[Mackpipes]

For the past week I've been playing Mr. Mom. Which means I've been carting both kids around in the 911. My youngest (Ella) is 9 months old. My oldest (Cole) is 3 years old. Cole rides in the back seat in a Graco Comfort Sport, front facing seat (thanks Vu ). Ella rides in the front seat in a Graco rear facing infant seat. She has to ride in the front because a rear facing seat won't fit in the rear. The car has no airbags, and after checking with the FF County Police, found it not to be illegal.
This morning I was accosted by a Honda Odesey driving soccer mom in the parking lot of Target at seven corners. We had both arrived at the same time and were both unloading the kids. She looked over while I was unbelting Ella's car seat from the front seat. She imediately asked if the car had airbags. I replied, no. She then said, "I know you think it's fun to drive around with the kids in your little sports car but your putting them in danger". Then she told me she was a volunteer tech (?) and that every time she saw a person driving with thier child in the front seat she would cringe. That it was the most dangerous place for a child to be. I told her that a rear facing child seat wouldn't fit in the rear of the car. And futher more, this only being a two door, in a major impact, the extraction crew would have a more difficult time getting them out of the rear of the car. She then told me to go check out a safty website and then see how I feel about putting my kids in harms way.
It took everything I had not to let her have it. But I had my two kids and she had her 4-5 year old daughter with her. I thanked her for the suggestion and went into the store.
What's kind of ironic is when I saw her in the store shopping, she had her daughter in the cart standing up. Every cart in that store has a diagram of how not to carry your child in a shopping cart.

"Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

Anyway, I'd love to open a can of worms on this one and get some other viewpoints, opinions, experiences.

[Jazzbass]

I think about this argument everytime my kids get on a school bus with no seatbelts.

Martin: Although I'm sure I will receive a severe wedgie from my bus-mates, I must remind you that we should have been at school ten minutes ago.
Otto: Uh oh, better fasten your seatbelts little dudes.
Lisa: We don't have seatbelts.
Otto: Uh, well, then just try to go limp.

Well, yeah its more dangerous than driving her around in the back of a huge SUV with more mass to destroy everything in its path. A 911 is a small car, so I'm sure sure if there is much of a difference between front or back.

But its a complex argument, and you know from your time on the Hill that we Americans don't like complex arguments - we need simple, black and white solutions to the worlds complexities.

For example, are your kids more or less safe in a 4000lb mini van that you have less control of or a 2600lb 911 with a sport suspension that allows you to better avoid accidents? How about brakes - the 911 will stop faster (unless driven by Jase) than a 5000lb SUV with crappy GM brakes. Which is safer?

[Mackpipes]

God I wish I'd thought of that one while I was be raked over the coals next to my "little sports car".

[Cliff Claven]

If you were perhaps a bit older, you could have told her it was a mid-life crises thing--the choice was either get a sports car or start sleeping around, and the sports car was in fact therefore better for the kids than driving around in a minivan because it kept your family intact; and that meeting her was fortunate because it reaffirmed for you that you'd made the right choice.

[racer]

You should have at least said something to her and her kid when you saw them improperly secured in the cart.. and then rammed the cart with your own and said "look who's in trouble now"

ok.. now as a parent.. I have so far only "threatened" to let my son use his car seat in the front of my non-airbag 911. I am waiting for the appropriate fall day when its cool enough. Then he will learn to enjoy the 911... sight and sound.

A friend of mine used to put his kids in their Boxster (only when the kid was front facing in a booster) as well as put two car seats in the back of the 964. The wife thought it was a hoot to show up to pick up/drop off the kids in the 964 instaed of a real "mommyvan" like all the other kids.

While a small sports car may not provide the space (ie crumple zones) to absorb an impact from a 4000lb Honda Oddysey, it may just be nimble enough to not get hit anyway...

I say strap the kids in and let them enjoy.


(All of these opinions are based on my own child hood experiences of being made to sit in the middle of the rear seat of a 911 with two older brothers.. from having a mom who wanted a 914 when new, but when the salesperson pissed her off, she went back "with her husband" and bout a 911 instead... some people just don't "get it"...)

[Jase007]

How about brakes - the 911 will stop faster (unless driven by Jase) than a 5000lb SUV with crappy GM brakes.

Ouch ... and double ouch ....

BTW ... my crappy GM brakes only have to stop 4898 pounds!!



Jase

[TD in DC]

I REALLY don't react well to other people telling me how to raise my kids. It is perhaps my number one pet peeve. It is amazing how many people out there come up and give you unsolicited advice, and that advice is usually wrong. As most of you who know me realize, I like kids better than I like adults. Nonetheless, I would never dream of giving parenting advice to anyone, and I would never intervene unless I saw a kid being physically (or seriously mentally) abused.

I have said some fairly rude things to the few people who have given me unsolicited advice. Once, I said something to the effect of "As soon as you start changing the diapers on my kid at 2:00 am, I will start caring about your opinion on how she should be raised." Another time I said something like "As soon as I father one of your children, you will have a say in how one of my kids is raised."

Someone once made a comment about me hauling Sofia around in the 996, and I told them that the Porsche was designed for surviving wrecks that occur while racing, and that it is undoubtedly safer than the mass-produced domestic tin box they were driving. I also pointed out that I was using a seat specifically designed for use in my car. Even though yours is not, you could say that anyway.

GRRRRRRRR.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you put both kids in the back?

[986SChris]

Thank God i'm sterile...

[Mackpipes]

Todd, I am with you on the free advice thing. While I did let it go fairly easily, in my head I was dismembering her digit by digit.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you put both kids in the back?

Ella, my 9 month old daughter is still in a rear facing seat. Her seat won't fit in the back securely. When she gets old enough to face foreward, she'll be in the back with my son. I usually only do this seating arangement when dropping them off at daycare in the morning which is only a quarter mile away. The past week my wife has been working on a huge DoD proposal for her company. This means I have the kids all day every day. So much for taking August off.

[Jazzbass]

Originally Posted by TD in DC

"As soon as I father one of your children, you will have a say in how one of my kids is raised."

I like that one.