Ladies, I need your honest opinion. I need to know if I'm nuts. Yesterday, we had an appointment for ds, almost 2, and we were running about 10 minutes late. It would still take about 40 minutes to arrive to the clinic if all traffic conditions were ok.
So I pack the kids in the car, strap them into their carseats, get myself strapped in, we're good to go. Not 1 minute after we left the house, ds, almost 4, pipes up and says, "Mommy, you forgot to put Fix-It in her seatbelt." Fix-It is his stuffed puppy and she goes everywhere with him. I told ds it wasn't safe for me to pull over at the time and that I needed to focus on driving. He kept nagging me and asking me, "Now can you do it?"
I mulled it over all the way down the hill before deciding to pull over into a parking lot. My reasoning was this, what was I trying to teach him about carseats, seatbelts, and safety? He had said he could just put Fix-It in the carseat with him and share. Well, I was trying to teach him that it is not safe to share a seatbelt with another individual (term used loosely in this case), and I was trying to teach him that one always needed a seatbelt when riding in a vehicle. Sigh. So, yes, I pulled over and strapped Fix-It in a seatbelt in the back seat.
Afterwards, I kept shaking my head at what I had done. I still haven't told my husband-not sure that I will. So ladies, am I nuts??? Or was this a justifiable reason for pulling over?
(We made it to the appointment just in the nick of time, by the way.)

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 07:47 am:

Yes, I would have done it. Fix-It is one of your son's "people", and you want him to believe that every person in a car must be in a seatbelt. Absolutely, you did the right thing to enforce in your son's mind all the rules about car safety. And, you showed him that Fix-It, who is very important to him, is important to you - that is, that you care about something/someone he cares about.

This is a story you will share with your son's children when you are a grandma. But I think if it were me, you shouldn't infict it on your son until he is an adult and on the way to becoming a parent. And whether you do tell dh or not, you should not tell anyone else, because this story will certainly get around - it is one of those "too cute" stories - and your son may wind up being teased about it by the children of your friends.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 08:51 am:

Ditto Ginny! Of course *I* think you did the right thing!

By Kate on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 09:05 am:

Of course you did the right thing. I've done it before, too. We've buckled in many a doll but never a puppy.

Also, it's dangerous to drive with an upset child in the back distracting you. Of course that happens many times anyway, but this was a problem easily solved so it was smart you did so.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 09:16 am:

I would have done it!

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 10:58 am:

Yeah, you did the right thing, because you would have been stressed out, by the agitated child in the backseat.

Of course, for me, once or twice, it wasn't a stuffed animal that hadn't been buckled, it was Emily, and Sarah was quite agitated about it. You better believe I pulled right over and rectified that situation.

Oh yeah, and once Emily got old enough, and a time or two, we got distracted and forgot, she started crying. We usually didn't get too far.

By Tripletmom on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 11:47 am:

I've done it many times.

By Kaye on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 03:39 pm:

Going back and forth to college I had a stuffed bear that traveled with me (george). I always buckled him into the passengers seat and went on my way. Well I got pulled over for speeding (another story, i was going 44, in a 30, but was a car length from the 45 sign). Anyway, the officer pulled me over, looked in my car and said, "your bear is buckled?" I said "yessir, it's the law", he smiled and thought about not giving me a ticket...LOL.

I think you did the right thing.

By Enchens on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 04:35 pm:

Thank you ladies. I just wasn't sure. It kinda seemed ridiculous to pull over to buckle Fix-It in her seatbelt, her being a stuffed animal and all.

And no, I won't be telling anyone soon.

Cute story, Kaye.

By Mara on Monday, April 2, 2007 - 08:01 am:

My 3 year old dd always takes a doll or some kind of stuffed animal with her where ever we go and yes I strap it in. She insist that I do it. Yes, I have gotten half way down the road and had to pull over to do it. You did the right thing.

By Mara on Monday, April 2, 2007 - 08:01 am:

My 3 year old dd always takes a doll or some kind of stuffed animal with her where ever we go and yes I strap it in. She insist that I do it. Yes, I have gotten half way down the road and had to pull over to do it. You did the right thing.

By Mara on Monday, April 2, 2007 - 08:01 am:

Posted twice.........weird

By Imamommyx4 on Monday, April 2, 2007 - 10:53 am:

I've done it on many occasions, too.

By Dandjmom on Monday, April 2, 2007 - 02:03 pm:

You betcha, You did the right thing. And Ditto to what Ginny said about you showing your son this is somethign/someone he cares about so you do too. My son has a big stuffed Deigo that he got for Christmas he does every thing with with him sleep eat watch tv. The weekend we had a packing party and Deigo was sitting in one of the children's chairs and my cousin wanted to sit down so she just picked Deigo up and tossed him on the floor. my son looked and said ma. I let my son hear me tell her , that was not nice, he was sitting there you could have asked him to move we don't push people around in this house.

Kaye you said the office thought about not giving you the ticket, since you where such a safe driver and made sure that all occupants in the car where buckled did he maybe let you go with just a warning.