car seat class at baby store?

[Hollyob]

I was just wondering if any baby stores ever hold classes on car seat safety. I went to a cloth diapering class at a baby store in Chicago a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was the perfect venue for a car seat class. This store also does classes on slings, childbirth, breastfeeding, infant CPR, etc, and I just bet their clientele would be open to learning about car seat safety (and be willing to pony up the money for HWH seats, etc). I was going to ask someone who worked there about it, but it would have been an empty question in that, if they were interested, I wouldn't be able to help them. I'm not a tech and I don't personally know any techs. I guess I could still ask them about it and point them toward Safe Kids if they are interested. Has anyone here ever done a class like that? Does that sound like a good idea?

[Mommy2Marcus]

I personally think that it sounds like a good idea, but I am not sure if it would take off or not. I think that the first thing would be to get the people who help people with the car seats in those store educated on proper harnessing. I know that alot of the people that work in those stores are very uneducated on car seat safety & often give out bad advice. As in telling people that their 1 year old needs to be FF or that their older children can not be RF. They also often reccomend the 3 in 1 or All in One seats over better seats.

So while I think it is a great idea personally, I think that the 1st step is to teach the workers the correct harnessing steps. I am also unsure how well people would percieve it.

[BookMama]

The Toy House (http://www.toyhouseonline.com/classes.html) in Jackson, Mich. has a series of classes for parents, including one on car seats. It looks like they offer it about four times a year.

I haven't been to one of the classes, but I DO know that Phil (owner) is a CPST and is very into car seat safety. He even used to hold seat check events at the store, Teri tells me, but now they have shifted to doing individual checks as parents ask. I would feel very comfortable with the information that parents are getting at this class. :thumbsup:

[MaggieQ]

I think it's a great idea, but Ive never seen it.

[Hollyob]

I think that the first thing would be to get the people who help people with the car seats in those store educated on proper harnessing. I know that alot of the people that work in those stores are very uneducated on car seat safety & often give out bad advice. \

I was thinking of something taught by a tech, not a store employee. The woman who did the cloth diapering class was not an employee (which surprised me). In fact, they don't even sell car seats there. That leads me to wonder if they would be interested in such a class, since it wouldn't make them any money. I guess it depends on whether they offer these classes more to educate parents or to sell products. My guess is it's both, but whether they would want to pay someone to come in and talk about a product they don't sell is anyone's guess.

I need to email someone from there for another reason anyway, so I'll just throw the idea out to her. It just seems like such a good setting for such an important class. :)

[emandbri]

I actually might end up doing something like this once I get re-certified. I'm not really sure exactly what the owner has in mind, don't have all the details.

[pastrygirl]

I'm going to be doing that at a place for expecting parents/new moms. It's not really a store by itself, but they do sell slings, diapers, BF stuff, etc. I offered to do a workshop and they liked the idea. It will fit in well with their CPR classes and the other classes they offer. :)

[TerisBoys]

I was thinking of something taught by a tech, not a store employee. The woman who did the cloth diapering class was not an employee (which surprised me). In fact, they don't even sell car seats there. That leads me to wonder if they would be interested in such a class, since it wouldn't make them any money. I guess it depends on whether they offer these classes more to educate parents or to sell products. My guess is it's both, but whether they would want to pay someone to come in and talk about a product they don't sell is anyone's guess.

I need to email someone from there for another reason anyway, so I'll just throw the idea out to her. It just seems like such a good setting for such an important class. :)

Phil is a tech (or former tech, I'm not sure he has a current cert). And I'm 99% sure that he does bring in other techs for the classes. I know he did for his checks. I wish he'd go back to doing them 2x a year like he did before.

[BookMama]

Phil is a tech (or former tech, I'm not sure he has a current cert). And I'm 99% sure that he does bring in other techs for the classes. I know he did for his checks. I wish he'd go back to doing them 2x a year like he did before.

I wish he would, too!

*drools at the thought of the gift certificates Phil used to give people who worked at his seat checks*

[TerisBoys]

I wish he would, too!

*drools at the thought of the gift certificates Phil used to give people who worked at his seat checks*

Sadly right now, that GC would barely cover the money I had to spend in gas to GET there. ($40 GC *TO* ToyHouse).

[skaterbabscpst]

I've been asked to do some for BRU here, but haven't been able to fit it into my schedule yet.