Today is Guest Wednesday. Our first guest writer is Heather’s dh, Matt.
Me: Hello. My name is Matt. I am the husband of a Child Passenger Safety Technician.
Group: Hello, Matt.
Actually, it’s not that bad. There really is no need to join a twelve step program simply by virtue of being married to a CPST, though the status may have driven some to acquire habits best broken by joining such a group. There are benefits, of course, such as our car seats always being properly installed, or so I’m told. And our neighbors’ car seats are properly installed. And the people in the community whose car seats are not properly installed get dirty looks or snide comments or some sort of card on their windshield. When it’s the card, I try to make sure we leave the scene as quickly as possible. At least the kids are properly secured, unless one of them was inadvertently left behind in the haste to get away.
There are other downsides. There are car seats in my garage. There are car seats in my attic. There are often car seats in my living room. I believe there to be car seats in my car, though I am too afraid to touch them. We have owned or borrowed every conceivable type of car seat at one time or another. I try to put out of my mind what this costs. I also try not to trip over them when reaching for the weed whacker.
The car seats in our cars must be properly used at all times, and substitutes are strictly prohibited. My suggestion that a phone book would make a good booster seat was not appreciated. I was mostly kidding, though it sure would be easier when travelling just to get off the plane, rip a phone book off the chain at a pay phone and hit the car rental stand. The use of duct tape to affix a child to a seat is also strictly prohibited. That one I actually thought to be a good idea.
One day the kids will be big enough to sit in regular seats and use regular seat belts. When that happens, we may end up without any car seats in the house at all, and she will have to decide whether to continue with her car seat obsession. Whether that obsession can be broken remains to be seen, but I do have a suggestion for her:
Heather: Hello, my name is Heather. I’m a Child Passenger Safety Technician.
Group: Hello, Heather.
LOL That sounds familiar. I try to nudge DH into recycling his computers and gadgetry, or to pass them on to someone else who will use them, rather than let them accumulate. I need the room for the carseat stash, after all. 😉 DH had a Commodore Amiga when we first met, and I was a Macintosh person. We compromised and got a PC together shortly after we were married. Then DH proceeded to take the PC apart to upgrade memory, CD-ROM, and add hard drives. Shortly thereafter, he announced the time had come to replace the PC with a newer/faster/bigger screened model, and this pattern continues to this day. I do admit I enjoy most of the electronic gadgetry myself when DH isn’t completely hogging it all to himself. Some of the gadgetry tends to trickle down to me and the kids or other relatives when he upgrades to newer hardware. I’ve got my eye on his Kindle now.
Hmmmm Satellite TV and DVRs. I need to look into those. Thanks for the ideas!
That reminds me, I should turn on that amp. I bet it would attract all the cat hair and cat litter dust that are fouling my unused carseats!
murphydog77 –
I suppose I knew early on what I was getting into. Back in the early days of dating bliss, our first “project” together was me helping him build a new subwoofer (I’m handy with woodworking) – and he proudly showing me the amplifier he had built as a thesis project, and the speakers he had built in his parents’ basement, and the high end audio equipment in his car, and ….
By the way – does anyone need a subwoofer – or four?
There is something to be said that CPSTs and their spouses tend to be gear-oriented creatures. My dh does have his Mac *plus* an additional monitor on his desk (because one monitor just isn’t enough 😉 ) and I can almost guarantee that we have just as many DirecTV DVRs in their original boxes stashed around the house as I have car seats in storage. dw_cpsdarren, we also have boxes of computer and tv cables in the closet, though I must admit that some are mine from when I was the computer geek in the family. But I do feel for you because CPSDarren sounds like he needs an intervention in the worst way.
Guilty as charged! In my defense, I do have to add that two of those three monitors were free.
Oh, and just for clarity, that’s the Core i7 Extreme…
Hi –
I am the dw of cpsdarren. In response to Jeanum – so what happens when the CPST is also the one who is getting all the geeky toys too? I mean really – I have car seats in the foyer, in the utility room, in the garage, but I also have dead computers and monitors stashed everywhere, old tv sets, bins of keyboards, telephones, manuals, and gamepads. There are drawers filled with miscellaneous connectors and cables and battery packs. (Anyone need some old 19″ monitors – I think we have 3 in the basement collecting dust). Oh, and we probably have all the original shipping boxes for everything too, also stashed in the basement, though they might be covered with cat hair, or be home to a few rodents.
He has already asked for a Core i7 for his birthday (I work for the company) – clearly that will give him an advantage with his online gaming -another bizarre addiction he has which might demand a real intervention. Oh, and he wants a new laptop too.
What’s a hard working supermom of 3 to do? Please send help!
LOL Hi there, Matt. I’m another CPST with a DH who knows what you’re going through. He got a real kick out of reading your blog entry. He tolerates my interest most of the time, and, like you, he’s pretty good humored about it. DH does get tired of tripping over carseats I’ve stowed in the corners of our foyer and bedrooms at times, and he usually rolls his eyes when another carseat follows me home from the store or arrives on our front porch via UPS/FedEx. 🙂 I like to remind him I tolerate his computers, video games, and other geeky electronic gadgetry, which tends to be spendier than another carseat. 😉
Lol, you’re one funny guy:-))
Matt,
I too suffer from the angst of being a DH of a CPST. I feel your pain and want you to know that admitting your wifes addiction is one of the first steps of recovery.
Its difficult to explain to people why we have 3 car seats that seem to rotate between our car, the living room and any other place we can store them temporarily. But I do need to thank you for giving my wife the idea of postcards on windshields. I am sure that this will take up countless other hours she could have otherwise spent removing said carseat and rotating it from place to place within our home.
I also look forward to a day when our child will no longer need a car seat. For perhaps, it will be this day that my wife will stop calling #77 (non-emergency version of 911) to report kids who are not properly restrained in their car seats. For that matter, our county and state will benefit from being able to fire the person who answers all of her calls. The taxpayers will rejoice. Unfortunately someone will loose their job.
Perhaps it will be this day that my wife decides that its not her job to give sales advice at every walmart, target, toys r us or babies r us we enter. In fact, sales for all of these stores will suffer. If only my wife would just turn into one of their employees… we could probably make enough money on commissions to afford to pay someone else to instruct people on how to purchase and properly use a child safety seat.
But alas, it will be that day that I my wife may step away from the car seat world and rejoin our family and connect with society again.
Umm, I have carseats in my house, and I am not a cpst. ANd no Matt, I am sorry, but once the kids leave the house, Heather will then have to worry about the grandkids and their restraints. It was wishful thinking though.
Hello, my name is Andrea. I’m a Child Passenger Safety Technician. 🙂
Wow, my husband could have written this! We currently have “extra” car seats in the garage – possibly on top of the lawn mower, in my trunk (3!), and in the living room.
And I really DO worry about what I’ll do when both of my kids are no longer of car seat age. How will I get to play with – er, evaluate – the latest seats if I don’t have my own kids to put in them?
Matt you are too funny! Thanks for the laugh, Uh, Hello my name is Jodi and I need to join Heather at the 12 step program. Hey maybe there needs a to a program for husband 🙂
This is so great. I am not a tech, but this sounds like it came straight from my dh’s mouth. (well except for the neighbor’s cars. They just get the dirty looks, as I am not a tech.)