Sunday, July 26, 2009

Geo-caching and a moral dilema






I posted some pics of our Geo-caching adventure today. It was sweaty and fun! In the one picture with the Genius writing.... that is a code that some Geo-cachers use to give you clues for hard to find caches. She was decoding it for us.
As for the moral dilemma....back in 2005 my husband was driving a rental car and someone ran into the side of him and he flipped in the car and spun across a highway. He came out 100% injury free. It was really amazing. BUT the car seats (with no kids in them... he was driving alone) both came loose and would not have done a thing to protect our kids. Therefore, we began researching and learned that the best car seats were a brand called Britax. At that time, I believe, they were only officially recommended car seats from the NHSTA. Anyways, we invested in two front facing Britax car seats. The difference in them was amazing. They really grabbed onto the car, were much easier to loosen and tighten the belts, were more comfy, had more layers for protection etc... When it was time for the Genius to move up to a booster, we bought a Britax and then when the Hippie was old enough, we got her a Britax booster. Finally, here comes the moral dilemma. In 18 months (roughly) the Genius will be free to ride in a car without any booster. My husband has a car now too and we wanted a second set of boosters so we could his car on the weekends etc. So, here it is. After researching, we learned the Genius is fully qualified by both state and national standards for a backless booster. The kind where she uses the adult belt. Until now, she has been in a 5 point harness Britax booster. We have bought her the new backless booster for her to use in both cars. But we feel terribly guilty. Here we have the Genius in a $30 booster and the Hippie in a 5 point harness $250 booster. Granted the Hippie is still too small, but still, we feel awful. Any thoughts? Right or wrong? Any new regulations we need to be aware of?

5 comments:

Kristan said...

Olivia is in a booster. TN state says it is safe at 4 years and so many pounds which she has reached. The belt hits her right where it needs to in the lap and on the shoulders. The is the point of the booster, to make sure the belt will work corectly. Don't feel guilty.

Trinka said...

I don't think you're doing anything to feel guilty about.

What if oldest were old enough to ride without a car seat or anything, and youngest still had to be in one. You wouldn't make oldest stay in one just because youngest was.

As long as it protects her appropriate to her age and size ... no reason to regret that it's also convenient!!!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

When you have another baby and HE (haha) is in his super safe rear-facing carseat, you aren't going to feel guilty that the girls arent still in that rear-facing, super-safe carseat. . .right? So then you shouldn't feel guilty that Genious is growing up and gets to be promoted! Pretty soon Hippie will move to the backless one too. I don't think you should feel guilty at all. You are following the laws and you have always made sure your kids were as safe as possible :) You are doing the right thing!!!

Clifford Jeffery said...

Thanks for all the feedback!!