Child Safety Month

As you may or may not know September is Child Safety Month and I wanted to take this opportunity to make you aware of some care seat issues  that just bug me when I see them, if you have any to add please add a comment. Also this are my own  opinions and no one else, I did not get paid to write this blog nor am I being compensated by anyone else. It was my own decision to write this, this is a dear to my heart topic and I want people to understand there is more then just sitting a seat in the car.

Fore up I was in a car accident 5 month ago, my very first and not my fault, I was even sitting at a stop light when someone at very low speed I would say 10 miles/hr rear ended me; Now my car had little to no damage, a scratch on the bumper and some paint scratch other then that no damage, me on the other hand I’m still in therapy and may not ever get back to 100% and pain free. I was buckled my issue was I was looking to the left to see if traffic is coming when I was hit and now can’t look to the right… I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, I will move on BUT the whole point behind this story was, what if….??

I see so many cars where a toddler or little one even school age child is jumping from seat to seat, dancing up and down while mom or dad is driving. It drives me crazy seeing this behavior especially knowing what happened to me in a low impact accident, imagine the same accident would have happened to someone with a child sitting between the seats in the back while talking to Mom and dad??

A lot worse then what I’m going thru and my pain by far is not little, I just don’t want any child to go thru this. You can’t avoid accidents, you can be careful and take steps to protect your child(ren). Some Steps are

• Not every Care seat is the same. Go online do your research, ask your pediatrician, ask family and friends.
• Make sure the car seat fits YOUR car, not every car seat fits the same. I found that out a while back, I have a large SUV and my seat fits perfect, I have no issues with it and love my seat, however a friend of mine had to borrow my seat to take my little one somewhere and she has a Mini Van and my seat for one was HUGE in her car and for two it wasn’t fitting her seat correctly, it was just too big for that car. I can’t imagine putting my seat into a little car. So check it out before you buy.
• NEVER EVER use a used car seat that you are not 100% sure this seat was never in a crash, even a minor crash will impact the safety of the seat. I for one don’t encourage a used seat, to me the danger outweighs the price. Yes car seats are not cheap, but they are still holding precious cargo and if you think, a seat for $200 will in the long run, if you use from birth till 5 years when they start kindergarten, run you $3.33 a month, now you can’t tell me your child is not worth that.  There are cheaper seats that have high quality so don’t get me wrong, I’m just trying to say Don’t buy a used seat if you are not 100% sure and just because you can get it cheap, think about your little one. ( I promise I don’t work for a car seat manufacture…lol)
• Have the child try out the seat, before you buy it, just like the seat may not fit the car, it may not fit your child, or your child can’t get comfortable in the seat, they sit in their for  along time have them have a say in the seat.
• Also another Big thing check your seat every few month to see if it is still tight and correctly installed, they do loosen up by moving in and out, won’t take long just check every so often.
• Make sure your child is in the seat buckled in correctly, so many times I see pictures where a child is in the seat and the middle buckle is down in their waste, or not latched at all, this can be so dangerous in a crash and the child can be ejected. Please it takes only a few min buckle them correctly.

Well these are my 2 cents on car seat safety, like I said by no means I’m an expert nor do I want to be one, I’m just mommy concerned about the children safety. I hope this was helpful to someone, I’m sure there is more to it, but these were some of my main concerns that I see on my way to and from work every day.