turtlemama
New member
I know I'm not qualified to just go around telling people what to do with their seats, but this time I had to help this lady.
If I see someone has car seats I can't help but look when they are getting in the car. I was in the TRU parking lot, had all my boys strapped in and out of the rear view mirror saw a couple putting their boys in the van behind me. I had already noticed the Scenera as I was walking to my car, I wondered who would sit in it since their kids looked older than they actually were.
So I sat there watching, and the mom puts the smaller boy in the Scenera, his head looked like it cleared the shell by a good inch or so and I noticed he had on a poofy coat. So, I sat there debating on whether or not I should say something. The dad was still outside the car. So I decided to do it. I went over (literally shaking because I was scared they would get mad at me for butting in.)
I asked if I could give some advice, intending to inform them that the younger one was too big for his seat and needed the coat off, but when I looked in I saw the mom had routed the seat belt over the top of the Scenera as well as doing up the harness on him. So I just said. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I had to come over. I just wanted to say that is very dangerous, can I show you how it is supposed to be?" I realize that sounds kinda rude, which is something I am always afraid I am going to do when I talk to people, but thankfully they were super, super nice people and were very open to me helping them.
They had no clue that the seat could not be strapped in that way, or that he couldn't be wearing the coat, or about twisty straps. I told her that I came over because I am very concerned about car seat use and I intend to get certified next month to be able to help people just like her learn about car seat safety, just to make sure I didn't come off as some weirdo lady interfering in their business.
She was very interested in all I had to say. I helped her with the straps, and untwisted them. I told her about coat compression and how harnesses need to be snug enough to hold the child , and showed her the pinch test. I told her about installing the seat so it doesn't move more than an inch. She thought that the strap height thing only applied to babies, so I made sure she knew it was for all children. It turns out her younger son (He turned 3 in October) did fit the Scenera, but just barely. It was his hat I saw that looked like it was well over the top. He had an inch over his head and was right at the top slot, but just about to be over. I told her about the seats he could fit in at TRU and that she could trade hers in. He weighed around 35 lbs she said, so I did mention RF but at his age I told her it was not absolutely necessary. I also told her why RF was safer in general and how the car seat protected the spine. She didn't know that, but said she would make sure to tell others that had younger children.
Her older son was 5 and in a low back booster. I had never seen one like that before, actually. It looked old, but the DOM said 2007. She did know that seats expired, so that was good. It was a bottom portion to an Evenflo HBB. It didn't have armrests, but it had these things that could slide up and down on the side. There was also a slot shaped like a V that the seatbelt went into. I was actually a little surprised at the belt fit since it looked pretty good. However, he moved around ALOT, so I told her he probably needed to be in a 5 point harness.
I am really glad I helped them. I know I am really not supposed to do that without being qualified, but I couldn't just let them drive off with the seatbelt over his seat like that. She said she would be getting them new seats on Monday and would call me if she had questions. I also gave her some websites to look at, this one, cpsafety.com and told her to look up some stuff on youtube, like RF vs FF (just because she seemed pretty curious about that) and 5 point harnessing, and booster safety. I did not want to point her towards KDM or Belle's gift, I told her that some children who are too young to be boostered (She asked if the next seat for her 3 yr old needed to be a booster) did not make it though. I asked if she wanted to see their sites, but if she didn't I wasn't going to push that on her. She said she didn't think she would be able to handle seeing something like that.
Over all, and this might sound selfish, but I feel really good about helping her. She had no clue about a lot of the things I told her and I told her how common it was that parents just didn't know. How the information is not on TV, aside from keeping them in a booster, how it's not plastered all over billboards to keep your child RF past one, or in a harness past 3. I told her that she was not the only one, it's actually not really common that the average parent is going to know a lot about car seat safety unless they go looking for the information themselves.
She seemed really happy that I helped her, and glad to get all the information. That let me know that I am doing the right thing, that this is what I need to be doing. (Not exactly barging into people's business like that, but I do want to do something to get the word out there. Certification is hopefully just the first step for me) No one should ever have to lose their child because they just didn't know that something could have saved them. I could not imagine going through that pain, knowing that if I had only known, I could have prevented something bad from happening.
Anyway I just wanted to share. Again, I know I probably should not have butted in since I am not actually qualified to go doing such a thing, but I couldn't help it. I was just thinking that whole time I was sitting there deciding what to do about how last time (when I saw the young kids in the car alone, in seats that were grossly misused) how I just did nothing.
