I am irked by a blog post I just read... Not sure everyone will be, but I am really annoyed at how society drums up the ever-knowledgable high-n-mighty stat-batters in their droves with the sole purpose of making those who don't/won't/can't comply feel like utter shit. *Complete with shouty capital letters at you, YES YOU, you fool* I despair.
Let me start from the top.
I've read a post which was interesting, and I took on board what they said. I disagreed to an extent, but still. Then I read someone's comment which, again, was fine and completely valid as their opinion. Then, however, I saw the OP (Original Poster/blogger) reply to the comment regarding 'insanity'.
"Sometimes the Unavoidable Happens" - a post written by a car-seat blogging lady on a mission. Which is amazing. Kudos to someone so fiercely into the cause of rear facing car seats. I also happen to agree with the majority of the posts and opinions written by the blogger. I am also an advocate of rear-facing seats myself as tests have, indeed, proven that forward facing ones do more harm than good in a baby/small child in the instance of a frontal crash/collision. In fact, in 2016 the law is changing to enforce that rear facing seats will be used for longer periods of time compared to the 9 months we're all used to at the moment.
The post centres around the law stating that children can travel without a car seat in a taxi and how there is NO EXCUSE never to have a spare and that us parent's "really... really...shouldn't be" OK with not having one. This taxi law is "a terrible one", "verging on ancient" and "frankly, should be re-written". Oh the "insanity" of it all.
I could practically feel the nobbly knuckles of knowledge poking my rib cage as I read. What kind of a moron would I be to take my child in a taxi without the spare seat I forgot to put in my back pocket that morning?
Here's my viewpoint - I don't drive. I’d be housebound if I had to take Finley in a car seat in a taxi. When I say housebound...
Take shopping (in general, around town), for example. If I took a spare car seat with me, were do I put it when I arrive at my destination and put baby in the pram? (I was using a travel system for a while but as my littlun is now 9 months old, the car seat that comes with it is far too narrow for his growing body) There are no places to store the seat I travelled with him in.
Take shopping (at a supermarket), if I take baby in the pram – how do I push the pram and a trolley at the same time? If I take baby in a car seat in a taxi to the supermarket – what if there are no trolleys with the bases that allow for them to be attached (trust me, they are seriously limited by us), where do I put him? I can’t carry him in the seat and push a trolley. I could pop him in the flip out seat of the trolley but then the trolley is full of stored car seat before I’ve reached the banana’s in the first aisle!
I have and use a (rear-facing!) car seat when travelling with family in their cars, and I also use it when using a taxi directly to my destination that requires no walking when I’m there too.
I get the point of “back then” and our knowledge of child safety in cars changing and I’m not of the “it won’t happen to me” mentality either. Sometimes, needs must. I’m not at all saying that shopping or getting out and about is more important than child-safety, I’m simply saying that just because recommendations change, it doesn’t mean every-day life does.
It's far from ideal but sometimes you simply HAVE to travel (sometimes at no notice) without a spare seat in your back pocket. I just feel that if that law wasn’t there for people like me, I could literally be stuck indoors so I thank the law on this one. Until it changes to taxi's needing mandatory, weight suitable, car seats within their shells then I thank the law on this one. Until your ASDA's, Tesco's and shopping villages etc have some kind of PAYG storage sheds or pram bays, yes, I thank the law on this one.
I don't find that insane. What's insane is how taxi's, shopping outlets or the general public who disagree with the law don't think about people like me but the government, for once, does!
