Bad design leads us to blame ourselves or others for errors

You might be wondering a bit about the title of this blog post. What is this doing on a mommy blog? It's probably more suitable for a design blog. I was inspired to write this post because of a comment I received when I wrote the post about our car seat drama at the mall. A visitor thought I was a bit harsh when I called Daddy a dummy for attaching and jamming the car seat adapter on the wrong side of the car seat. I can see how I may have sounded a bit harsh. Obviously, I was mad when it happened and when I sat down to blog about it, I didn't think I overreacted at the time. I didn't want to appear as though I was yelling at Daddy too much so I did have him read it. He approved it and it got published. Note, I'm hoping Tristan will want to read this blog one day too so I do have to be careful of what I write.

In the car seat drama post, I concluded by explaining what went wrong. Ok, Daddy is not a dummy. Mommy was just upset. It could have happened to anyone. This is a good example of us blaming ourselves when it should be the design at fault. The design should not have allowed the mistake to occur in the first place. Because the car seat adapters looked identical, they should have been built in such a way that it should not be possible to insert them in if they were inserted incorrectly. In other words, there should have been resistance when we tried to insert them in the wrong side. When asked at the time, Daddy claimed that there was no noticeable resistance and everything did look correct at first glance. An example we can relate to is the old fashion floppy disk. The floppy disk was designed in a way that it had to be in only one orientation to fit into the disk drive.

I'm surprised at the design flaw since the Bugaboo Frog stroller and Maxi Cosi system is a high-end product. The people that designed the car seat adapters tried to prevent this error from occurring by indicating an L and an R on the otherwise identical looking adapters. The letters were barely visible. That was their first potential mistake. That wasn't the problem for us though. We mistakenly applied the L and R to the stroller instead of the car seat. There wasn't enough resistance to inform us that we were inserting the adapter in the wrong side of the car seat. That was the second problem. Then once the mistake occurred, we couldn't easily undo. That was the third problem. Three of us tried very hard but apparently we needed someone with lots of muscle :)

It's possible that if the Bugaboo travel system we bought was designed and manufactured by the same people, this design flaw may not have been present. We had to buy all 3 separately: stroller, car seat adapters, and car seat. I can see others making the same mistake, which is why I wanted to blog about it.

Car seat drama thanks to Daddy dummy

Today, we went to Metrotown to shop. Since it was during Tristan's nap time, we decided to bring the car seat adapter for our Bugaboo stroller so that we could move the car seat directly onto it without disturbing Tristan. Jean-Louis had tested all this out and practiced operating the car seat/stroller system back in November when we bought everything. It's the first time we are using it now. We normally just use the baby carrier since it's faster and easier to move around the shops but it was filthy.

The drama started when we exited the car in the parking lot and Daddy tried to assemble everything together, while Tristan was still sleeping in it. When everything was attached, it just didn't look right. Tristan's head was dipped down and his feet was sticking up. Here was where we then tried to detach everything and try it again. We figured the car seat adapters had to be reversed. Oops. Daddy jammed them in and now they couldn't be removed. Crap. We took Tristan out of the car seat and decided to move everything inside the mall and try to figure it out. While I was holding Tristan, Daddy tried with all his might to pull off the adapters. Cursing, swearing, sweating. It was no use. I handed Tristan over and tried since I was stronger. It was sure stuck and I was afraid to crack and break the adapter. After all, those darn adapters did cost $60!

Since we were so close to Babies R Us, I suggested that we go there since the sales people there are experts when it comes to operating strollers. Too busy. No good. I then suggested we go to Sears since I wanted to go there anyway and we did buy our Maxi Cosi car seat there. It wasn't that busy and we immediately got help when we requested for it. The sales lady told us it was jammed. Damn it. If we can't even remove the adapters, we can't put Tristan back in the car. We were already thinking about taking the skytrain home with him in the baby carrier. Thanks Daddy for ruining all of our Sunday plans! How could you be so dumb?

