Buckle Up!
by Blair Bailey in Homemaking on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:00 AM
Car seats can be a real blessing and a real burden for today’s moms. The politics of car seat regulations aside, we can all acknowledge that car safety seats for children have saved many lives. Car accidents are the #1 cause of death in children ages 1-14, so car seats truly are a necessary “burden” in today’s society.
I say burden for all those moms with a screaming infant buckled in a car seat who wants only mother’s milk, for those who’ve lugged heavy car seats through a crowded airport with several kids in-tow, and for all those mothers and fathers who have braved the experience of taking apart and scrubbing a car seat. I think we should all receive an honorary engineering degree for figuring how to get those covers on and off!
Over the past few years, I’ve tried to educate myself a little more on car seat safety in hopes that I can be positive about the use of car seats and keep my children a little bit safer every time we get in the car. Here are some main points I’ve gained from my research:
Buy the best seat in your budget. I’ve been tempted to skimp and purchase a low-cost model but have never regretted investing in a quality car seat. I’ve found that the pricier seats tend to last longer, are easier to install, easier to buckle, more comfortable for the kids, and in my case have procured some very good car-sleepers!
Install the seat correctly. After speaking to several car seat technicians and reading about their work, it’s apparent that many of us do not install our car seats properly. Maybe we’re too lazy to read the manual, or maybe our car makes it difficult to fit the seats in. There are some great online resources and local inspections offered in most cities. Make it a point to find out if all your car seats and boosters are installed appropriately.
Buckle it right! We should be sure the chest clips are at the correct spots, buckles are tight, and that they are configured at the right locations for the height of our child. A loose buckle could mean a flying child in the case of an accident. We’ve also had the experience where an older child in a booster seat accidentally unbuckled a sibling’s seat instead of her own seatbelt. Check and double-check them often!
Follow the guidelines. Look into the laws in your state to be sure you have the correct type of seat faced in the correct way for your child. These guidelines may seem burdensome, but again, these burdens can save our little blessings in the case of an accident. Car seats are an important part of our every day lives as moms, so let’s be sure we’re doing all we can to keep our children safe on the roads this year.
—Blair Bailey is a Catholic wife and homeschooling mother of three who writes from Texas. She chronicles her family life at Blair’s Blessings.
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