21 May 2009

Family heirlooms

A favorite story in my husband’s family features his grandmother tying one of her young sons to a chair. Not in an abusive way, you understand. She simply wanted a five-minute stretch in which she knew where he was and what he was (and wasn’t) doing.

What this thing really needs is a seat belt

I’m raising that woman's grandsons. I totally get it. Loading multiple children into car seats can be a real pain. . . but on the other hand, I’m guessing that I’m not the only mom who has occasionally strapped everyone in to drive an unnecessary distance on a non-urgent errand. (I also have a feeling that this phenomenon diminishes as the children increase in age and quantity. But I could be wrong there.)

There's a reason they call this a "child restraint system"

8 comments:

Ewe said...

The church ladies here talk about how they used to tie their children to the clothesline with a long rope. The kids had quite a big area to play in without the moms worried about the children getting too close to the highway. They laugh about how many of them did that years ago and how none of them would do it today.

Cheryl said...

One of my vivid childhood memories is of my first grade teacher (Mrs. Patterson) tying a classmate to his chair. I even remember his name--it was Perry. He was a handful. I don't think her disciplinary strategy would go over very well these days.

MooreMama said...

Is that a Britax Boulevard? I'm currently coveting that seat. Working on convincing the DH that the DD NEEDS that seat!

Oh - and said DD is still little enough to "contain" in her walker. It's like a nifty plastic bumper cage that keeps her just far enough out of stuff that our current beagle-proofing is close enough to babyproofing... :)

Untamed Shrew said...

Reb Mary, my friend co-sleeps and has no high chair, so when she has to put the tot in a safe place she buckles him in the van and leaves the door open! hey, whatever works.

My 6 mo old is NOT contained in the walker, plus we have a 3.5 yo who would just love to help her down the stairs. So the walker stays down and I would so love an exer-saucer for upstairs.

MooreMama said...

Joy - DD likes to turn herself half around in the walker (well, she did before she learned that she could just spin the whole thing around) so we borrowed an exersaucer - she just got mad because the exersaucer didn't move. The only reason that DD's contained in the walker is because she hasn't mastered the tile-to-carpet transition yet, so she can't leave the kitchen/dining/entry areas. And her reach isn't much further than the walker base. :)

Untamed Shrew said...

I wouldn't even care if my dd got mad--just knowing that she was safe while I'm single-mommin' it on Sunday mornings would be enough for me.

Reb. Mary said...

Cheryl and Ewe: OH, for the good ol' days :P

I'm sure that it's for the best that tying children to chairs in school isn't exactly legal anymore...then again, I'm sure there are more than a few elementary teachers wishing they had a few more classroom management tools at their disposal...

Joy, it was a sad day here when BabyBoy graduated from his exersaucer (which, by the way, was a yard sale snag--if you've got decent garage sales in your parts, you can probably find a deal!). Now he has to holler from the pack n play when I need him safely contained for a few moments.

MM, I actually don't know what kind of carseat that is--it just looked impressively constraining enough for my purposes here :)

MooreMama said...

Reb. Mary - It's fabulously constraining indeed. :) And (mean mama that I am) in that seat, I can make her rear face until about the time she starts kindergarten.

Joy - I was thinking 'bout you when I locked Callie in her crib this morning so that I could have a minute in the bathroom to myself... and we bought a pack and play today so that I can do yard work tomorrow and Monday.