KiwiGem
New member
I worked at our local Parent & Child show this weekend on the Sunshine Kids stand... soooooo much fun!
I had the opportunity to talk to so many parents to be about the importance of choosing a restraint that allows longer rearfacing, dates of manufacture of seats & expiry dates, shell heights, the importance of correct installation & how important it is to ask questions if they're not sure. We also spoke about safe times for children to move up to boosters... there were at least 2 families that came onto the stand to buy a Monterey for their just turned 3 yr old as their current harnessed restraint was needed for a younger sibling, but they ended up purchasing a Radian instead & at least one of those families were going to use it rf'ing for the 3 yr old
I spoke to one couple who turned their 7 mth old ff'ing because her feet were touching the vehicle seat while rf'ing & they were told it was safe by the Aus standards manufacturer of their restraint - those poor parents were mortified at the information they had been given & told me they were going to turn her restraint back to rf'ing for the trip home & come along to a babywearing support meeting this week so I can check their installation for them!
New Zealand has such a long way to go & such a lot of old attitudes to change, especially amongst care providers who provide the most information to new parents & don't understand how different standards seats work so differently from the Australian standards they've worked with for so long - to the point of being prepared to dangerously mis-use US standards seats We have even heard that some of the people with in this service tell parents that they HAVE to turn their child ff'ing at 12 mths
Being able to concentrate on showing parents about choosing a restraint for the first time, showing them crash test videos for rear vs forward facing & what they need to look for in a restraint was so rewarding! I really do hope we made a difference for those parents that we spoke to!
I had the opportunity to talk to so many parents to be about the importance of choosing a restraint that allows longer rearfacing, dates of manufacture of seats & expiry dates, shell heights, the importance of correct installation & how important it is to ask questions if they're not sure. We also spoke about safe times for children to move up to boosters... there were at least 2 families that came onto the stand to buy a Monterey for their just turned 3 yr old as their current harnessed restraint was needed for a younger sibling, but they ended up purchasing a Radian instead & at least one of those families were going to use it rf'ing for the 3 yr old
I spoke to one couple who turned their 7 mth old ff'ing because her feet were touching the vehicle seat while rf'ing & they were told it was safe by the Aus standards manufacturer of their restraint - those poor parents were mortified at the information they had been given & told me they were going to turn her restraint back to rf'ing for the trip home & come along to a babywearing support meeting this week so I can check their installation for them!
New Zealand has such a long way to go & such a lot of old attitudes to change, especially amongst care providers who provide the most information to new parents & don't understand how different standards seats work so differently from the Australian standards they've worked with for so long - to the point of being prepared to dangerously mis-use US standards seats
We have even heard that some of the people with in this service tell parents that they HAVE to turn their child ff'ing at 12 mths Being able to concentrate on showing parents about choosing a restraint for the first time, showing them crash test videos for rear vs forward facing & what they need to look for in a restraint was so rewarding! I really do hope we made a difference for those parents that we spoke to!
