Heart-stopping parenting ahead...
By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos
Ever had one of those heart-stopping moments that so quickly resets your thinking about something? That moment happened to me just yesterday in the most innocent circumstances.
I was taking my three-year-old daughter to a dentist appointment and she was in the back seat, her car seat installed directly behind mine. We weren't more than a couple minutes into the journey when all of a sudden, I heard some wind whistling. Reflexively, I figured that she'd opened the rear window, but after pulling the switches and the noise not abating, I absolutely knew what she'd done.
She'd opened the door.
Now, to preface this, she's ridden in just about every press vehicle that's rolled through here in her short three years, and while she has occasionally and accidentally tugged at the handle before, the other vehicles - for whatever reason - withstood her prodding.
Now, the car we're driving now, the really quite excellent Volkswagen Golf R, was pretty innocent in this whole thing. My daughter is getting older and bolder, and really, it's my fault for not activating the simple child locks equipped in every car sold today. That alone would have saved my embarrassment for being so ignorant of just how quickly she's growing into a fully-functioning adult!
Thankfully, the story ended safely. It took me about 10 seconds to find an appropriate place to pull over, lock the door, admonish my daughter and myself, then get back into the car and leave. One of the easy life lessons that experienced parents love to laugh about... So now my wife and I are going to laugh - but I'm also locking the rear doors, just in case.
Tell us about your experiences either growing up or with your children in the comments below!
Justin Couture
Mark Atkinson
John LeBlanc
Posted by: SP | 2012-12-19 8:38:29 PM
I grew up in the days when the VW Beetle was king. Riding in the 'cubby hole' above the engine while the sun beat down through the back window blistering my skin as my 16 year old brother tested out his new licence. I grew up hearing my older sisters coming home and laughing about being "told off" by the police for racing their friends in town on the main street.
Things were different back then.
Now I am at a point of transition
I have just reached the point were I'm not dealing with Child seats, booster seats, sippy cups, Sun shades, child mirrors, Tether belts, making a car purchase based on the number of power doors it has or how well it can hold a double stroller, snow suits and groceries.
It is a tranquil sweet spot that will not last.
In a few years my eldest will be begging for a car of her own and I'll have to make new car decisions. A multi-airbag speed limited car with 'city-safe', A Google car (please hurry and get these on the roads !). Or a 6'8" muscle bound eunuch with a chauffeurs licence and a desire to let me know that my daughters will always be safe.
Till then I'll continue to perfect the stories I tell my children of how we walked from Woodstock to Gananoque for summer vacations, only dreaming of ever riding in a car.
(Sadly I have to find a way of untelling the story of riding in my Brother's new VW Rabbit at 180 KPH as he tried in vain to keep up with my dad in the old Pontiac Parisienne on the roads to the cottage). Suggestions? Can I tell them it was somehow legal 'back then' ?
Posted by: Jason | 2012-12-20 5:02:11 AM
Wow. Bad partenting!!! Both of you!
Posted by: SWard | 2012-12-20 8:43:19 AM
I have a soon to be two year old and he's just as daring.. without the knowledge though. He likes to press on the window button, thinking that's what locks and unlocks the doors.. because that's the first button he's explored and it's given him a reaction. I'm willing to deal with the wind blowing through my hair.. or snow blowing in his (to which he squeals with delight for like ten seconds until he gets cold and can't figure out how to bring the window back up and then Mummy has to save the day). I have my child lock on always as a result because it's just a matter of time before his arms are long enough to reach the dreaded lock/unlock button or worse - the door handle. Thankfully his arms are still short. hahaha. In the meantime, I just have to watch out for him trying to crawl into unlocked cars because he sure loves to pull on random door handles thinking it's our wheels and he wants to go for a drive.. for this.. he's not that short... and he sure is persistent! :D
Posted by: Richard | 2012-12-20 9:37:56 AM
I remember once growing up and me and my younger brother were in the back of our grandfathers station wagon. He and my father were in the front. I was approx. 4 yrs old and he was 3. My brother was playing with the door handle and all of a sudden he fell out! I didn't know what to do so I closed the door. My father turned around and I was the only one left in the car, not saying a word. My little brother had fallen out and he was just a few feet from the curb. He just had to step on the sidewalk right? Wrong guess. He got up and bobbed and weaved his way through 4 lanes of traffic to the far side of the road. The furthest sidewalk away. I can still remember him with his touque and little pom-pom on top, running across the street, crying all the way. We picked him up and he was fine, but that's my story. I have kids and I lock the doors....lol. By the way around the same time, he did get me back real good.........but that's another story......