Sorry this got so long
If I see someone has car seats I can't help but look when they are getting in the car. I was in the TRU parking lot, had all my boys strapped in and out of the rear view mirror saw a couple putting their boys in the van behind me. I had already noticed the Scenera as I was walking to my car, I wondered who would sit in it since their kids looked older than they actually were.
So I sat there watching, and the mom puts the smaller boy in the Scenera, his head looked like it cleared the shell by a good inch or so and I noticed he had on a poofy coat. So, I sat there debating on whether or not I should say something. The dad was still outside the car. So I decided to do it. I went over (literally shaking because I was scared they would get mad at me for butting in.)
I asked if I could give some advice, intending to inform them that the younger one was too big for his seat and needed the coat off, but when I looked in I saw the mom had routed the seat belt over the top of the Scenera as well as doing up the harness on him. So I just said. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I had to come over. I just wanted to say that is very dangerous, can I show you how it is supposed to be?" I realize that sounds kinda rude, which is something I am always afraid I am going to do when I talk to people, but thankfully they were super, super nice people and were very open to me helping them.
They had no clue that the seat could not be strapped in that way, or that he couldn't be wearing the coat, or about twisty straps. I told her that I came over because I am very concerned about car seat use and I intend to get certified next month to be able to help people just like her learn about car seat safety, just to make sure I didn't come off as some weirdo lady interfering in their business.
She was very interested in all I had to say. I helped her with the straps, and untwisted them. I told her about coat compression and how harnesses need to be snug enough to hold the child , and showed her the pinch test. I told her about installing the seat so it doesn't move more than an inch. She thought that the strap height thing only applied to babies, so I made sure she knew it was for all children. It turns out her younger son (He turned 3 in October) did fit the Scenera, but just barely. It was his hat I saw that looked like it was well over the top. He had an inch over his head and was right at the top slot, but just about to be over. I told her about the seats he could fit in at TRU and that she could trade hers in. He weighed around 35 lbs she said, so I did mention RF but at his age I told her it was not absolutely necessary. I also told her why RF was safer in general and how the car seat protected the spine. She didn't know that, but said she would make sure to tell others that had younger children.
Her older son was 5 and in a low back booster. I had never seen one like that before, actually. It looked old, but the DOM said 2007. She did know that seats expired, so that was good. It was a bottom portion to an Evenflo HBB. It didn't have armrests, but it had these things that could slide up and down on the side. There was also a slot shaped like a V that the seatbelt went into. I was actually a little surprised at the belt fit since it looked pretty good. However, he moved around ALOT, so I told her he probably needed to be in a 5 point harness.
I am really glad I helped them. I know I am really not supposed to do that without being qualified, but I couldn't just let them drive off with the seatbelt over his seat like that. She said she would be getting them new seats on Monday and would call me if she had questions. I also gave her some websites to look at, this one, cpsafety.com and told her to look up some stuff on youtube, like RF vs FF (just because she seemed pretty curious about that) and 5 point harnessing, and booster safety. I did not want to point her towards KDM or Belle's gift, I told her that some children who are too young to be boostered (She asked if the next seat for her 3 yr old needed to be a booster) did not make it though. I asked if she wanted to see their sites, but if she didn't I wasn't going to push that on her. She said she didn't think she would be able to handle seeing something like that.
Over all, and this might sound selfish, but I feel really good about helping her. She had no clue about a lot of the things I told her and I told her how common it was that parents just didn't know. How the information is not on TV, aside from keeping them in a booster, how it's not plastered all over billboards to keep your child RF past one, or in a harness past 3. I told her that she was not the only one, it's actually not really common that the average parent is going to know a lot about car seat safety unless they go looking for the information themselves.
She seemed really happy that I helped her, and glad to get all the information. That let me know that I am doing the right thing, that this is what I need to be doing. (Not exactly barging into people's business like that, but I do want to do something to get the word out there. Certification is hopefully just the first step for me) No one should ever have to lose their child because they just didn't know that something could have saved them. I could not imagine going through that pain, knowing that if I had only known, I could have prevented something bad from happening.
Anyway I just wanted to share. Again, I know I probably should not have butted in since I am not actually qualified to go doing such a thing, but I couldn't help it. I was just thinking that whole time I was sitting there deciding what to do about how last time (when I saw the young kids in the car alone, in seats that were grossly misused) how I just did nothing.
Sorry this got so long
