Why do perfectly intelligent people not put their children in car seats/seat belts?

[BigBellyCornflakeKid]

I dropped my son at playgroup this morning and another mum pulled up with her twins (age 3) roaming freely around the car It is only 1/2 mile from her house - but what goes through your head when you put them in your car and not strap them in? There were car seats in the car but they weren't in them

personally if i child is sick on car seat they still have to sit in it!

or if theyve wet it (tho when potty training those pamapers mats are fab as you just wip it off and replace it!)

so way would i let a child not sit in a car seat cause there was sick on it...

incidiently little charge used to be sick so often that he would travel in just a nappy (and the heating turned up)... to make cleaning up easier when we got there, so has many a time sat in a seat with sick on...
which IMO is preferabe to being dead

Hmmm Have had ds sat in carseat, stripped to his nappy, wrapped in a blanket in a puddle of sick bless him - but no way was I driving down the M4 with him at 15 months not strapped in - had to stop on hard shoulder 4 times to clean him up and the next two days while car seat was washed and dried we didn't go out in car.

Can't really think of any valid reasons for not using car seat - yeah it was horrible for him but what else can you do where their safety is concerned - and every one elses!

It's the whole "It won't happen to me' attitude.

DD was sick on the car a few months ago & mostly went in her seat. We put a blanket between her & the seat, wouldn't have done it any other way!

I had a huge fall out with my SIL on this as I wouldnt give her & her 2 kids ( 4 & 6) a lift 100 miles on the motorway unless she got car seats for them & buckled them in. If you have kids belt them in!!!!!

I took my youngest cousin out a few months ago, and he frused point blamk to put on his seat belt (he's 12)

So I refused point blank to start the engine and go anywhere.

I have also done this to my mother, who is old enough to know better.

Personally, I am very strict about car seats and that sort of thing, not just from a safety pov, but because I couldn't bear DS1 piss arsing about in the car when I am driving, as I am not the calmset of drivers.

Just on the phone to my dad atm, who reminded me that I sat in the back of his Austin Princess in one of the bcak footwells, because we had my granny, grandpa and auntie in the car as well and I wouldn't fit anywhere else.

We drove from Birmingham to Scotland like that.

We didn't crash, thankfully, but how I diodn;t die of DVT I'll never know.

All I can say is thank God times have changed

I cant stand anyone doing this, but i know that dd has traveled not in a car seat on an impromptu trip that was an emergency and was only 5mins (but had to get there quick) i felt awful about it for weeks, but she did wear the adult seat belt.

i put this on a par with the mums that push their babies in buggies out into traffic without looking, or wait in the middle of the road for the opposite side to be clear.......they'd be the first to shout if their kids got hurt!!!

Yep totally agree, I always have my child strapped in to the correct seat. My sil has her 6 mth old in a forward facing car seat already as she said he looks as squashed in the rear facing one. I mentioned to Mil that he shouldn't be in the forward facing seat yet and she just said well he's getting too heavy to get out of the car in the carry car seat. I had to do it with my DD it's tough, deal with it!!
Mil also says that holding the children on our laps is fine as it was good enough years ago, and that if she gets pulled up she'll say it's an emergency trip! (You are allowed to use this as an excuse according to the law on child restraints) luckily, my sil won't do this so mil now has now bought an extra seat so that both of the grandchildren have one.

Another thing that bugged me was in October last year we drove through Blackpool illuminations. The number of children sat in the front on their parent?s laps (driver and passenger side) or hanging out of windows was ridiculous. One car was a convertible and had two children sat on the folded up roof on the back of boot SHOCKING!!!

My daughter is way too precious for me to risk it. End of story.

{angry}
OH MY GOD, HOW STUPID IS SHE!!
PEOPLE LIKE THAT NEED TO BE FINED AND SHOWNED VIEO FOOTAGE OF WHAT COULD POTENTIALLY HAPPEN!! IT MAKES ME SO MAD, YOUR CHILDREN ARE PRECIOUS!! I BET SHE HAD HER BELT ON!!!
That's it. I shall stop shouting now.