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Original poster

shocked at some parents!

26 replies

sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:21

Today after picking up my kids from school with DH, we strapped the kids into their seats and drove down the road. While waiting in the queue of cars to get onto the main road we spotted the child in the car in front was standing up inbetween the two front seats ShockAngry Do people really not value their child's life???

OP posts:
Tanzie · 08/03/2006 22:23

It's a common sight here. I've even seen someone cycling down a main road with a 6 month old baby under HIS arm, and on the side of the traffic too.

When I was little, we used to ride in the back of my Uncle's truck. But as I told my Mum, they didn't know any better then. Smile

starlover · 08/03/2006 22:24

sm i saw a lady in a bg 4x4 earlier in the front passenger seat with baby on her lap! didn't even have the seatbelt round him

Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:26

I used to ride in the boot of my grandad's estate car, but it wasn't the law then, and I don't even think there was seatbelts in the car

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Hattie05 · 08/03/2006 22:26

There used to be my sisters and several cousins all clambering all over the back seats and boots of our car when we were kids. But as Tanzie says they didn't know any better Smile

I read in a magazine today - an excert from Nursery World in 1926.

"my 18mth old baby has been having trouble going to sleep in his cot, so i tried giving him a smacking, it worked, after a smack he didn't make another noised and went straight to sleep, so i gave him a smack before bedtime for the next few nights and now he sleeps much better"

Shock Shock.

If Mumsnet had been around in 1926 wouldn't it have been a great read? Grin

NotQuiteCockney · 08/03/2006 22:27

starlover, for what it's worth, putting the seatbelt around the baby in one's lap isn't a good idea. If the driver brakes suddenly, the adult will crush the baby.

(Of course, without the seatbelt, the baby will go through the windscreen.)

Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:28

I remember when we used to go on holiday, there was me and my 3 siblings in the back of a car that was intended for 3 people not 4, my poor brother had to sit in the footwell...

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starlover · 08/03/2006 22:30

i guess either way is pretty stupid eh nqc?

sm are you me??? my friend and i used to have to sit in the back of her dads estate car!
AND i can distinctly remember us both sitting on various people's laps in the back of cars... so 5 people in 3 seats!!!

VeniVidiVickiQV · 08/03/2006 22:31

Oh god yes NQC worse for the belt to be around the baby. Although, even going at just 30mph with a baby on your lap just being held - in an impact you wouldnt be able to hold on to the baby and it would be straight through the windscreen.

That said, my DD is very adept at undoing her seatbelt without me knowing and on one occasion recently i didnt know she had undone until i braked hard and she slammed into my seat. Although, as soon as i can see she is free and starting to climb across seats i stop the car and put her back.

Hattie05 · 08/03/2006 22:32

LOL we all used to do it. No wonder people buy people carriers now, how else do you have the fun days out and holidays we all used to?

Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:37

When we got bigger my dad brought an old army van, it even had a gun holder under the seat Grin but it meant no sitting in the footwell or on laps

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ThePrisoner · 08/03/2006 22:41

I fell out of the front seat of the car when I was nine (no seat belt and door not shut properly!!)

When I was even younger (2 years-ish), I was apparently standing up at the dashboard and, when the car stopped very suddenly, embedded my teeth in the dashboard!!

(Please note that I am very very old, long before seatbelts were even invented I think!)

Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:43

My brother fell out of the car when he was 4. We were all squeezed in the back, the door hadn't shut properably and as my dad went round the roundabout the door flew open and out fell my bro. Parents only realised when we girls started screaming 'S has fallen out' Shock My mum ran back and my brother was standing on the edge of the roundabout waiting for mum....

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Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:45

Thank god for seatbelts now, I just don't understand why people could risk their childs life, especially since all cars have seatbelts (the car in front of us today was a 03 model)

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jco · 08/03/2006 22:48

We five kids use to squeeze into the back of an old volvo estate, we all use to argue over who was going to go in the boot cos for some reason we all loved it!!! i'm talking about a good 25 years ago though, a parent would be in big trouble these days for letting their kids sit in the boot!!

ThePrisoner · 08/03/2006 22:50

sparklymieow - do you think I could be your brother??! That's exactly how I remember my little tumble (perhaps I got the age bit wrong!)

Original poster
sparklymieow · 08/03/2006 22:56

lol TP, makes you wonder how many actually fell out of cars before seatbelts eh!?

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ThePrisoner · 08/03/2006 22:59

Not really sure that I should post what I did with my own dd when she was a baby then ... oh, who cares ... we dutifully used to strap her carrycot into the back seat, nice and securely, and then just laid her in it ... can't believe that anyone used to think that was OK, but we all did it!

NotQuiteCockney · 08/03/2006 22:59

Oh, I fell out of the back of our estate when I was about 4. I remember the spray of gravel on my face, from the car behind. I bet I scared that driver to death!

goreousgirl · 08/03/2006 23:01

Hattie - wouldn't it be good to track the 1926 smacked baby down and see what kind of personality they are today (not that at 80 you could probably tell too much ....)? Poor little thing.

kid · 08/03/2006 23:04

I find it so shocking when I see children not wearing seatbelts (in the front or the back) but the adult driving has their seatbelt on. Angry

ThePrisoner · 08/03/2006 23:04

OK then, who's going to start a new thread - How Many Of You Have Fallen Out Of A Car?

Can you imagine how awful it must have been for the driver - my mum in my case - to be driving along and see their darling child just "fall out"!!!

NotQuiteCockney · 08/03/2006 23:06

My sister once fell out of a camper. In the middle of the night. I think it was raining.

My mom was lying in bed, thinking, "that child crying outside sounds just like my DD2 ... shit, that child crying outside is my DD2".

Hattie05 · 08/03/2006 23:07

LOl gorgeous girl, i guess there are a lot of 80 year olds out there whose parents followed the advice! Smile

Could it be the cause of many "age related" diseases? Wink perhaps our generation will suffer less forgetfulness in old age.

nightowl · 08/03/2006 23:39

saw three of them not so long back in the car in front. standing up on the back seat waving at us through the rear window Shock

brimfull · 08/03/2006 23:45

when I was a student nurse doing my midwifery bit in the 80's we used to make this big deal of wheeling the mother in a wheelchair to the door of hospital with baby in her arms.Then wave them of ,mum in back with newborn in her armsShock.

I feel really old .

Also remember this woman and her baby coming for coffee when my dd was a baby(14 yrs ago).She didn't have a car seat,just put the baby in a carrycot in the backseatShock