Police State Over-Steppng ... again

I just received an email from babies-R-Us, which is supposed to be doing some big trade-in program ... in the email it stated two new guidelines they are going to enforce regarding car seats --- totally asinine if you ask me ....

1. Children should remain in rear-facing car seats until the age of 2 years old!!!!

2. Children should remain in Booster car seats until they are 12 years old

While I understand that the American academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has children's safety in mind (as well as all that study money they get from the car-seat manufacturers) in mind ... Have you ever tried to get a toddler to want to sit backwards in the car? Can you imagine the number of kids who are going to suffer from motion-sickness as they try to look out the side windows while the car is going? I'm sorry but as a mother and having a degree in Child Psychology from one of the leading colleges in the field ... I have to say ... BULLOCKS!

Now about those boosters - when my kids turned four (before the law changed) they couldn't WAIT to get out of those damned things ... My youngest missed the new "boosters until 8yrs" by one month, you try to tell an 8 yr old that they have to sit in a booster like some baby after having nearly 4 hrs of freedom! Now you are going to have to plug them in until they are 12? BULLOCKS!!!

What will happen when these kids start school? Will the school districts require parents to send Booster seats with their kids in order to ride the school bus? Oh wait that can't happen because they somehow have convinced the government that it is safer NOT to belt kids in on the buses ... when I talked to the transportation dept at our old school district, and probably got the most honest answer I've ever heard:

they won't do it because the belts could be used as a weapon against the driver but more probably against another student, and since the district cut funding for bus aides to watch the kids they felt that the driver could not control an over-crowded bus of children

I'm surprised that they haven't recommended that anyone with a child under the age of 15 ness to drive a vehicle with third-row seating so that children will be better protected from front impacts.

Actually I'm really shocked that the Feds aren't dictating that no vehicles that hold more than 4 passengers can be sold because they have too big of a carbon-footprint (gag gag gag wretch) ... This will force people to have fewer children because they wont have room for them in their cars ... Else it will force people to use public transportation - which already have sky-rocketing pricing to cover operating costs because NOBODY WANTS TO RIDE IT as it is now ... then they can dictate that cars be made thinner so that people won't be able to fit in them unless they are as skinny as one of those 14 year old models who have been starving themselves since age 5 and don't even register in a size of the ladies department ...

Sorry ... Government over stepping their boundaries just gets my dander up!

Here's an idea ... LOWER THE SPEED LIMITS ... As speed limits go up, the number of & degree of injuries have increased ... limits were increased as people became overly confident of their cars equipment - air bags & anti-lock brakes led to speed limits on roads of 70 mph and above! Car seat or not, of you get in an accident at that speed someone is going to get hurt ... and the majority of hospital visits after an accident are going to be children who can not adequately describe any injuries they might have.