SafeKids At the Mall Yesterday

Jonah Baby

New member
SafeKids was at the mall near me yesterday.
I went over and talked to them of course.

ALL of their flyers and brochures stated the barest minimum for carseat use.
1 and 20 for forward facing.
Booster use was anytime after 40 pounds.
I don't recall seat belt use. It was something about 6 years.
They told me it was printed from the national standards, or something like that, and thats the best they had. :thumbsdown:

We somehow got to talking about carseats (man, not sure how THAT happened) and I was telling them how its a challenge to get J carseats that fit, let alone to RF in. They thought I was talking about the baby in my arms (not my toddler who wasn't present) and almost began arguing with me over it. I go, "Oh no, he's 3, and big for his age." The lady standing there starts telling me I only have a few options, and listed off the Nautilus and new Frontier. :(
I go, "Well, I'd like to keep him rear facing as long as possible." Man rattles off the 5 times safer deal then asks how big he is. Stats are given (same as my siggy) and he says "Oh, well its time to forward face him, he's too big."
:eek: So I'm like, all matter of fact, "Actually, he frequently RFs in a MyRide which has a 40 pound limit and my RNXTSL for my car RFs to 45!"
Man asks if its a belt or LATCH install. I tell him LATCH. He tells me it is time to use the belt because cars LATCH system can only rate to 40 pounds. Once again I one-up him and tell him that my cars LATCH is rated to 48!

They had never heard of a TrueFit.

I was told that its amazing my son tolerates the RF to FF switching in cars. I had to stab in that he was FF from 10 months to 2 years, 3 months and didn't give a damn that I flipped him back RF.

When prompted about their CRAP brochures, I was told that those WERE their goals for children to meet because the US culture is not accepting of anything greater. :mad: THEY AREN'T IF THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

I was so irritated when we left that I forgot to ask if there were any certification classes coming up soon. Erg.
 
ADS

Ltaylor

New member
Wth? That's ridiculous. :thumbsdown:

OT sorry, but what is the seat in your avatar ?


Back to the topic....

I went to a carseat safety class here on base one time and it was so sad to see that the ladies giving the class was SOOOO not up to date on new seats. They had OLD carseats (like the old graco seats that had the hood attatched to the handle).:eek:
 

CTPDMom

Ambassador - CPS Technician
A have a box of the USAA booklets in my garage. I did give one box to the guys at work, and they hand them out there...at least it's something...but I can't bring myself to give them to my clients. :rolleyes:
 

Maedze

New member
Are you sure that was SafeKids? SafeKids Western MA is run by a woman, with another woman on staff, she is extremely pro-ERF, and is definitely aware of the existence of the True Fit and the My Ride.

The handouts are national/state print outs, she can't change them.

There is a certification in May being run by the Holyoke FD and MA CPS.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
A have a box of the USAA booklets in my garage. I did give one box to the guys at work, and they hand them out there...at least it's something...but I can't bring myself to give them to my clients. :rolleyes:

Are you using an old version of the USAA booklet? The last two revisions have been really good. (as long as you are willing to overlook the mis-installed car bed)
 

CTPDMom

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Are you using an old version of the USAA booklet? The last two revisions have been really good. (as long as you are willing to overlook the mis-installed car bed)

Oooohhh...when was the last revision? The first box I got, that I gave to the guys at work (techs) was well over a year ago. Maybe even closer to 2 years. And I *just* got a new box 2 weeks ago. I haven't opened it yet, guess I should...I'll be thrilled if it's better.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Oooohhh...when was the last revision? The first box I got, that I gave to the guys at work (techs) was well over a year ago. Maybe even closer to 2 years. And I *just* got a new box 2 weeks ago. I haven't opened it yet, guess I should...I'll be thrilled if it's better.

I just saw the new one last weekend.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
I honestly don't see a huge problem with what they told you. They know how much safer RF is, they mentioned LATCH limits, and she even knew about the new Frontier! That's way better than 3/4 of the techs I work with.

If you're complaining you can't find seats to RF a 3 year old, I'd probably tell you that you could FF him too.

Yeah, their handouts suck but that's hardly their fault. Gotta go with what you've got...

ETA: I would probably be more than slightly annoyed if someone came up to me at a checkup event and tried to "one-up" me on everything :twocents:
 
A have a box of the USAA booklets in my garage. I did give one box to the guys at work, and they hand them out there...at least it's something...but I can't bring myself to give them to my clients. :rolleyes:

OOOHH do you have cards? I want to start giving them out when I see people making car seat mistakes.... When we go for our next car seat play date.. I want to grab some.. my weekends are booked till the sat before moms day..I will email you!
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
I honestly don't see a huge problem with what they told you. They know how much safer RF is, they mentioned LATCH limits, and she even knew about the new Frontier! That's way better than 3/4 of the techs I work with.

If you're complaining you can't find seats to RF a 3 year old, I'd probably tell you that you could FF him too.

Yeah, their handouts suck but that's hardly their fault. Gotta go with what you've got...

ETA: I would probably be more than slightly annoyed if someone came up to me at a checkup event and tried to "one-up" me on everything :twocents:

I think I agree with this. Maybe I'm one of "those techs", but if a parent was expressing concern about RFing a 3yo, I would focus on making sure she understood how to FF safely. I would not recommend purchasing a MyRide when a Nautilus would provide years more use for the same amount of money, and I would not recommend purchasing a $300 seat. In the real world, not car-seat.org, parents aren't excited about spending $300 on a quirky and difficult-to-use seat.

They didn't do anything wrong. They did a lot of things right. If you think you can do better, get certified and do it, instead of taking up their time trying to test them.
 

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