Grandparents don’t want to buy car seats for kid visiting

[Anonymous]

Why would you ask them to buy carseats if this is just a trip for visiting? You bring your own carseat. Dang. They were asking you what poptarts to get...type of milk. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Just buy a basic car seat and have it shipped to their house. You don't need all the bells and whistles for a few days in Grandma's car. My parents had a very basic Costco car seat for when we visited.

[Anonymous]

My parents, who live in Europe, and all the American, Asian and European grandparents I know, were very diligent about car seats: they bought the appropriate ones for their cars without a second thought. And these are people in their 70s and 80s! My kids are 19 and 14 now.

You should excoriate yours until they comply, seriously. This is a priority and not something you let slide. If they are so destitute that they cannot buy something so important, they should have let you know *in advance* so you arrive with the right stuff, or order one to be delivered to their address that they could install.

Shame on them.

[Anonymous]

I can see being ticked off that they didn't say something ahead of time. They should have told you they weren't buying them. You could have made appropriate arrangements, like bringing your own.

Do you visit often, or is all of this for a one time visit at these ages?

[Anonymous]

Be a parent op. Bring car seats.

[Anonymous]

There are a few simple solutions:
1. go rent some at the car rental place
2. have one parent Uber to Walmart/Target and buy them
3. hang out at the airport and wait for Instacart to deliver them to you
4. (if they are older and not infants) run back in the airport and see if any kiosks sell Bubble Bums which is an inflatable booster seat. I've seen them sold in various airports for parents to buy before flights.

My parents live in the same town as us and even then, we bought the car seats for them. Mainly because I know my mom, who likes to go for the cheapest option possible.

[Anonymous]

Go to the store and buy them? I'm confused as this is an easy solution.

The kids are ultimately your responsibility and not your parents.

Confirm before you fly in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My parents, who live in Europe, and all the American, Asian and European grandparents I know, were very diligent about car seats: they bought the appropriate ones for their cars without a second thought. And these are people in their 70s and 80s! My kids are 19 and 14 now.

You should excoriate yours until they comply, seriously. This is a priority and not something you let slide. If they are so destitute that they cannot buy something so important, they should have let you know *in advance* so you arrive with the right stuff, or order one to be delivered to their address that they could install.

Shame on them.

WTH?!?!? They are just visiting! The grandparents aren't providing back up childcare on a daily basis! If you don't want to rent a car seat or take your own, ship some to the grandparents. Good grief!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP sounds crazy and the grandparents sound crazier. This is really not rocket science.

My parents were born before the Great Depression and even they always used car seats with the grandkids. I totally don’t get these old people that don’t believe in modern safety knventions. The next time they say something like that, point out that their parents lived without MRIs and knee replacement or glucose monitors or EKGs or statins so maybe they should give up all that stuff as welll (plus their iPhone and kindle).

So your parents are about 100 years old, therefore you are 70-80, your kids are in their 40s and your grandchildren are older elementary?

You forget in the 80s they didn't make carseats for kids over 2, yet your parents had carseats for all the kids. I think you might want to get checked for dementia.

My parents are 96. My mom had me in her mid-40s. I had my kids between 35-40, so they aren't in car seats anymore (youngest now in MS) but it wasn't that long ago. My parents grandkids were born between the 1980s and 2012, so yes most of them had car seats.
The point was more that there are lots of older people that LOVE the newer safety innovations. They knew lots of people that died in accidents, lost kids in accidents, etc. They love car seats, vaccines, antibiotics, pasteurized milk, etc.....but I always brought the car seat and pack n/ play when we visited -- didn't expect them to buy new stuff for us. (I think we did use a very old high chair that someone had bought them to use when they used to babysit the older grandkids, but it had straps and was basically safe if kid was monitored)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is odd. Are you sure when they told you to make a list, they meant items like that? I would never expect them to buy those.

Then why didn't the parents just say that instead of leaving their kid and grandkids hanging. that's not hard.

And everyone clearly has a different experience - my parents not only bought the carseats, but asked if they could and made sure they got exactly what we asked for.

[Anonymous]

It's a long time ago, but I remember just flying with the car seats.

[Anonymous]

They probably don't know how to install them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They think it’s a waste of money as it’s a small town and it’s safe to drive around everywhere. I would be happy to pay for it myself, had they not sprung this on us when we landed at the airport after they’d asked us what we needed for the trip before, and we said car seats. Wtf

How old are your kids, and why weren't they in seats on the airplane?

NP. Airplane seat belts sit low across the hips for everyone, including kids. The point of a booster seat for bigger kids is so the regular seatbelt will fit across the chest like it does for an adult.

Also the waist, though. Femur length is shorter in kids, and they tend to slump and balance on the tailbone, because their legs aren't comfortable. This pulls the belt off the hipbones (engaging the natural hinge in an accident) and puts it at the waist, where it can do organ damage and snap the spine.

https://thecarseatlady.com/why-boosters-work/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You didn't bring carseats? You flew somewhere without knowing there would be carseats on arrival?

One parent stays at the airport with the kids, and the other parent goes to Walmart and comes back. This is a parent responsibility.

I’m smarter than you: go to the rental car places at the airport and rent car seats.

Sorry, was this meant to be funny. It is a very strange response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is odd. Are you sure when they told you to make a list, they meant items like that? I would never expect them to buy those.

They bought a stroller, a crib, crib mattress, baby monitor, high chair. So yes, they meant items like these.

For a two year old and older kids?