The bang

Remember how I said I go out with a bang.... This is my response to a carseat post (I copied from a draft as I am not shunned there, so I may have changed wording here or there, but not much) where I differed from the norm and said I was going to go with a Britax Marathon, price be damned, over a Evenflo Triumph (or Titan or whatever stupid car seat CR is recommending this week).

First of all, CR is not the end all and be all of car seat safety. Maybe it is just me, but I never ever take what ONE person says as the gospel. I research, investigate, get insight from others and THEN make a damn decision on what I am going to do.

And guess what, I don’t then second guess my decisions, think I did something wrong or get all pissy when someone ELSE makes a decision that differs from mine. Know why? Because when I make MY decision, I know I am doing so with all the best information that I can find. Period. End. Of. The. Effing. Story. My decision doesn’t work for every family -- who give a crap. My decision doesn’t need to be the popular one, just the one that I feel is best. Actually, usually the least popular decision is the RIGHT one.

Yes, I am lucky to be able to say that price doesn’t ever factor in. Actually, lets be honest -- I am NOT just lucky. I have MADE myself the way I am. I am the one who busted my ass through law school. I am the one who worked 80 hour weeks as a paralegal WHILE GOING TO SCHOOL AND REMAINING ON THE GOD DAMN DEANS LIST to so impress my law firm that they offered me a position and I am the one who continues to bust my ass, work insane hours, spend time away from my children so that I can in fact never let price factor into most of my decisions. I don’t blow money, but I do make sure that I don’t have to even think twice about it when I am making a decision about my kids.

The fact that some people choose to spend money on clothing, bibs, fancy sheets, expensive strollers RATHER than spending the money on a car seat boggles my mind, but you know what -- NOT MY CHILD SO I DO NOT CARE.

I don’t think there is an unsafe car seat. There are unsafe USERS of car seats. There are car seats that are easier to use than others, but there is in fact no unsafe car seat. Find the one that you can use and be done with it.

Do I think a company that has had to withdrawal its findings, has been sued no less then 2 dozen times in the last 7 years and outsources their research to God knows who is the end all be all?? NO and quite honestly I think their opinion is better used to line a bird cage then to make a decision. You know whose opinion I value most?? Car seat technicians who install the damn things and EMTs and Cops who respond to accident scenes -- they are the ones who see whether a car seat worked or not in REAL LIFE, not someone who tests them in a close facility with no oversight.

You are only overly sensitive to someone contradicting you when you are unsure of your own decision. That too, is not MY Goddamn problem.