mine sits Indian style or with his feet against the back of the seat. He's never complained and we drive long distances frequently..

[Anonymous]

Invest in a mirror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ehhhh...my 5 year old who is 36inches and 30lbs who is still rearfacing...

I don't really care if its popular. You can't fix dead and my son is way safer rearfacing.

This is nuts.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration's guidelines for 4-7 years olds say:

Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child outgrows the forward-facing car seat with a harness, it’s time to travel in a booster seat, but still in the back seat.
http://www.safercar.gov/parents/RightSeat.htm

The American Academy of Pediatrics says to keep your child backwards until they turn two - or until they are one and twenty pounds:
http://www.parenting.com/article/car-seats-safety

Yes but my child if you look at height and weight is not the size of an average 4 year old yet.

I wish they would recommend bases on height and weight.

My son didn't even weigh.20 lbs until 28 months

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
.... That is definitely unusual. Most five-year-olds in NW DC are in booster seats.

and you know this because? you have observed all cars throughout NW DC to determine this?

I would guess that ..... most 5 YOs at your child's school are in booster seats.

My 6.5 YO is in a 5 point harness FF carseat - and many of our peers have their children in carseats still.

However - if I was to guess on the NW DC population of 5YOs - I would say that they are not in carseats OR boosters. When I travel across the city, I observe many young children who look in the 4-6 range in nothing - just in the backseat. Open your eyes a little bit and explore beyond the upper NW neighborhood that your are familiar with. Many families across the city do not have the means to purchase the expensive seats that everyone on this thread is mentioning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be annoyed too but she is past the AAP recommendation which is until 2.

I'm not the OP, but the recommendation is actually until at LEAST two, so she isn't really past the recommendation.

WRONG - All children two and older should be in convertible seats and forward-facing seats with harness.

In a new policy statement published in the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics now advises parents to keep toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age two, or until they exceed the height or weight limit for the car seat, which can be found on the back of the seat. Many parents currently choose to flip their child to forward-facing around his or her first birthday.

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token

Convertible seats and forward-facing seats with harness:
All children 2 years or older, or those younger than 2 years who have outgrown the rear-facing weight or height limit for their car seat, should use a Forward-Facing Car Seat with a harness for as long as possible, up to the highest weight or height allowed their car seat’s manufacturer.

This is not correct and I'm confused that the AAP this information posted (pp, not faulting you, as I know you quoted it correctly). Here's the most recent AAP policy statement on carseats: http://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/state-advocacy/Documents/Child_Passenger_Safety_SLR.pdf

It recommends that children be rear-facing AT LEAST until age 2. Two is the minimum recommended, assuming the child hasn't outgrown the carseat at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
.... That is definitely unusual. Most five-year-olds in NW DC are in booster seats.

and you know this because? you have observed all cars throughout NW DC to determine this?

I would guess that ..... most 5 YOs at your child's school are in booster seats.

My 6.5 YO is in a 5 point harness FF carseat - and many of our peers have their children in carseats still.

However - if I was to guess on the NW DC population of 5YOs - I would say that they are not in carseats OR boosters. When I travel across the city, I observe many young children who look in the 4-6 range in nothing - just in the backseat. Open your eyes a little bit and explore beyond the upper NW neighborhood that your are familiar with. Many families across the city do not have the means to purchase the expensive seats that everyone on this thread is mentioning.

That is an excuse. I make 11.37 an hour and my kid has a good carseat it is a choice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question..where do their legs go? Are they sitting indian style? Maybe my kids are just big.

+1 I cannot even imagine my 3.5 YO's leg positions if he were rear facing. Twisted like a pretzel around his neck?

[Anonymous]

Just FYI rear facing 2+ year olds is crazy to a lot of people, myself included, whose kids are too old for the new guidance on car seats. Mine are 5 and 7, both were forward facing at one per the recommendation at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ehhhh...my 5 year old who is 36inches and 30lbs who is still rearfacing...

I don't really care if its popular. You can't fix dead and my son is way safer rearfacing.

This is nuts.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration's guidelines for 4-7 years olds say:

Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child outgrows the forward-facing car seat with a harness, it’s time to travel in a booster seat, but still in the back seat.
http://www.safercar.gov/parents/RightSeat.htm

The American Academy of Pediatrics says to keep your child backwards until they turn two - or until they are one and twenty pounds:
http://www.parenting.com/article/car-seats-safety

The AAP no longer says this. Cite to the AAP policy statement, not a magazine article which got it wrong.

As a tech/instructor, I know it is not wrong to turn your child FF before 2, but it is certainly not best practice. It is safest to keep them rear facing to the maximum height/weight of the seat. RF longer than 2 years of age continues to protect their neck and spine in a crash that happens with the front of the car (at least 70% of all crashes).

