I'd been hearing about these for awhile now from other moms. Not only are they known as a particularly "safe" seat (which, frankly, I'm not as concerned with as I probably should be), but - best of all - they are ultra slim, so you can actually fit three in a row in a car!
Since Flora was born, our minivan was basically at capacity. We had the two big kids in the back row, and the two little kids in the middle bucket seats. But now we're able to put three in the back, and take out one of the buckets to free up a big space for groceries, strollers, or whatever else we want to haul around. Plus, it's a very convenient spot to kneel when buckling people in. And if we are blessed with a fifth child in the future, we will not have to worry quite yet about upgrading to a huge 12-passenger van!
Ahh, it's truly a thing of beauty!
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| Annoying coffee stain, courtesy of Tom's long-lost travel mug that we discovered under the seat when we removed it |
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I've written before about how unfortunate it is that something like "how many kids can we fit in our car" ends up determining ultimate family size for some people. And truly, in this day and age, that can be a very legitimate concern. Very few parts of the country are still built on a "human scale," and most of us are dependent on cars to get around and do our daily activities. While taking public transportation everywhere might be an option in some places for a single person, it's a much different matter if you're trying to haul around four little kids and all their paraphernalia.
But really, how sad is it that a piece of technology that humans didn't have/need for most of their history, has now re-shaped our world so much that it prevents some families from having more children?
Oh goodness it looks so luxuriously spacious! We had a setup like that briefly when the twins were babies, but buckling was still so hard no matter what because we had two infant seats... We went through so many different arrangements!
ReplyDeleteI was just talking about this with Stephanie. I think it will take another kid to convince Keith to actually buy a mini van ... but yeah, once you fill that up, it becomes this *big decision* to have another child for that reason, and it seems so ... arbitrary.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. You can fit three across the back? I wonder if that would work in our minivan. The third row is much narrower than the second row when the middle seat is in. When we were in Cinci recently we did have 8 people in our minivan, but one kid was nOt in a car seat and the kids in the back had to climb through the trunk! Fine for one day but if we had five kids it would be hard. In MD the kids have to be in a car seat pretty much until they can drive.
ReplyDeleteI went back to your other post. "Our finances were pretty stretched, but were they so stretched that it was inconceivable to support another?" That's the best NFP pun ever. And a Princess Bride reference. You win the Internet, as they say.
Looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteMay I ask what kind of van you have? We're thinking about shelling out the dough for three Radians to go in the back of our Honda Odyssey, but my husband is dubious that it will fit three across.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Facebook group dedicated to car seat advice where I bet somebody could fill you in! Car seats for littles? Something like that... We have a Town & Country and currently have 3 non-radians across the back, but I think it's more spacious than an Odyssey?
DeleteWhat kind of seats do you have, Rosie? Maybe I can just look up the product description and measure. And I'll check out that group, thank you!
DeleteOurs is a Dodge Caravan. The Radian advertises on the box that they "fit three across", and I have not heard of anyone having a problem doing so. Be advised, though, that they are very snugly fit together. If any of your kids is 50+ pounds and able to use the seat as a booster, I'm not sure they'd be able to access the buckle.
DeleteExcellent, thank you. My oldest is only 4 years old and about 32 lbs, so we don't have to worry about boosters for a while. I'll probably have to upgrade to the church bus eventually anyhow at the rate we're going, ha!
DeleteThree across in the back row is just awesome! We have a seven passenger van and are expecting our 5th, so after 11 years of using my current minivan I'm going upgrade to one with room for eight. I recently ordered a Radian for my four and a half year old and I'm really impressed with it. I think I'll be buying another for our two year old soon since I know I'm going to have three seats in that middle row in the not so distant future. When you have older kids, that third row gets a bit tight, but we are doing our best to not have to move into 12 passenger van territory.
ReplyDeleteAhh!! We just had to reconfigure our back seat when we got a "new" van. We could fit three across in our old one, but for this one we bought a brand of boosters called "Dream on Me" and they seem to fit better. We currently have two high back boosters and one regular booster back there. Our van is currently maxed out, and the "new car" issue is going to be a big one if we have any more kiddos. Up to five kids it was always workable, but after that.........
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never heard anyone talk about how many people can fit in one car as it relates to family size. I experienced a little bit of that when I lived in my grad school community. There were six of us. One of the guys had an old-school car with a fold-out sixth seat (plus seatbelt). We took that when we went downtown all together, but man, did it feel weird to pile out of that like it was a clown car!
ReplyDeleteHey, maybe if larger families catch on, they'll figure out a sweet spot between the 8-seater van and 12!
I believe there are a few cars like that already. I know I've heard some bigger families talking about Chevy Suburbans and Ford Excursions...I think both can seat 9?
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