I passed! And my first seat check.

So I passed my certification class (obviously ).

We had a MUCH better turn-out than we expected - 25 seats total (a lot them were the same family - 2 families each had 4 seats to check).

My first EVER seat to check EVER EVER EVER... (drum roll please)
7# 2 month old preemie (adjusted age newborn) with colostomy bag and stoma (sp?) in a SnugRide. He'd only been home from NICU for about a week, he had to pass the car seat test (the 3 hour one) before he left the hospital, but then a nurse installed the seat for them and had it WAY too inclined- close to 35* . On the way home from the hospital the baby's neck kept flopping over, so the mom pulled over the car and stuffed some towels underneath the seat to keep it from happening - she knew it was wrong but didn't want him to stop breathing either. I got the incline fixed using the foot (which I guess the nurse failed to notice on the seat ), and got my instructor (who spent most of her career dealing with special needs CRS issues ) to help me with the harness. We got him in there snug (no pun intended ) and Mom was happy, and I was too .

His brother didn't fare so well... We were worried there wouldn't be a good turn out, so som other new techs were doing the older boy's seat. 3 y.o. (40 months), 34#. He was above the top slots in his convertible seat (I don't remember what it was, most likely a CrappySport)... so they put him in a new TurboBooster. They didn't even look for a combo seat with higher harness slots (I only realized later in the day when I found one for a kiddo of the same size). I was so sad for that little boy. I mean, technically it fit him, but I can't fathom a 3 y.o. little guy sitting the right way all the time. And he HATED it. He screamed for his old seat back the whole time. I wish I had the courage (I was already sort of looked at as the obsessive, 'intense', talks-a-lot (I ask a lot of questions), non-professional (veryone else in the class was an officer, trooper, paramedic, IEP specialists, etc). At least that's how it felt by the end of the class. ) I didn't want to step on anyone's toes and into their check (I know that sounds wrong). I did say something to one of the instructors about how I hated seeing a kiddo that small in a booster ("well, it fits him, and he seems pretty low-key. He's sit properly I think" - said as he screamed "my seat! where's my seat?!")

Besides that one incident, it went really well. I hope I can get into some more seat checks soon! Glad to join the ranks!

tarynsmum said:

but then a nurse installed the seat for them and had it WAY too inclined- close to 35* . On the way home from the hospital the baby's neck kept flopping over

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congrats!

did you mean too little incline? 35 is pretty upright for a newborn.

She probably means from horizontal -- which is how I learned angles until I came here and started learning about how carseat folks do angles from vertical.

So 35* from horizontal would be 65* from vertical.

Gypsy said:

She probably means from horizontal -- which is how I learned angles until I came here and started learning about how carseat folks do angles from vertical.

So 35* from horizontal would be 65* from vertical.

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Yeah, too upright (how about that wording, lol). Everyone in my class (instructors and otherwise) did it opposite to how I learned here, so I kind of went with the flow, lol.

Good for you!!! Sounds like a good check Yeah, you get a lot more product knowledge online than techs ever get offline (that three yo would fit in a Chase, but not a Cosco HBB, but I bet even a lot of techs would never know the difference in those two seats having top slots 2 inches different...and of course, if there's still that real life scenario in the class where the 3 yo in the booster is CORRECT!, then of course that's still fresh in people's minds when they go into the real world

CONGRATS!

Like Julie said, I do think we get more product knowledge online than real-life techs do. Not sure why they don't notice stuff at seat checks like top slot height, when it's soooo important. I committ that stuff to memory! I sometimes feel like a walking encyclopedia of carseat knowledge: top slot heights, weight limits, widths, heights, base or no base, etc.

Maybe techs don't keep track of top slot heights and things like that because it's so drilled into our heads that all seats are created equal, so to speak?

Yeah, I wanted to say something to the effect of "take him to (insert store here), sit him in seats and see where the top slots are" - my instructor kept telling me over and over not to say any brand names (like I'm going to tell parents to run out and buy XYZ, which of course I'm not going to do). I mean, the kiddo had been in a CrappySport - he'd probably be below the top slots in anything else. And he hated that booster SO MUCH - I'm afraid he would keep going on about it, and the parents would put him back in his old seat (we gave it back to them to take home, since they had the younger brother who would get in there eventually). Poor little guy...