Posted by: absoftitanium | 2012-12-20 10:15:27 AM
When my son was small we knew a woman who let her child ride standing up in the front seat of a Volkswagen bug. The original bug, flat windshield quite close to the passengers. We kept begging her to put the kid in a child seat in the back, but she said it would be 'cruel' to keep him from seeing the passing scenery. We told her it would be crueler to let him fly through the windshield and tumble and skid along the road if she even hit her brakes suddenly, not to speak of the lacerations on his face and body from the broken glass. Somehow he grew up without a tragic injury, but how, we still don't know.
Posted by: justin | 2012-12-20 10:15:29 AM
I've had this happen,a nd they only get smarter. I to lock my child locks now because my kid decided to open the door on the road. Like you he was 3, and had no idea it was a bad thing to do lol. But like I said watch them, thye gte smart, my wife came to my work to rop off a lunch for me as I had forgotten mine in the fridge. She wasnt in my office more than 20 seconds, but had left our son in the ar as I dont have much time to visit so she was bascily gonna drop my food and says goodbye. Of course 20 seconds was enough to allow my son to escape. We seen see our son walking through the front doors calling out for me.
Apperently he wanted to visit dad at work so he jumped the console into the front seats and jumped out the drivers door!
Posted by: Rems | 2012-12-20 11:23:16 AM
My Nissan cube cost less than the Golf, is slightly smaller, has more room, and.. features the automatic lock up of all the doors when the speed exceeds 10km/h... I love my cube.
Posted by: JEFF SPENCER | 2012-12-20 1:07:30 PM
I remember riding in our old station wagon in the 60s - 70s ... my parents would pack the luggage and leave a spot at the rear of the car where they would make me my own little place. It was at the back literally - no seat or seatbelt. a blanket and pillow comics and the back of the car right there. Thank goodness we never got rear-ended. every now and then they would crack the back window to give me a little air.
That wouldn't happen today
Posted by: Doreen McCormick | 2012-12-20 1:45:15 PM
If you think that's a heart stopping moment, just wait until she starts to drive and you have your first ride in the passenger seat!
Posted by: Gerry | 2012-12-20 2:13:20 PM
Back before safety locks:I would put my 3 boys in the back seat, belt them in and away we went.They would always be loud so when they got really out of control yelling and screaming I yelled back to be quite and as I looked in the rear view mirror,horror;the door was open and my eldest was hanging out .He was hanging onto the handle with both hands;his feet were up against the lip of the floor.We were doing 80 miles an hour and I couldn't pull over right away.Everything turned out o.k thank God and my sons--well lets just say they huddled in the middle of the seat till they were older.ME I got my first grey hair.
Posted by: Incredulous | 2012-12-20 3:13:39 PM
Anyone who has/transports children and doesn't flick the very ingenious and simple to operate child locks in most every car built within the last 10 years should not be blabbing their stupidity and carelessness to the world...some one call CAS.
Posted by: mam521 | 2012-12-20 7:42:48 PM
I don't understand how a properly restrained 3yo would be able to even REACH the door handle, let alone open it. Scary, yes. Should all precautions be taken, yes. Precautions include putting your child in an appropriate child restraint and in the case of a 3yo, that would be a 5 point harness. Child locks are not going to keep your kid safe if they are jumping around in the back seat of a moving vehicle.