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Saturday, February 27, 2010

How Times Have Changed!

When my grandbabies come home from the hospital, they ride in a comfortably padded, safe, state-of-the-art, carseat. In fact, before the parents can remove the baby from the hospital, the car seat is examined and deemed worthy to cradle the precious cargo on the way home. The newer model cars have hardward built in the seat that will allow the infant's car seat to fit tightly, with no chance of movement.

34 years ago, things were a little different. Look at the picture below. Of course you can look at the beautiful babies, but, what I want you to focus on is the "infant seat" on the left side of the picture. THAT, my friends, is what cradled my twins as they made the journey from the hospital to our home. (There were two infant seats, of course)


The nurse carried one of the babies, in the seat, while I held the other baby, in the seat, on my lap while Andy pushed me out to the car in a wheelchair. He put one baby's seat on the passenger floor of our old 1963 Chevy Impala. The nurse placed the other seat next to the first and I sat with my feet straddling our two infants. The nurse wished us luck, shut the door and away we went!


So there you have it, for the next 2 months, we drove around with Candice and Camille on the car floor; in a piece of cheap, molded plastic, with a slightly padded plastic cover, and a narrow piece of metal that supported the whole thing ! It's a good thing I was a good driver!
Am I the only one who had such "good" equipment?

21 comments:

Ann Marie said...

We had a seat just like that one!
I sooo remember it!

I know it's safe now.. but seriously.. sometimes I think things are too precautious. Mom's back then had it easy traveling.

My Mom nursed her babies on her lap and they were great because they were held the whole time!

I layed across the back window in our Monte Carlo. My 5 brothers and sisters all just piled in and some were on the floors etc.. they were good times.. and we fit our family of 8 in a ford fairmont.

Now.. if you have more than 4 kids.. you HAVE to buy a mini van or SUV. It's COSTLY living in these ages.

I'm glad we are safer... but traveling back in those days was AWESOME compared to now.

Julie Harward said...

Us too! I drove for years with my kids jumping around in the back of the suburban! We drove from Utah to Illinois with 8 kids and a baby that sat in my lap the whole way there and back! Times have changed....this world has changed...so changed!

Brenda said...

I can't believe any of us are alive today!!
friend THOUGHT she was done having kids...she has 5 boys!!...and just bought a brand new minivan and found out she is pregnant (it's a GIRL!) and she is just sick because there are not enough seat belts for her whole family when the baby comes....
My 6 kids cramed in the back seat of my chevy and we went LOTS of miles together! Oh...the memories!
What a trip down memory lane to see that plactic baby carrier. Those sure were CUTE babies!!!

Small House said...

It's a wonder we even survived. HAHAH I don't think my mom even used a car seat. I remember her wrapping up the baby nice and tight in a blanket and laying her on the seat next to her. When she'd stop she'd reach down and hold onto her, while my brother stood on the seat next to my mom. CRAZY!!!

OH WHAT FUN!
Have a great day.
Sandra

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Ya, my firstborn rode home on my lap.
I shoulda been turned in to the CPS

Kazzy said...

If that was only 34 years ago, how did my mom bring ME home 46 years ago? Sitting on a rock?

Jill K said...

Who's the old man in the last picture?

KC said...

That's insaine to think of the differences from then and now. I don't remember ever wearing a seat belt when I was younger. It was so much easier to travel then...you just grab a pillow and blanket and lay the back bench down to a bed and wake up and you were at your destination! It was wonderful!

gigi said...

Yep I remember those flimsy things, yuck. Glad things have just gotten better. We never wore seatbelts as children.

CB said...

Isn't it amazing that everyone lived through all of those old carseats, no bike helmets, and stuff like that! ha ha

They didn't make us have a special car seat for my first 4 kids but I do remember them checking it out on our last one - he's 9. Funny how things change :D

P.S. Cute babies :D

Kimmie said...

LOVED the old retro green seat in the first photo

It makes me smile thinking of the FUN we had traveling as a kid. I remember fighting over who got to sleep on the floor wells when we traveled to Montana for Thanksgiving at my aunt's house.

Yes, times have changed. I had no idea it was like that, until I had Jade and we got ready to check out and they wouldn't let us leave without a car seat and so Tracy had to run to Kmart and get one before his wifey and son could leave the hospital. YES, my how times have changed.

LOVED your photos of your sweet babies!

Have a SAFE and happy week!

wendy said...

Oh man, that brings back memories. I HAD THOSE EXACT BABY SEATS.
I never buckled my children up in the car. Always held my babies in my lap IN THE FRONT SEAT.
crazy
pretty much everything I used for my kids when they were teeny as been OUTLAWED AS DANGEROUS.

but they made it, all 5 of them

Nana said...

Oh, the good old days!!! ha ha ha.

Unknown said...

Thanks for visiting, Connie. What a great blog you have here. I chuckled at this post. Similar happy memories about our family growing up in England. No seat belts; feeding babes in back seat while travelling; kids climbing all over me in the back when they got too disruptive and I wanted to keep them happy on long journeys; cardboard carrier for the latest baby sitting on back shelf. Would never survive without a ticket these days doing all that :-)

Sondra said...

Duct tape??? -- Ha ha ha ha.. I remember those seats too. It is amazing that we are all still alive.. But with cell phones, texting, stupid drivers, more people on the road... I'm certainly glad that we are a more safety conscience people.. I don't think we would survive with those old seats in this day and age. To many crazy drivers.

Jenny said...

I remember the days of no seat belts & that car seats were not that big of a deal. I recall my mother having a similar car seat to bring home my brother.

Times really have changed.

Connie said...

When I read Sondra's comment about the duct tape I wondered what she meant. I went back to my post and noticed my son had made it a little more colorful! That's what I get for leaving my post open and unattended! ;D I have since changed it back to the original, boring post.

Valerie said...

I remember my parents having a seat or two like that, but I'm not sure how much they used them. I have 5 brothers and sisters and we were always bouncing around in the car without even seat belts on most of the time.

Barbaloot said...

Love the difference-that is awesome! I think it's kinda sad we can't hold babies in the car-but I guess safety is better:)

I've had cousins that go so far as to sit in the back with their child and car seat---rather than up front with their husband!

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Those plastic seats came along in the in th early 60's.....hard and cheap and everyone had them for their children or else sat in one themselves.

Before that, babies were in baskets and bassinettes in the car until they were old enough to sit on someone's lap.

But we all lived, didn't we?

Valerie said...

I remember fitting 4 kids and two parents in the cab of our Ford pickup. Whenever we'd see a police officer my dad would yell "Hit the deck!" and we'd all duck, thinking we were outsmarting everyone. For longer trips to the mountains, he would put an old mattress in the back of the truck, put the shell on and we'd ride back there, with our casette tape player and listen to Abba. Those were some good times!!