Maybe 'we' (and make a huge order, car-seat.org or something), could find a place that makes paper tape measures to hand out to people so they can measure carseat slots in stores? That'd be a cool tool for advertising 'us' and also getting people to buy the right product without naming names

So techs can't recommend a particular seat (regardless of whether it fits the child or the parent's budget), but they can GIVE AWAY particular seats? That doesn't make much sense to me

ThreeBeans said:

So techs can't recommend a particular seat (regardless of whether it fits the child or the parent's budget), but they can GIVE AWAY particular seats? That doesn't make much sense to me

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Hmmm... That IS a contradiction!

(And a little bit of the reason I'm an 'emeritus'... if I'm not certified, I don't have to play by any of the rules, and can be more of a true consumer advocate, tee hee)

I always carry a small sewing tape measure in my purse and when I take it out and start measuring seats at bru people look at me like I'm crazy and then generally someone comes up and wants to know what I'm doing and that's how I teach people at bru.

ThreeBeans said:

So techs can't recommend a particular seat (regardless of whether it fits the child or the parent's budget), but they can GIVE AWAY particular seats? That doesn't make much sense to me

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Yeah, pretty confusing, huh?

But the seats that are given away are almost always Cosco Sceneras and Cosco highback boosters simply because they're cheap. Giveaway programs will always give away what they can get the cheapest, so they can help the most people.

mominabigtruck said:

I always carry a small sewing tape measure in my purse and when I take it out and start measuring seats at bru people look at me like I'm crazy and then generally someone comes up and wants to know what I'm doing and that's how I teach people at bru.

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I usually have a paper tape measure (proudly swiped during trips to Ikea, lol) in my bag for measuring. It never fails to bring at least one BRU employee to the carseat aisle to give me a crazy look and a "May I help you?" when I'm measuring something on a display model seat.

If car accident is the #1 cause of death of children, then what programs could we put in place to address this issue?

Scenara, Snugride, Radian, Marathon, Regent, Parkway are some of the frequently *if you could* recommended seats on the board...

So, how could we start grass roots local programs that address driver education, parent education, assistance, etc.

Dolly Parton started a program called Education Library that gives a free book each month to every child from birth until their 5th birthday. It only costs about $28/year for each child. Kiwanis sponsors in my area and the library provides the people power (getting names/addresses, ordering and storing and mailing the books). http://www.imaginationlibrary.com/

Shriner's has their own hospitals to help children in need. They pay for flights of burn victims and everything. They take no insurance information, they treat everyone who qualifies for their care equally. http://www.shrinershq.org/

We would need some serious expertise in fundraising, marketing, advertising, etc. It may take 10 years to get such a thing off the ground but we've got the interest, yes?

Congrats on the check.

Thanks for the congrats Mamans



I was the only "non-professional" there - a lot of public service types (EMTs, police, a crash scene investigator, which was cool). Most were there because they needed con-ed credits or their Sgt. said they had to (ex: I was the only student who actually had a car seat in their car...I hope I represented myself OK... I tend to be a little intense about things sometimes, especially because I kind of felt like I had to 'justify' why I was there, you know? Everyone there had these fancy titles and all and I'm introducing myself like "I'm Heather and I'm a mom..." I was DEFINITELY the only one who had to pay for the class themselves, and most everyone else was getting paid to be there (which felt kind of funny, they were like, "I'm gonna get overtime being here past 4:00!" yeah...

It was a good class though. I'm glad I brought my Osteology pictures, my instructor said they were going to add them into the class (they have another cert. class in Pittsburgh in 2 weeks). So that was cool - and I think that added to the push to explain ERFing during class time, so everyone was really pushing it to parents during the check - I overheard one new tech trying to persuade a mother of a 3 y.o. to turn him back around (he was about 30#... she was like No way, lol) It was a valiant effort.