Bye Bye Booster!
Tomorrow our baby boy turns eight. Eight! As a result, our family will finally be free of the car booster seat in which our state requires him to sit. Yes, The Boy is halfway to driving a car, and he still has to be in a car seat.
No one is more excited about this day than The Boy.
Tonight we are going to take one last car-seated ride around the block, and tomorrow we’re going to find some way to (legally) destroy the booster seats.
12 gauge buckshot works really well on office equipment. I’m sure it would work on booster seats as well.
Posted by Jed on July 06, 2010 at 1926 hrs
I recommend fire and plenty of it!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2010 at 1941 hrs
let me know whatworks Wendy. I have a stupid booster that will need destroying
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2010 at 2112 hrs
Donate them to Hope Network in Menomonee Falls, they give any donations to singles mothers in need
http://www.hopenetworkinc.org/
They’ll take car seats/booster seats and other baby/kid stuff as well (which Goodwill won’t)Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2010 at 2204 hrs
Nice thing is both my boys will meet the height/weight requirements before the age of 8.
By the by, I see lots of parents who still don’t comply with this law, thus rendering the “it’s for the children” argument moot.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2010 at 2205 hrs
There’s a great chapter in Superfreakonomics that talks all about how this booster seat thing for older kids is basically a giant waste of time and money - that they’d be just as safe with a seat belt so long as they’re in the backseat.
I’d also vote for donate it if it’s in decent condition. I bet the IRS will tell you it’s worth way more than anyone would actually pay for it!
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 06, 2010 at 2235 hrs
With four kids, we’ve gone through our fair share of car seats. We stopped donating them several years ago when we discovered that one of the ones we wanted to donate no longer met the federal safety standards (even though it apparently did when we bought it new a couple of years before). So… we threw it away. Frankly, it’s not worth the liability of donating something that may get us sued if some kid dies in it.
Posted by Owen on July 06, 2010 at 2245 hrs
I agree; the law is ridiculous, but you should take the higher road (sans booster seat) and donate it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2010 at 2246 hrs
I’d love to donate them, but they have “expired.” The one in my car has a “Do Not Use After” date of December 2005. That must have been the first kid’s seat. I don’t know about the one in Owen’s car.
Destruction is more fun anyway.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2010 at 0817 hrs
Our youngest was weighing himself almost every day in the year before he turned eight, hoping he’d be over the minimum weight.
Posted by Lance on July 07, 2010 at 0906 hrs
RS - For the most part, I agree. The problem, as is often the case with legislative efforts on this tyep of thing, is that the law can’t account for variations very well, and you can’t legislate intelligence or common sense. What matters is if the kid is seated properly with the belts crossing the proper places. In many newer vehicles, the seat belts can be positioned, so there’s no doubt in my mind if properly positioned, the child is safer than with an extra hunk of plastic between them and the seat. That’s all a booster needs to be - a small hunk of plastic that raises the child up so the seatbelt crosses them as if they were sitting 4-6 inches higher. But for other vehicles of course, a booster is necessary to help position the belt. And of course you have a tremendous variation in the size of the kids - my 8 year old is actually pretty close to twice the size of one of her good friends. And on top of it all, when the law tries to deal with the complexities and variations, it ends up complicated enough that people don’t understand it very well - worst of all, it’s the people who lack the common sense in the first place who really can’t understand it.
As far as donating - from what I understand, all recent seats and boosters have been stamped with an expiration date - rather than a manufacture date in order to make it easier to know when to dispose of them. Personally, I’m pretty skeptical about it - seems like they’re expiring faster & faster. But I’m sure the manufacturers have nothing to do with the laws right? I mean they wouldn’t be getting the politicians to help legislate purchase of their products just so they can make more money, would they?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2010 at 1341 hrs
Yeah, it’s ridiculous and wasteful that the boosters “expire”. I can understand it for the more complicated baby carseats- those really have changed over the years in terms of safety and are more complicated with all the straps and buckles. But the boosters are just a way to get the kid elevated and position the belt, like the pp said. They haven’t changed much over the years. The charity I mentioned will take them anyway- they probably figure it’s safer to have a kid in an expired seat than nothing. Hope it doesn’t make them liable. That’s why Goodwill won’t take carseats and other baby equipment anymore- it’s too bad.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2010 at 1409 hrs
Wow, booster seats have expiration dates? I learn something new every day.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 07, 2010 at 1437 hrs
Our boy turned one on Monday. While he did not have the capacity to anticipate getting his car seat turned to the forward position, he was thrilled when it happened. He’s wanted to go on rides each night since.
Posted by Jib on July 07, 2010 at 2240 hrs
Jib - yeah, I remember celebrating that day with both our kids as well. No complaints - the additional safety of rear-facing seems to be a matter of physics that’s pretty easy to understand. Still very much a watershed moment when they get to turn around. For parents, it’s so much nicer to be able to seem the child. And for the kids, the world becomes a wild-eyed wonder like it so often is in other things.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 08, 2010 at 2226 hrs
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