Secondly, as long as their is another adult in the car, THEY HAVE TO SIT IN THE BACK SEAT. No compromises. And she can't stand on the back seat, she must be held, in place by person in the back seat (on his or her lap), and engaged in interesting 2 year old conversations. Otherwise she gets restless and tries jumping from back to front.
Ok let me put it this way,I am a true safety buff. I am usually the one to complain to my pops for not wearing his seat belt, or to my sister for being in the front seat with her baby. However, this is trinidad. You aren't going right there in 15 minutes so let the kid feel a little uncomfortable. You in traffic, in the sun for hours, and it is totally unreasonable for anybody, i don't care who, to say a parent irresponsible for improvising a position, believing its still safe, yet increasing in comfort for the journey ahead.There are the parents who have kids running around the back seat, i see it every day. Coming from town to go Sando or Arima, and i say now if they mash a sudden brakes what will happen.D firs thing is to Get your kids to sit down in the car. Now you are talking about a 2 year old. They don't understand true danger at that age, unless they actually experience it. But after some time of explaining and constant practice, i found that it works when they sit on the lap of her mom and engage in conversation.D second thing is Getting your kids into a car seat. No matter how much any of you blab about "MUST BE IN D BACK", if you and your toddler are alone in the car, in a jouney from San Juan to Arima, YOU WILL NOT LEAVE YOUR 2 YEAR OLD IN D BACK SEAT. I don't care what you say, it ain't happening. They might stay at 3, but definitely not 2. And i have been through a couple of 2 year olds (my nieces). The will eventually adjust to being on their own as they start school, but before that, they want to be in direct view and contact with their parents. And i have tried sitting behind the passenger seat but that don't work. My child could unbuckle the 3 point seat belt and get out, so she has to be in a comfortable position, where she won't act up in the heated car, for 1 + hours on the road.And trust me when i say, with the traffic that i does get through, d only accident i have to worry about is somebody speeding up d opposite direction of the highway, break over the center bank. And if that is the case, we all likely to get crushed in the car, rather than fly out the car.She is becoming more acclimated with the car seat, we went for a drive to tunapuna and she stayed for the majority of the journey, with some complaining, but the car seat was strapped in the front so i could buckle back the belts when she took them off. I don't have passenger side airbag, so that doesn't make much of a difference.Don't think i not taking what you all said in stride. I know of it all. But what you all are preaching is like school. What you learn there don't always directly translate to real world. So you take what you learn and bend it to the situation. When i was a child, that seat belt trick is what my pops did for me. Though i had a car seat in the back with a steering wheel, he said i would never stay. And we had to leave Arima for Town, so you could imagine.Anyhow, i agree with the government's attempt to make children safer on the road. I am just explaining it to you all from my personal experience. And showing you all, from the point of view of parents who actually attempt to keep their kids safe.
Do any of you have kids of your own?AdditionNo matter how much you talk unless you have your own experience you can't truly understand
Regardless of whether or not there is another adult in the car, children must be in the back seat, PERIOD. Take it from somebody whose forehead met a windshield at age six, at NO instance must a child under 10 EVER be in the front.
GOD, I hate it when people pull the whole "Do you have X of your own?" argument. If I had this happen to me personally as a child, then it's just as valid a point as yours, good sir.
