Child car seat blunder?

Good of your wife not to forgive you, for nothing actually happening. Where's the big deal? NOTHING happened!

Hang in there. It'll get easier to forgive yourself in time, and easier for your wife to forgive you too. Especially with a first child, parenthood is a guilt minefield. Tread as carefully as you can, but remember, one mistake does NOT make you a bad parent. Good luck.

No point in beating yourself up, you made a mistake you wont make again.

Stop beating yourself up. Yes, you are lucky that your son is safe. You gave both yourself and your wife a shock, and a glimpse of fear. You'll get over it, but don't obsess over it - you need to keep your attention free with a little man in the house!

Once when our first child was about 12 months my wife took him out of the seat for a few minutes.
Bear in mind that this was before car seats were even required. She had just put him back end and an older driver drove across the road right in front of us. If we had not hit them the next car would have and traffic was going 35 MPH.
The seat saved him a lot of damage.
You know all of the above and from your letter so did the parents. Stop beating up your self and stop being ashamed.
I can not figure out what the fuss is all about. Did you put the child in a seat? So what if it was to big. Ther is a deeper problem and I am sure you know what it is.

Don't give in to pressure from your parents and what they think will be okay. My father thinks the person who made the car seat laws should be shot for inconveniencing drivers, but only because he was inconvenienced when I had to stop the car to nurse my infant.