I was highly annoyed. I was looking after the children, but had a hair appointment at 10 o’clock so was going to drop them off with Al in the shop for a while. One car seat is usually kept fixed in the car, but the other only goes in when it’s needed. It’s a bit awkward to fix in place, but not that much trouble. The Sage said he’d take it to the car for me and put it in if he could. We all went out and I stared in dismay. Somehow, he’d put it in upside-down. That is, the seat back was horizontal and the seat cushion was vertical. He’d threaded the seatbelt through where it was supposed to go, I’ve no idea how as it should be tilted up to give room, and fixed it firmly with the clips, which were well stuck down as it was all done at the wrong angle. I can’t imagine how he didn’t see that the fixing for the belt was, in the place he’d put it, right in the middle of the child’s back.
It took me ten minutes to get it out and put it in again and I hadn’t allowed that much time. I had to carry Pugsley, who is a sturdy toddler, as there wasn’t time to let him walk and I was limping heavily in no time.
The Sage was abashed when I told him. Fortunately, I didn’t see him for an hour or so, so at least I didn’t shout. I did describe him to his grandchildren as an ‘idiot’ however.
Oh dear. How did they respond?
It will scar them for life to think that such a senior figure in their life could be wrong.
men! what you gonna do with them? ha ha
Pugsley just stood there, absolutely stricken to find that one of his role models has no common sense at all. Squiffany gleefully agreed with me. This could indeed make a lasting impression on them and colour their views for life.
They might as well find out when they’re young, rather than be disillusioned in their more idealistic years.
I have always found those things frustrating to get in properly. So, I am sympathizing with the Sage.
Yes love, but I bet you don’t put them in upside-down. He just assumed it was beyond his comprehension so shoved it in anyhow, rather than imagining putting a child in it.
I have found that common sense and men tend not to have much in common.
Hello, Completely Alienne and thanks for dropping in. He’s pretty reliable on the whole, but he has complete blank spots. These include the computer, the washing machine and now, it seems, children’s car seats. He was trying to help, I suppose he deserves some credit for that.
It must be a ‘grandfather’ thing. My father (an extremely competent man in every other way) once managed to put a nappy on my nephew BACKWARDS. It would actually have much more difficult to put it on that way. I couldn’t decide whether he was very clever for managing that or…as you say Z…an idiot.
Dilly’s mother was once found (when she already had a two-year-old grandson) trying to put Squiffany’s nappy on back to front too. She was finding it very tricky.
I think there must be a bit of brain that switches off when you expect not to understand something, which makes you incapable of doing so.