Zen and the Art of Car Seat Installation

Car seats for infants are mandatory in California. The hospital won’t let you leave with baby until they check to see one is in the car. Unfortunately, more than 80% of them on the road are not properly installed, rendering them almost useless.

To lower these statistics, the California Highway Patrol and Automobile Association offers inspections to make sure that the car seat is properly installed. I have a feeling, however, that many people just bring them uninstalled and sit back while an officer does all the work. Aren’t they supposed to catch drunk drivers?

I can understand the dismal statistics. These seats are non-intuitive, have many parts, hieroglyphic instruction manuals, and yoga contortions and exertions placing these in the backseat. It took me a cumulative five hours of deciphering the manual after searching and downloading it, putting the seat and components together, then wrestling the LATCH system in my car, while figuring out the lame acronym (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children). And that still doesn’t count the prudent trip to the CHP station for a final check and an OK.

Why go through all of this rigmarole? Machismo initially played a part. Nothing quite saps testosterone like carrying a diaper dude “murse” on one shoulder while sporting an infant sling on the other. Allowing a cop who should be catching bad guys installing this for me just feels weird and humiliating.

But the macho feeling soon melted away, and another feeling entered in as the hours crept by staring at this plastic piece. What I usually feel when mediating – a sense of calmness, curious inspection, and relaxation all rolled into one, began. This reminded me of a Zen teaching – when washing rice, wash the rice, when sweeping floor, sweep the floor. That is, be aware in the present moment, and when thoughts wander off as they tend to (like why is the illustrated baby in the instruction manual so freakishly happy?), guide them back into place by the simple act of doing and being present in the moment.

Not a bad take-away from installing just a car seat. Could be a useful parenting skill as well. And if the CHP officer says it was done all wrong, then it’s time to do it all over again. And then I’ll submit this story to a fortune cookie company.