My Car Seat Heads Off to a New Home

by Jack Baruth

Published: September 28th, 2017

Just two days ago, I asked you to help me find a deserving home for my overpriced, top-of-the-line car seat. I got about 15 emails almost immediately, with suggestions ranging from “Sell it on Craigslist” to “I think my girlfriend is pregnant and we’d like to save a few bucks.”

One of the emails stood out as the immediate and obvious winner.

This isn’t an “Ask Jack” so I’m not going to cut-and-paste the communication here. I can, however, give you the details. I was contacted by a mother of teenage children who met a fellow recently, got pregnant, and had the dad skip out on her before she delivered the child. She’d long since gotten rid of her existing kid infrastructure because she thought she’d never need it again.

“I don’t want to start a pity party for myself,” she stated, “but I could use some help.” She included a few pictures of her new son. I think the little fellow deserves the very best child seat out there so I’m shipping it to her tomorrow.

I could go on at this point about how our society should do a lot more for women who make the difficult choice to have children under the current economic and social conditions, but given that half of my readers think I’m a neo-Nazi and the other half think I’m Bernie Sanders with long hair I doubt it would result in much of a productive discussion.

I remain thankful for the fact that my son was born under the protection of an old-style “Cadillac insurance policy” that allowed him to survive, and thrive, despite being just three pounds at his birth. I’m thankful that I had the wherewithal and the sense to put him in a decent child seat for the day he needed it. And I’m thankful that he survived the circumstances of his birth and a near-fatal car crash to become a friendly, malice-free eight-year-old who likes racing his Birel go-kart and jumping his BMX bike and sleeping untroubled nights with a full tummy in a house where nobody is drunk or angry or dangerous. I would like to see every other child in this country grow up with those same underrated advantages.

Have a great day, everybody. I’m off to drive a ZX-14-powered dune buggy around a racetrack or something like that.

[Image: Honda/ YouTube]

#BoosterSeats #BritaxPinnacle #CarSeats #ChildSeats

Jack Baruth

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2 of 37 comments

Felix Hoenikker on Sep 28, 2017

Well done Jack. I used to sell household furnishings, bicycles, kids toys, etc for a few bucks, but now I just give anything in good condition that we don't need to Goodwill or other local charities. It's more important to me that someone in need benefits than me making a few bucks on these items that I really don't need.

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Dave M. on Sep 29, 2017

Well done Jack.

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