Spreading car seat knowledge to the public

Gatormom

New member
In researching convertible seats for my one year old and talking with other families I am finding a huge lack of knowledge about car seat safety among parents. This has struck a cord in me and I have a desire to help place the necessary information in the hands of parents (newborn to preteen) to help keep our children safe. Is there already an initiative out there to educate parents proactively? I know in my experience I was given no guidance what so ever in leaving the hospital and my son was 5 pounds 10 ounces and did not fit in his car seat properly...to this date my pediatrician has never asked me about car seats or spoken with me about the new recommendations to rear face as long as possible...I just feel like there needs to be support at hospitals, pediatrician offices, schools etc ... Any thoughts?
 
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java

New member
I think sometimes trying to educate the public is like banging your head on a brick wall. But I think it is awesome that you want to spread the word! Just know that by telling people about things like this you are bound to hit more bumps in the road than people that will be open and receptive to the info. Parents tend to get VERY defensive about carseats for some reason....even if they are totally doing it wrong!

My ped has never said a word to us either...and we had our babies at home so no hospitals checking our seats or anything. I am glad I took it upon myself to research...my DD was 15 lbs at 1 and is now hovering between 19 and 20lbs and just turned 2! I know I would have had her ffing at 1....scares me to think about it!

I think what really needs to happen for the word to reach people is someone famous has to be a huge advocate...or it needs to end up in the media one way or another. Then people may listen more.
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Welcome to c-s.o!

I think what you're going through now is something that each and every one of us on here have gone through in one way or another. I know that my motivation comes from having spent years being stricter on car seats than anyone I knew - and then finding out how much I didn't know! I totally agree that we need a LOT more education.

The primary approach we have right now is to educate in a slow, steady steam. I tend to educate a huge percentage of folks I come into contact with - if what I do comes up, I educate in varying amounts, even if it's just to say, "Yeah, 9 out of ten seats ate in wrong. I always thought I was the 1, but I was definitely in the 9. Considering putting kids in the car in the most dangerous thing we do, I've become really passionate about sharing all of the things that I *didn't* know." At a minimum, it plants a couple of seeds that hopefully take root the next time they need to use a CR, and often they ask questions that invite more conversation.

I do really wish we had a way to reach larger audiences. Things like the new AAP recs - which hit mainstream media - are great boons, but they don't come around often enough. They are also sometimes counter-productive, if incorrect information is disseminated, so it can be a double-edged sword.
 

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