I'd like to make a PSA

just don't know where I should put this. Move if necessary.



Today was my pre-schoolers first day of school. I wanted to make it a fun day (and hopefully eliminate any tears or fear) and we went to McDonalds for lunch right before school started (11:30).

We were in the drive through when I asked my daughter, 7 years old, to unbuckle and come to the front of the car to hand the drinks to the other two kids who were still strapped in their seats. She was passing things out, and I began to slowly let my foot off the brake and roll forward out of the way of the cars behind us, so she could get strapped back in.

While slowly rolling forward, a worker ran out the side door and startled me. I hit the brakes, and my daughter who was standing up facing the rear of the car, flew forward into the console of the car hitting her head of the TV and landing between the two front seats. It was enough for her to say that she hurt, and it scared her quite a bit. She moved forward at least 2 feet.

I can say with absolute certainty that I was going 2-3 MPH at the most. We were literally CREEPING along. I could easily walk faster than the car was moving.

This is a lesson learned for us. Even when rolling very slowly in the parking lot, everyone stays buckled. How many times have you slowly rolled out of a parking spot while your kids buckled? how many times have your kids started to unbuckle before putting the car in park. Even if they are unbuckled for 10 seconds, 5 seconds, even 2 SECONDS... the damage can be severe.

If this can happen going 2 MPH and for only ten second of time... what happens when it's "Only" something else? "Only going down the street" or "Only going around the corner" or "Only driving on a 25 MPH street" is not an excuse not to properly restrain your children.

Today, we were going 2 MPH, and we were lucky to learn the lesson that what you think is totally safe and a non-issue can really be something that can hurt a child. Don't overlook something this simple. Pull over. Put the car in park, then deal with it. It's not worth risking an injury over. You never know when something will cause you to hit the brakes and send your child falling to the floor.

That's my PSA for the day. :thumbsup:

GREAT reminder and PSA. :thumbsup:

Sorry to hear that it hurt your DD! I hope she's not too startled/hurt.

Great reminder. DS knows that he can't unbuckle his straps unless the car is off.

I hope your DD is okay.

GREAT reminder! :thumbsup:
The same thing happened to me when I was about 7 years old, in a parking lot. However, I flew forward hard and fast enough that I hit the dash quite hard with my face, which split my upper lip and required me to get stitches! Lesson learned!

We all stay buckled even when parked, unless we are getting in/out (or I have to nurse a baby or change a diaper, then the others still stay buckled.) I've seen too many parked cars get hit...

I would be lying if I said I didn't purposely do something somewhat similar to my kids to show them why we buckle up

lovinwaves said:

I would be lying if I said I didn't purposely do something somewhat similar to my kids to show them why we buckle up

Click to expand...

Uh, me too

We have a rule - seatbelt can't be unbuckled until the key is out of the ignition unless given permission. (Like going in to store with me and I'm leaving the car running for dh or whatever.)

I buckle up to move my vehicle from one parking spot to another.

It's a good reminder though. Many people have the habit of buckling as they pull out and that's certainly not safe.

Yep. I did the same thing to DH, who likes to buckle as we're pulling out onto the road because he thinks that's soon enough... WHAM!! Oh, I'm sorry, that dashboard doesn't taste very nice?

Rachel and I get into it about this sometimes. Usually she asks can she get out, but every so often she'll unbuckle before I tell her, or she won't ask, only when I have already parked. Accidents happen all the time, even while parked.

Glad your DD wasn't seriously hurt.

I'm guilty of this. When we go to my Mom's I have three kids, a Boxer, two kittens and hermit crabs in the car for a 4 hour ride. DD always unbuckles to pass out the food. I don't move until she's back in her seat, but I can see how this could happen to us too.

lovinwaves said:

I would be lying if I said I didn't purposely do something somewhat similar to my kids to show them why we buckle up

Click to expand...

Me too!! Some kids are hands on learners.

lovinwaves said:

I would be lying if I said I didn't purposely do something somewhat similar to my kids to show them why we buckle up

Click to expand...

I would totally never ever doing anything like that...like ever, totally never ever.
Ok, I totally did, more than once.

ketchupqueen said:

We all stay buckled even when parked, unless we are getting in/out (or I have to nurse a baby or change a diaper, then the others still stay buckled.) I've seen too many parked cars get hit...

