I initially got interested in carseats when my oldest child was a baby and the first thing I learned was about extended rear-facing. Prior to having him, I had no idea that there was any real benefit and once I fell down that rabbit hole, there was no coming back. Very early in my research I was told by another parent that if a child is kept rear-facing, they won’t fight it because they don’t know any different. And I bought that line and handed it out like candy to my friends and family. Even more so once I became a CPS Technician.
My first child fit that mold perfectly. He rear-faced until he turned 4 and never once asked to turn around, despite having more than adequate language to do so. He truly didn’t care.
I was so sure this was my doing. I told his story far and wide – the story of how he didn’t know there existed any other option and he was perfectly comfortable and blah blah blah. I was always very polite and never shamed people for forward-facing within the limits of the law, but in my mind I thought they must be crazy. Kids will rear-face forever if you let (okay, make) them.
And then I had my second child. And look, I adore him. He is one of the cutest kids on the planet. He is incredibly smart and when he’s not screaming he’s pretty articulate for his age (2.5 years) too. But he’s also basically a honey badger. He does not care if you punish him, he does not care if you want him to do something. There is no hill too small for him to die on. No battle too silly to fight. His teachers at preschool have complemented me on naming him appropriately (his name is William, we call him Will) because he is exceedingly willful.
And my little honey badger, who is petite enough that he could rear-face to middle school, is miserable in his rear-facing convertible. Every single time we get in the car he climbs into his seat and sits facing forward. Sometimes he will ask me if I think he’s funny (spoiler alert: nope), sometimes he will just demand to sit that way, but the common thread is that each time we get in the car I have to wrestle a 24 pound honey badger to rear-face in the car and get him buckled before he planks out of the seat.
At first I thought great! I will nip this in the bud and then I can write something to help other parents with this problem. But well, please don’t hold your breath on that post because the only tip I have is to give myself an extra 5 minute cushion every single time we go somewhere so I can force him into his seat. My child cares DEEPLY that he is rear-facing and he has never faced forward a day in his life.
So let me publicly eat my words. Some kids care. Some kids care very, very deeply about rear-facing, even if they have never forward-faced. And some parents would be completely reasonable to want turn their honey badgers forward after age two, even if they had room to grow rear-facing (note: I’m not encouraging this, just saying I understand it and do not judge it for even a second).
As for me, I choose to fight the fight each day, partially in hopes that I’ll break his carseat spirit and partially because the kid didn’t get his stubborn streak from his dad. You don’t grow a honey badger in a vacuum.
To my fellow badger parents, I’m sorry. If you have figured out how to cure this problem, please share. I’m all ears. And maybe some tears.
About age 2 and a half, we did FF since they were too tall in even the tallest seats out there. The current kid who just turned 6 is as tall as a 9-year-old, the doctor said. Also a Will and also impossible! Never gave me any carseat trouble but I always have to have my toddler outboard so I can put the child in since they do often put up a fight! Now the 2 YO is the only one still RF and sees all 5 older sibs FF and oh, he will be the only one who cannot see the screen if we get a new van. I just plan to FF him when he turns 3. Of course, it will depend how he grows. Might not make it that long. But I really am excited to do so since switching him up (and others) will get rid of a blind spot currently. And there IS something to be said for that, too. If I had all mine harnessed until college in a tall harnessed seat but can’t see out my windows, well, that’s not safe either! 🙂
I personally am just glad to read about someone else’s “honey badger” child. My daughter is 27mo and willful is a sweet word for it. She’s still happily RF, but she doesn’t have an older sibling to compare her seat to. So at least there’s that 😐
With me it was the carsickness. My older child was rear facing much longer than my middle child, because the middle child was so miserable rear facing. I had to weigh the increased safety of rear facing vs the increased risk of an accident due to distracted driving from a kid crying in the carseat – when I turned him forward facing and the crying stopped, I gave in. We were still well past two with a 80th percentile height and weight kid, so I didn’t feel too bad about it, but I had been planning to keep him that way much longer.
Ha! My dd is my honey badger. She earned the name early on. She is 2.5 (3 in August) and could care less a out anything I want. She has her own opinion and it’s her way or nothing. Too bad she got a strong willed mama ;). Oh the daily battles. She just recently decided to do the same and try to sit ff in her rf seat every time she gets in my van. It is a battle of wills. I will fight her on this until her 3rd birthday but then the little honey badger can sit how she would like. She has a Frontier waiting and a Performance Sport being delivered today….BUT I bet as soon as I try to put her into whichever ends up in my van she will want to sit in her rf seat as long as I keep it in there too, because as you know, they like to go against whatever we choose for them. At 32.5 months she is a tiny 28 pounds. I’m hoping she chooses the rf seat just to spite me lol. Every day is a battle and I have had to eat my words so so many times with her….