My two oldest grand kids are big enough to ride in the front seat beside me now. I can't imagine how that happened. Of course they wear their seat belts but it seems like it's only been a few months since I was struggling to buckle them into their car seats.
I was very careful about the car seats with the grand kids. I always had our son, Jake, who had been trained in installing them when he was a police officer, take them out and put them in for me, but one time when he wasn't around and I had his girls, I had to go over to the Broken Arrow Fire Department to have them check them for me. I remember how scared I was driving....very slowly....all of two miles to get there when I thought the car seats might not be safe enough.
Times change. When I look back and think how we rode when Jake and his brother, Josh, were little and compare it to how safety conscious we are now I am appalled. We did have car seats but nobody ever installed them. They were just held in by the seat belts. And if one of the kids cried enough, I took him out and held him. While I was driving!! Okay, you will not believe this and guys, you may want to just skip over this part, but I have even driven while nursing a baby. I'm pretty sure someone would be arrested if she did that today.
Angels of Protection were obviously riding in our car. There was plenty of room for them since the kids were usually standing behind the driver’s seat talking to me while I was driving. Most of the time we had a station wagon when my kids were little. There was a bench seat in front but it had an arm rest that you could pull down in the middle and the kids called it "The Hump". It was a treat to ride on The Hump and whoever "called" it first got to sit there, the other had to sit in the front passenger seat, or stand in back, or lie in the floor somewhere pulling toys and french fries and who knows what from under the seat. It seems I've heard since then that spot where The Hump was is sometimes called something else. I think it was called "The Death Seat".
It was certainly not that I didn't care about my children's safety. We just didn't know back then. We didn't have automatic locks on back doors and seat belts were lap belts that I hear now can slice you in half in an accident if the impact is strong enough. Once, when he was about four, we had a friend of Josh's riding with us and the back passenger door flew open when I went around a corner. For some "strange" reason I had just had Josh and Clay both move over behind me, there was an argument or something, and when the door flew open nobody was near it. Of course I stopped the car in a panic and after I got back in from closing (and locking) the door I said, "Wow, our guardian angel was sure in the right place that time!"
Clay looked quizzical. "What angel?" he said. "I don't see any angels."
Josh knew better. "There are always angels around us, watching out for us."
Clay pumped his fists all around him. "Oh, yeah? If there are angels in here, how come they didn't say 'Ouch'?" I didn't have an answer. I guess angels know how to duck.
On trips we folded down the back seats of our station wagon and made a bed back there, then I loaded it up with toys and snacks and a big cooler that could slide around and whack someone who might be in the way. Of course there were pillows and blankets too and my favorite thing was to fix it up for the boys, then sleep back there myself while Dennis drove and the kids were relegated to The Death Seat. Who knew?
Not so today, of course. I won't even pull out of the driveway without my seat belt on and if you ride with me you wear yours too. I will admit, though, that sometimes I start to take it off as I approach the house instead of waiting till the car comes to a full stop. A few years ago, when she was about four, Miranda called me on it. She said "Grandma! The Bible says 'Wear your seat belt at all times.'" Her theology may have been a little off, but the message was still there.
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