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

I hope your DD is okay. Thanks for sharing your story. That's good to know how easily things like that can happen and another good argument for car seat use!

Thank you for sharing!

That is exactly why I freaked out when I was driving with my cousin's 3yo ds and he unbuckled himself as we were driving into the driveway. I don't know what his parents let him do, but I got really mad and made him repeat back to me that he will no touch his straps until someone says to. I think I scared him, he was almost crying, but he'd be crying a lot more if he was out of his seat when the was car was moving.

Yes, she is okay. More startled her than anything. The bad part is, it was MY fault. she knows she isn't allowed to unbuckle until the park is in park. I am the one who said "Kendall, unstrap and come up here for Mommy". She got up and we literally creeped at the slowest imaginable speed just to get out of the way so the cars behind us could get out. I was startled, instinctively put my foot on the brake, which was enough to change us from creeping to stopped. That's all it took for her to fall forward. I felt like a total jerk and she looked at me like "See, idiot, this is why I don't unstrap"

this is why I really like to always have one of the older children sitting in the second row... that way that doesn't get tempting.

I'm glad everyone is okay.

For future... (or what I do when I don't want them eating in the car)... get those drink holders... set those on the floor in front of the passenger seat (assuming no one is sitting there who could help you)... then set the bags of food (after going through each to make sure you have everything of course) on the seat or between the two seats.

Then... if you do want to pass stuff out... pull forward and off to the side into a parking spot (just not one for those waiting for additional items...

But again, I really like having an older child in the 2nd row... providing they know how to hand things to people without turning around in their seat, so that they stay properly buckled. It's one reason (aside from their arguing over whether or not Damian is kicking Jeffrey with his knees in the back) I like to have the boys diagonal... I can hand things back without looking to Jeffrey, I can hand things diagonally to Ruthie... and Jeffrey can pass things I hand him easily diagonally without turning (even though he knows better and wouldn't) to Damian... and when we have an extra kid, he'll still automatically pass to his brother who then hands it to the fourth child.

When the kids were smaller, I just pulled forward and either stood up and turned around (in the van), turned around in the car, or got out and opened the door to hand them things and get them set up and then got rebuckled and pulled out.

Kat_Momof3 said:

this is why I really like to always have one of the older children sitting in the second row... that way that doesn't get tempting.

I'm glad everyone is okay.

For future... (or what I do when I don't want them eating in the car)... get those drink holders... set those on the floor in front of the passenger seat (assuming no one is sitting there who could help you)... then set the bags of food (after going through each to make sure you have everything of course) on the seat or between the two seats.

Then... if you do want to pass stuff out... pull forward and off to the side into a parking spot (just not one for those waiting for additional items...

But again, I really like having an older child in the 2nd row... providing they know how to hand things to people without turning around in their seat, so that they stay properly buckled. It's one reason (aside from their arguing over whether or not Damian is kicking Jeffrey with his knees in the back) I like to have the boys diagonal... I can hand things back without looking to Jeffrey, I can hand things diagonally to Ruthie... and Jeffrey can pass things I hand him easily diagonally without turning (even though he knows better and wouldn't) to Damian... and when we have an extra kid, he'll still automatically pass to his brother who then hands it to the fourth child.

When the kids were smaller, I just pulled forward and either stood up and turned around (in the van), turned around in the car, or got out and opened the door to hand them things and get them set up and then got rebuckled and pulled out.

Click to expand...

That's the thing... I KNOW all those things. I know better. But I used bad judgement. That's why I feel so rotten about it... because I'm not that stupid- but I sure acted it at the time. :thumbsdown:

I guess my point was that even when you think "Oh, it's no big deal", it really could be a big deal.

i've BTDT.....gave my son a black eye because of my stupidity when i know better.... you won't forget this at least not for a LONG time. which is good so you can keep everyone safe. glad she is OK.

lovinwaves said:

I would be lying if I said I didn't purposely do something somewhat similar to my kids to show them why we buckle up

Click to expand...

As a kid, there was a time when my brother wouldn't put on his seat belt. So, what did my mom do?

Mhm, she may have slightly hit her brakes, hard enough to make my big brother hit the floor.

He wears his seat belt now.