You, Your Child and No Regrets?

We’ve all done things that as we age, we look back on and wonder how our children lived through our ‘limited information choices’.

Years of No Seat Belts

Remember when you could put your baby in what could be ‘barely defined as an infant seat’ and just set them down…no seat belt?  Maybe you don’t, but moms did just that. They even lay their baby down on the front passenger seat wrapped in blankets to be near them. Why? There were no mandatory seat belts in cars until the late sixties, early seventies. The only one who regularly pushed seat belts (for over 10 years) was Ralph Nader, much to the auto industry’s dismay.

Mandatory Front Seat Belts Only

Then the law stepped in to have front seat belts be mandatory. Okay, so we put the baby on the back seat, maybe next to an older child. Still no back seat belts, no infant seats, no child booster seats. Then came the back seat belts, lap seat belts and infant seats with seat belts. It was inconvenient…bending over in the back seat buckling in, pacifiers falling, etc. Such frustration along with the baby crying, poopy diapers and the toddler whining.


During these years of progressive law intervention, in the beginning we said we didn’t need the seat belts…hated them too. We said we hated the kids being locked down. How could we reach them if they needed our help immediately on the freeway?

“The law usually steps in when poor judgment is accepted as the norm” 

So they educated us but some didn’t buy into the whole idea until we aged and the next generation came. There were also laws passed to ‘protect the children from being left in vehicles’ and gas stations began to have you pump the gas.  The new dilemma is would you leave your child, infant to older, in your car while you ran inside to pay for the gas…no debit card, no credit card to use at the pump.  Or would you go through the process of getting them out of the car, stand in line possibly and then put them back in the car?  Some states give you that choice.  They have not ‘made the call’ yet as to whether we’ve been making poor choices.

Making My Own Choices as Grandmother

When I’m in charge of my grandchildren, they are my priority. My life at that moment is to protect them as completely as I can even if it’s an inconvenience at different times. This is coming from a grandmother.

I was ‘FOR leaving a child in the car’ when I was a young mom. Hauling them inside a mini mart store or gas station was inconvenient to me, to the kids, and nobody elses business if I did or did not leave them in the car. Now that I’m a grandmother, I don’t see any wisdom in leaving them unattended in a car.

The law does step in when poor judgment is accepted as the norm….when habits are established and children become endangered.

We know eventually if it’s poor judgment leaving our child alone in the car:
•by aging (call it hindsight or wisdom),

•by consequences due to our choices,

•by 911 being alerted (Police show up) and

•by laws being created to enforce what they deem as poor judgment on our part. 

Or the best way:

• by gaining knowledge ofthe pros and cons, making up your own mind because you live with the consequences

Do you agree or disagree?  What are your thoughts…please leave your comments.