albatross @ 114, I think Patrick and others are objecting to the suggestion that someone's name having changed and they then requesting people use the correct one is in any equivalent to getting personal details wrong.
My father happens to go by a first name which isn't on his birth cert. He was always addressed in the family by the first name he uses, which they meant to have as one of his middle names, but it got dropped. Him using that name isn't getting a personal detail wrong and anyone who insisted on using his birth cert name would just be silly.
(Rules having been more flexible in the past, his passport is in the name in general use. Which makes sense to me, because it's the one everyone except the registrar of births knows.)
(Wandering further off the point, my mother has no middle name. This makes form designers very unhappy.)
JESR @264, fair point. I suspect I wouldn't be so resistant to the multiple seats if the grandparents lived closer. But each one is only likely to be used 3 or 4 times a year. And therefore they would be fitted for each visit anyway, introducing risk each time.
The more I think about it the more resistant I am to putting her in a car ever. The risks are just so difficult for me as a non-driver to quantify, especially given the cost if I get it wrong. I guess this is the other possible expression of the maternal instinct that usually gets expressed in the purchasing of a Volvo or other tank like vehicle.
Mary Aileen @255, good idea!
Ursula @240. Once you get used to cloth carriers the idea of carrying a 20lb+ kid in one of those bucket seats just makes you boggle. It can't be good for one's back. Regardless, paying for a plane seat plus a new car seat would make flying totally unaffordable. The baby's more deeply green dad sees that as a good thing but it's not his family that lives in the US.
abi @241. I should have been clearer I don't merely not drive. I can't drive. So I'll be using public transport of some sort (which includes taxis) from the airport, not a rental car. We do have one of the bucket type seats but she's outgrown it and the next size up seem much less transportable.
The sets of grandparents are all offering to buy seats for their cars which means one baby consuming 3 car seats, which just seems silly.
I'll keep an eye out for the toddler seat when she's big enough. I wish the black taxi company would just bite the bullet and come up with an infant protection system - they seem to cater for every other possible contingency. Though, as you say, for many families baby equals finally getting a car so us occasional hold outs are probably not worth catering for.
Anyway, I don't mean to spawn a whole subthread about trying to navigate through a car dominated world without a car, I was just wondering if anyone had any tips about how to balance the wish to protect one's baby when they occasionally do have to get into a car with the impracticality of carrying modern infant car seats around without a car.
I'd love to hear more thoughts about kid seats. Specifically what the hell those of us who don't drive and therefore don't own a carseat of our own should do.
I mostly just don't get cars with my daughter, but sometimes it is unavoidable - like getting to and from airports that aren't on a train line. In the UK I tend to sit in the backwards facing seat with the baby strapped to me (I carry her in a sling anyway) but even that doesn't feel very safe. I'm going to Wiscon with her this year and I have no idea how we're going to get from the airport to the con hotel safely.
I also refuse pointblank to get between city coaches with her - the belts are a farce. I do get within city buses because the average speed is slower - once again I go for the backwards facing seats if possible. I also get the train.
I find it very difficult to find advice as most seems to start from the assumption you have some sort of car and are wondering what seat to buy.
And I doubt I'll ever forget the sensation of my baby becoming weightless in my arms during turbulance. The baby plane belts are a pain but I'd never dream of not using one.
Teresa, I live in the UK, so I'm familiar with Vindaloo, in all its glory. I live within earshot of a football ground, a Scottish one which means the songs are different, though just as special.
YouTube is a very frightening place.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 7 |
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