The answer is of course to ALWAYS use a car seat. I recently heard that the leading cause of death for toddlers is not some horrid disease but from car and truck accidents. If you’re involved in a truck accident, a blog post from Regan Zambri Long explains how a truck accident lawyer can help. Even without that mental torture in my head, I use a car seat at ALL times. But when traveling, things start to get tricky. Sorry for the last couple of days, I have been on my way to Taiwan with the family to visit the rest of my family so from a combination of jet lag and inability to access the Internet, I have not been able to update. I would like to stress you out with my first report of my trip.
A child car seat that was in a car when it was involved in a collision should be replaced, even if there is no visible damage. It may have been weakened to such an extent that it will not provide the same level of protection in another accident, this as per the examples found at https://localaccidentreports.com/category/new-mexico/.
Our first day here we had a big family reunion dinner with the side of the family that is not always so polite and nice to each other, due to generations past, not anything to do with me or within my control. So my parents were a bit high strung and they were hosting so being late was not an option. We get in the car to find that it does not fit 3 car seats (my nephew was in the mix). The plan was for the kids to take the car with car seats perfectly in place and the rest of the adults would take a cab but now it seems that that plan has busted a gut. There was yelling and confusion and my mom said to just take my 5 year old in the cab and, “Let’s GO!”. I could upturn the precarious balance of family politics by insisting that we wait for one of my cousins to let us borrow a car, which would of course take an hour plus and thereby ruining the family reunion, or just get in a cab. So I got in a cab feeling nervous and like a bad mother. The entire time I am weighing the risks and benefits of what I’ve done and the equation always calculates to equal that I am a horrible mother. I’ve broken the golden rule, never compromise their safety.
The picture here is of my daughter being ridiculous and happy to be a “big girl”.
Your daughter is a beauty.
I absolutely agree about always using a car seat, even if it requires additional organizing when going on vacation etc.
That said. I have occasionally had to forgo the car seat too, mostly when away from home. Don’t feel bad, we always do our best.