Mail Bag

The letters keep coming in for parenting advise and people are sending more letters and emails.  I might have to get a staff to help respond. Remember all the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Dear Our Life,

Long time reader, first time writer.  We have a 2.5 year old and almost 1 year old.  He is 360 days old (I personally think it's the same writer from the last time) and I am a worrier.  Let say, if one morning morning while getting the kids ready to leave the house for daycare, I can't find the car seat for the 1 year old because it was left in the wife's car (because we are tired of caring him in the car seat because it is sooo heavy), what should I do?

Thanks,
Worried I Might Forget Something 

Dear Worried I Might Forget Something,

Thanks for reading and sending in your letter.  Talk about being in a pickle or being caught between a rock and a hard place.  I think you have a couple of options...

A.  Call the wife and tell her to bring the car seat back to you.  The success of this option will depend upon how long she has been gone and how far away her office is located.  Also, who took the 1 year old out of the car seat last?  If it was you, I would suggest one of the other options because calling the wife is not going to go very well.

B.  Walk the kids to Day Care.  This option requires you to be close enough to walk and also the desire to walk that far 1st thing in the morning.  I personally am too lazy for this option and our Day Care is only 2 blocks away.  This is your call.

C.  Take the kids one at a time to Day Care using the one car seat you have.  This probably is not a good option because you have to leave one behind and everybody knows you never leave one behind (never leave your wing man).  This option is always a bad idea but I included it because I know you would be thinking about.

D.  Take the day off and stay home...Nothing wrong with this option - winner all the way around.

E.  Load them up in the car and make a run for day care.  Before giving you the details of this option, you have to prepared for the consequences if something goes wrong (like getting stopped by an officer, getting in a fender bender, parents in the parking lot a day care questioning you...etc - any of those could result in being in the newspaper and Harve Jacobs trying to interview you).  Since your youngest is almost 1, put he/she in the forward facing car seat of your oldest and let your oldest sit in seat like a big girl/boy buckle them up.  However, by putting the oldest in the big girl/boy seat you will need to engage the window locks, door locks and child safety door locks.  If you don't, this could happen to you.  I would only recommend this option, if you can drive on back roads, through subdivision and it is less than 2 miles from your house.  You might not want to make a big deal about it with your 2 year old.  They will want to tell their teachers about them riding in "Their new big girl/boy seat" and then you have to explain or just act like they are being silly and you don't have a clue what they are talking about (when in doubt deny, deny, deny - it's your word against a 2.5 year old - unless as mentioned above you get caught).

F.  Call a friend with car seats

G.  Call a friend or relative to come stay with one of the kids so you can do option C. 


H.  Call a relative who is retired and have them stay with the kids for the day, if the daycare is too far away for option G.

I.  If a relative is not available, call a last minute babysitter but then that will cost you some money and then you have to explain to your spouse why you can't go out to eat for dinner because you blew the budget on the babysitter.

My recommendation is D, F, G or H, probably not what I would actually do but the best options.

Good Luck,
Our Life