Now we were feeling desperate. We decided it was okay if the adapter were broken as long as the car seat was okay and we could go home. The Sears sales lady said that she could try and find one of the guys in Shipping to use a tool to remove it but that the adapters may break in the process. Ok, fine. If that is what it will take, fine. We've learned our lesson. Daddy learned his lesson.

10 minutes later, the lady came back, adapters and car seat separated and unharmed in her hands. I was so happy! The next 10 minutes, we tried to assemble everything together again very carefully. It worked and we put Tristan back in the seat.

What was the problem? Well, the adapters have a R and L on them to indicate which should go on the right or left. Jean-Louis placed them on the right and left side of the stroller but the problem is there is no right or left side on the bugaboo stroller. The handle on the stroller can be reversed so each side is a right and a left. The R and L in this case refers to the placement on the car seat. Oops. Warning to all Bugaboo stroller owners with a Maxi Cosi car seat or any car seat that requires a separate car seat adapter: the R and L on the adapters are for the car seat so put them on the car seat first. If you are unsure, look at the way the car seat sits before clipping them in. The car seat should be upright. Ok, lesson learned.

A busy weekend for Tristan

We try to do a lot on the weekends because Jean-Louis is home. This weekend was no exception. It was a rather historic weekend for Tristan. First of all, we went out with him Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - 3 days straight! That's a first. Tristan had his longest car ride also when we went to Kitsilano on Saturday to shop on 4th Avenue.  Boy, do I miss shopping :(  We bought things for Tristan, for me, and lots of delicious fancy bread for us at Terra Breads.  We had to stop by Starbucks for a bathroom stop too.  A coffee stop, of course!  Btw, the London Fog Tazo drink is simply Earl Grey with steam milk.  Nothing special and it costs nearly $5!  Before heading home, we sat in the car (parked along one of the side streets) and I nursed Tristan.  I used a scarf wrap to conceal the front and it worked rather well.  This was my first public feeding experience!  Tristan didn't drink very much though and he totally passed out.  Maybe it was too hot being covered up.

Today, we went out with the stroller for the first time. We bought it back in October, I think, and we're just using it now. Well, the weather has been quite miserable until now really. It is still quite cold though but I knew Jean-Louis really wanted to go for a walk.  Ah, it did us all good to get some fresh air.  Sometimes, Tristan and I would have weeks where we're only outside once.  I think at one point we stayed home 8 days straight!  Sounds a bit nuts but I'm totally fine staying home for long periods.  It's simpler anyway since it's so cold and I'm so busying with Tristan and daily chores.  However, it is getting warmer these days and lighter and I'm finally feeling the urge to get out more.

Bugaboo Frog Preliminary Review

Since it was the first time we used our Bugaboo Frog, I should just write a small review on it.  The ride is nice and smooth but the small wheels are a bit noisy.  Jean-Louis was good to point out the noisy wheels.  The bassinet attaches easily and the handle reverts nicely.  We were actually at Starbucks and I was stuck in a corner before realizing I could revert the handle to push the stroller the other way.  No problemo, I got out without knocking anything over :)  I should also mentioned that we bought the bottle holder for the stroller, specifically to hold our coffees, although that is not what it is meant for.  Inside the bottle, it clearly warns users not to place hot drinks in them.  We're sure it's okay - they just don't want to get sued!  We should warn that you should drink some of your drink first before placing it in since it may splash and make a mess.  That sort of happened to us when we tried to place a full cup in it.

So far, we are happy with the functionality of the stroller.  As for appearances, we love the red color and we felt rather "trendy" pushing it around our south Burnaby neighborhood.  Although, this type of high-end stroller really belongs in a chic neighborhood such as Kitsilano.  In six months, Tristan will outgrow the bassinet and we'll attach the larger seat for him.  I'm looking forward to taking him to restaurants with us so he can sit right up next to us at the table.