hrmmm... that gives me something to ponder... since just switched my youngest (9 months old now, but a big, strong baby) from a rear-facing to a front-facing, due mostly to the fact that he looks to have positively out-grown the rear-facing one, and in a small part due to his reluctance to stay lying down i.e. keeps trying to get up. Mind you, my three other children have all been strapped in from the day they left the hospital, so it's not like I am doing it out of ignorance (or apparently I am?).

...anyway, always keep your young uns in the car-seat, however they argue,scream or throw tantrums... the younger they start, the easier it will be... my first child was born in the uk, and the first thing the hospital gave to us was a proper child-seat when they found out we had none (actually, they gave us a whole bunch of stuff, from clothes, diapers, medicines, and even a stroller... yeah I know... it was a used one but still... but that's another story) and were taking him home via taxi. So, coming home I stuck with the whole rigmarole, even when I apparently was the only one interested in the safety of my kids, since both sets of grandparents were tsk'ing and tut'ing, looking at their grandchild being strapped in, especially when they start fussing or crying. Even the wife tries to persuade me to let the aby ride sans carseat for all sorts of reasons e.g. short distance, baby screaming etc but hey, what's the use of being the head of the household when you can't put your foot down especially on something as essential as your child's safety?

...keep'em strapped in... malang memang tidak berbau... it really rankles me when I see apparently educated and loving parents letting their children un-strapped in the car, or even worse, stick their heads/hands out of the window or even the sunroof... I am like, my god

...Well, kids being kids, they're just doing what's natural for them i.e monsters ... it's the parents I don't understand... everyday when I pick up my two kids from school, I frequently see this lady in a viva, stop her car leaving half on it on the road, leave a small kid on the passanger seat then bring literally a whole brood of kids into the car. there must've been about 7 in the back seat, i kid you not. and each time i am like ...just came out in the papers today, the 4-yo kid being taken when the car he was in was hijacked after the dad left the car with the engine running to go to the shops for a few minutes... if not for the fact that there was a real kid involved, I would have said 'serves you right' if anything nasty happened... brainless...

... not saying I am anywhere the perfect father of course, but stuff like this really makes me wonder how adults like these function...

This post has been edited by grinner: Mar 22 2011, 12:16 PM

...think booster seat is the way to go. My 4 yo just graduated from a carseat to using a booster seat, and though he pleads once in a while to not use the booster seat like his two older siblings, I told him he does not fit in the seatbelts yet and if anything happens, he might get hurt. And I tell him he does not want to end up like the kakak in the safety commercials that were on not that long ago (about this girl who came into class with a bruised and knocked up face due to her parents not using seatbelts on her). Works every time