Driving Our Babies

I'd just finished chatting with Madam Rusha, Marrakesh's principal at Krista Taman Putra Sulaiman, about his progress academically and personally. As I walked to the car, a blue Honda Jazz passed by me and I could see clearly that this man was driving while cradling his sleeping baby in his arm....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Had I been a law enforcement officer, I would have pulled him over and advised him to use a infant/child seat/carrier!

Good morning uols! Hope you're all fine and well...

I'm recovering well, Alhamdulillah, still taking things easy. I can't very well explain how my body is progressing, but I know how it is progressing and I know it's not yet back to how it was before the otitis media fiasco. But as all women and wives and mothers out there know, no woman can be or appear to be, unwell for too long, coz you just can't. Somehow we're not allowed to be un-okay, we just need to be okay, for the survival and wellbeing of all others... :)

Anyway, about the man cradling his sleeping baby while driving, why do people do this? His car portrayed him as a progressive man living in a progressing economy, but his action proves that he is way back in the dark ages! I mean, I believe that people having babies these days are quite fortunate coz they have a wide reach to facilities and necessities. In the matter of the infant/child car seat or carrier, there's a huge variety in the market now which can cater to a wide range of budgets, and most of them meet the required safety standards. If you can drive a Honda Jazz, you could pretty much afford a proper seat/carrier for your baby.

You think you're a very skilled driver and you drive very safely all the time and that nothing bad will ever happen to you and your family while you're on the road? Well, what about those irresponsible morons who do not stop at red lights, do not give indicators and who are not as safe a driver as you? Or that drunken lorry driver who risk running into you because he wasn't even aware of where he was or what he was doing? Or that random cat that suddenly runs in front of your car? Or that little child who appears out of nowhere?

Or you just cannot stand to hear your child crying and screaming for not wanting to be strapped to the seat/carrier? You go crazy hearing all that noise so you'd rather let them have their way regardless of the risks involved? While you are safely (technically) buckled up in your seat belt? Or you think you love your child more than other parents who put their children in child seats/carriers do? That cradling your infant child in your arms while you drive is the ultimate display of parental love?

There are 3 seat belts at the back seat of our Kancil and Merce, but only 2 in the Kembara. So, travelling with all 3 boys mean driving either of the former 2, in which case monster mommy will make sure they're all buckled up at the back. Yes, you may sometimes see goons jumping around at the back, but soon after monster mommy will appear victor and all 3 will eventually be strapped up in the seats, carrying on happily with their own stuff. When they were babies, all of them were transported in infant/child carrier/seats. There weren't many locally made ones then, most were imported and very expensive, but we had to. For Esfahan, we had actually recycled Medina's 8 year old baby car seat, no problem. Then we bought a new carrier coz Medina's could only be strapped to the car seat and couldn't be used as a carrier to carry him around conveniently. Then when Damascus and Marrakesh came, we had to buy an additional one coz they both needed infant/child seats at the same time. And while Esfahan could safely be strapped to the normal seat belt as early as 3yrs, Damascus needed to be strapped in his child seat until much later, coz of his natural characteristics which required him to be strapped in a child seat to ensure his own safety. Marrakesh was more like his Abang Long, so no problem there.

My husband and I, we are not the perfect parents, but we do our very best, as challenging and frustrating as it may be, we try, we just do.

So, I don't know. Why do you cradle your baby in your arms while you drive? Why?