Many people who know me in real life know that I am somewhat of a car seat Nazi.

I am extremely fussy about car seat usage and installations. I like to frequent car seat message boards and learn about new car seat models. I never let my kids ride in any car without car seats. I take tons of time installing my car seats. I want them to be rock solid when they are installed–like they are supposed to be. Why bother using car seats if you aren’t going to install them so that they protect the kids in case of an accident?

I also keep my kids in harnessed car seat much longer than most people. While lots of people I know are just itching to have their kids get to 30 pounds so they can move them to a booster, I still have my almost 7 year old in a harnessed car seat. Instead of buying a booster, when Emma outgrew her Britax Marathon (in height, not weight) I bought her a new seat that would accommodate her height.

Did you know that car seats expire? I never knew they did until I started frequenting car seat message boards. Most car seats have expiration dates on the seat somewhere. If they don’t you can check with the manufacturer. If all else fails, most car seats expire 6 years from the date of manufacture. I know it might seem like a waste to throw away a car seat that looks fine, but if you watch this video, you will never use an expired car seat again.

I also keep my kids rear facing much longer than most people. Emma was rear facing forever, mostly because she was so skinny and she was almost 2 year old before she got to the 20 pound minimum to face forward. With Ian, I had learned more, and just knew that it was safer. So even though he was 20 pounds when he turned one year, I still kept him rear facing.

Nora has been rear facing until today. I kept her rear facing more than a year than most people. Here is a great article about how much safer it is to be rear facing. I really planned on keeping her rear facing until she reached the rear facing limit of her Britax Marathon, which is 35 pounds, but I decided to turn her around today. The weather is what finally got me to do it.

Since we got back from Maui it has been snowing constantly. Nora has been wearing boots and walking in the snow. Every time she gets in the car her boots are full of mud and snow which melts all over her Marathon and the actual seat of the Sienna. I think it will be better to have the snow melting onto the floor, instead of all over her. Another benefit is that she will be able to watch the movie screen now too.

I know that I kept her rear facing MUCH longer than most people. But I still have some guilt about turning her around. I guess I just need to get over it. I have done everything I can to ensure that my kids are safe while driving.

Hopefully someone learned something about car seats by reading this post. I think I’ll get off my soap box now

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