As a parent, you have to make the choices. At a seat check, I can tell you the safest ways we know, but I can't make you do them. I will, however, never turn a child FF before 1 and 20 pounds -- and believe me we have parents asking to do that all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ehhhh...my 5 year old who is 36inches and 30lbs who is still rearfacing...

I don't really care if its popular. You can't fix dead and my son is way safer rearfacing.

You have a five-year-old child facing backwards?!?!?! How does he/she go on playdates in other people's cars?

I've got three children in different schools and I've never, ever heard of or seen a five-year-old facing backwards. That is definitely unusual. Most five-year-olds in NW DC are in booster seats.

Wow, your kid doesn't ever ask to see where he or she is going? My 3 and 5 year old kids notice road signs, trucks, people walking, etc. and we can talk about what we are seeing. My five year old loves practicing reading signs that we pass on a regular basis. I think it helped him figure out how to read. The other day my husband took my five year old for a playdate and he didn't know the way. As he was calling me to get directions, my five year old was able to tell him where to turn.

I'm the OP and I just don't get this argument.

My 2.5yo loves telling me when the light changes, the signs she sees on the other side of the road, she spelled COSTCO the other day while we passed COSTCO by the Pentagon Mall. How rear facing keeps the child from seeing the road? She knows when we're passing in front of her favorite playground, she cheers up when we're approaching grandma's house, etc. I just don't get your argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question..where do their legs go? Are they sitting indian style? Maybe my kids are just big.

OP here. DD loves playing with her shoes and her newest game now is to kick the headrest. We put stuff up there and she plays around kicking it. Oh and grabbing the seat belt and stretching it and letting it go with her feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
.... That is definitely unusual. Most five-year-olds in NW DC are in booster seats.

and you know this because? you have observed all cars throughout NW DC to determine this?

I would guess that ..... most 5 YOs at your child's school are in booster seats.

My 6.5 YO is in a 5 point harness FF carseat - and many of our peers have their children in carseats still.

However - if I was to guess on the NW DC population of 5YOs - I would say that they are not in carseats OR boosters. When I travel across the city, I observe many young children who look in the 4-6 range in nothing - just in the backseat. Open your eyes a little bit and explore beyond the upper NW neighborhood that your are familiar with. Many families across the city do not have the means to purchase the expensive seats that everyone on this thread is mentioning.

That is an excuse. I make 11.37 an hour and my kid has a good carseat it is a choice

Very big excuse as many of the counties in the area have free car seat programs. You don't need an expensive seat. There are many reasonably priced seats. Montgomery County offers free or reduced cost seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ehhhh...my 5 year old who is 36inches and 30lbs who is still rearfacing...

I don't really care if its popular. You can't fix dead and my son is way safer rearfacing.

You have a five-year-old child facing backwards?!?!?! How does he/she go on playdates in other people's cars?

I've got three children in different schools and I've never, ever heard of or seen a five-year-old facing backwards. That is definitely unusual. Most five-year-olds in NW DC are in booster seats.

Wow, your kid doesn't ever ask to see where he or she is going? My 3 and 5 year old kids notice road signs, trucks, people walking, etc. and we can talk about what we are seeing. My five year old loves practicing reading signs that we pass on a regular basis. I think it helped him figure out how to read. The other day my husband took my five year old for a playdate and he didn't know the way. As he was calling me to get directions, my five year old was able to tell him where to turn.

I'm the OP and I just don't get this argument.

My 2.5yo loves telling me when the light changes, the signs she sees on the other side of the road, she spelled COSTCO the other day while we passed COSTCO by the Pentagon Mall. How rear facing keeps the child from seeing the road? She knows when we're passing in front of her favorite playground, she cheers up when we're approaching grandma's house, etc. I just don't get your argument.

Mine too. I get yea's when we are near our favorite place. Mine tells me to go or stop with the lights and points out what they see. A 5 year old doesn't need to know the way. That is the adult's job or a GPS/Mapquest directions. It isn't an issue RF. My child easily sees out the window as our seat sits up higher for back and side views. Mine just puts his feet on the seat back or inside his seat. It is no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just FYI rear facing 2+ year olds is crazy to a lot of people, myself included, whose kids are too old for the new guidance on car seats. Mine are 5 and 7, both were forward facing at one per the recommendation at the time.

Speak for yourself. We have older (20's and younger children 2-3) and have no issue adapting to it. We RF in my parent's cars too. They fully support it and bought us a swedish seat to make sure we do it as long as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question..where do their legs go? Are they sitting indian style? Maybe my kids are just big.

+1 I cannot even imagine my 3.5 YO's leg positions if he were rear facing. Twisted like a pretzel around his neck?

My 3.5 year old has plenty of leg room and is very comfortable.