I have a car seat tale of horror and I haven’t even had my first baby yet… and it was about strapping the child in, not getting the car seat into the car.

It was late at night, the car had just had a flat and we (my two friends and their 4 year old son and 18 month old daughter) were tired and wanted to go home. The mom asked me to strap the daughter into the car seat. So here I am in a dark car, with a car seat I’ve never seen before, and a tired toddler. I can’t even FIND the buckle, much less get her strapped in. I’m struggling–and I know the kid knows how to do it, so I say, “Sweetie, can you please help me?”

And she looks up at me with these big blue eyes–the same girl who I’d been singing Itsy Bitsy Spider with happily minutes earlier– and says “You’re mean.”

I almost cried.