Paradox of Choice

Car seat shopping reminds me of two things: a recently read book, The Paradox of Choice, and the great, unappreciated abundance we have in this country. Anything, anything for sale today is probably far, far safer than the majority of humanity has had available through its development. Even the second-hand, lead-painted, forward-facing, flammable, asbestos-upholstered, garage-sale seat is likely a safer infant conductor than most humans had. And yet, here we sit, hour #2 of Saturday #3 in a great baby store in a great city in a great country with six books and a dozen web-site recommendations, themselves each backed up by a web of credentials looking at the top products available in the richest, safest country in the world.



If there were only a single seat available down at the dusty 5-and-Dime, we'd be done with it, happier, and on with our lives. "No matter what you pick, it'll be fine. Get one. Get the blue one; the red one. Let's go get a Coke." I put this question to you: are we really all that much better off for the options afforded to us? Sure, the seats are safer; the features useful; the colors attractive, but the stress is higher, the research time longer, the self-doubts greater. It's a car seat, not a Constitution.

And now it's in my office. We bought the red one on the right. Why? It matches the stroller.