Ever feel like you're the most....

knowledgeable tech at a community car seat check? Perhaps it's just the ones sponsored by local fire/police departments and not ones sponsored by Safe Kids, but I witnessed a tech this weekend saying it was okay for a 3yo to go into a backless booster once the child hit 30lbs. My eyes about popped out of my head. And the tech was telling this to a parent who had their barely 28lb child in a Husky that expired in a year.

I was also amazed that when people say they want to keep their kids harnessed but their seat only goes up to 40lbs, they ask a tech for advice, but most of the techs just say to go ahead and put them in a booster without any mention of extended harnessing as an option. I'm guessing it's because they don't know these seats exist. But at least recommend a Britax if that's the only seat you can think of. Leave it up to the parents to decide if it's worth the money. I'm just glad I have enough knowledge to make several recommendations (Apex, Triumph Advanced, Britax, Radian) to people based on their budget. I feel sad for parents who get the techs that just tell them to put their 40lb kid in a backless booster.

I also feel bad that a lot of the seat checks are still just giving the impression of an installation service. I felt like I was the only technician educating the parents and having them install their own seats. Yes, it took longer, but it wasn't that busy of a seat check that we had a line of people waiting. So I personally feel if there is the time (and there are no screaming babies in the car) that I should take the time to educate the parent and teach them how to install the seat, not just do it for them.

Just wondering if others felt some of the same frustration I do. I guess that's why I prefer private appointments over community seat checks, but I do volunteer my time to do both.
So there's my :twocents:.

well i'm not a tech but we had this babypooliza thing at the mall yesterday and there were two techs there, and i felt like my non-tech self knew more than both of them. i was "informed" by one that DS (26mo/29#) could be FF, and she asked me if i wanted her to reinstall the seat FF... ugg. and the other seemed to think that my MA was a waste of money, telling me that those seats are only good if your gonna keep your kid harnessed for longer... well duh, arent ya'll suposed to teach that? or at least support it? or something... they need to have a class in town so i can get certified...

Always. Even during the check for class I felt like I knew more about carseats than the instructors. Less about doing a check, but more about seats. Since then I've done a ton of private checks, and a couple of real checks. One of the real checks I was the only tech (an instructor was there for a while and she seemed good, but I didn't see her speak with anyone), and another was with a lady (Hi Lysandra!) from here, so of course she was good. I have checks for the next three Wednesdays, all SK checks, and then another here in my town on the 29th, another SK event, and I'm scared of who else is going to be there.

Wendy

Shoot, I'm not a tech and I felt that way Saturday. I had 5 techs oogling my RF tether like they'd never heard of such a thing. They didn't want sign off on it so we left it unhooked and I hooked it back up to the D ring when we got home. I would have loved it if one of you guys were there.

Sure I am felt that I was the most knowledgable, at certain times. I did learn a lot from my instructors, and a lot from just reading on my own. Like I have said before, I think its hard in some cases, because they isnt always a clear answer, with such things as : tether rear facing, what age for boosters, and for me I wish I saw the 5 step test performed besides just reading the pamphlets. Does anyonw know the statistical, where most people say the child is 4 times more likely to be seriously injured if they were forward facing as compared to rear facing? Does anyone know if this is with or without the tether in both cases? The world has there own opinions on safety children, Australia with there 9 months ff with tether, and sweden with there rigid latch and rear facing until age 3, but then the kids go to a belt positioning booster.

When I did my end of tech class exam with Jen, nope. :thumbsup: I actually think quite a few members of our class learned a lot... probably helped having 2 of us obsessed car seat freaks in there though.

In our city, absolutely based on the one event I've volunteered at. The public health does seat checks here basically as installation too.. not much in the way of education, and if a seat has a problem it's fixed and the parents gets an explanation as it's being fixed and then they're sent on their merry way.

I shadowed another tech for 2 inspections since it was my first event here in the city, and the first seat was a Britax. The tech said she hated them because she never knew what to do about the rf'ing tether. 2nd seat was an embrace, and the tech had no clue that there'd been a recall on some of them - just told mom since it had been bought new that it wouldn't have been recalled. (Should I mention they don't check recall lists at checks here either? :thumbsdown: ) This same tech had never heard of the Radian...

Add to that that one family I helped, it was their 3rd time getting their seat checked for their 6wk old baby because they didn't feel confident in the installation or the tech the first 2 times. And they shouldn't have, because it wasn't a good installation... A parent shouldn't have to visit a seat check 3 times to have a tech notice a seating location/car seat incompatibility.

Yep. Often. I don't do very many checks with the local organizations any more, and that's part of the reason why. The PD & FD techs get very, very defensive when a civilian knows more than they do and isn't afraid to correct what they are doing.

skaterbabscpst said:

Yep. Often. I don't do very many checks with the local organizations any more, and that's part of the reason why. The PD & FD techs get very, very defensive when a civilian knows more than they do and isn't afraid to correct what they are doing.

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This is exactly how I felt. I was the ONLY civilian. They all seemed nice enough, but I just wonder sometimes what is running through their minds. They must be thinking, "This is one crazy mom!!!" One of the police officers was better about not recommending putting kids in a booster even if the weight requirement for the seat started at 30lbs (all the rest just said 30lbs...sure put them in a booster). He stressed 40lbs minimum and said it should be based more on maturity and not weight. He even told a parent that their 32lb 4 year old needed to be in a car seat and not a backless booster:thumbsup: Unfortunately he couldn't recommend any by name, so I had to step in and offer some recommendations.

Every time I read one of these horror stories I am amazed at how lucky we are to have knowledgable techs at not one but two orgniazations within driving distance of my house.

Here in Reno I don't work with any of the local techs ( the ambulance company REMSA does most of the events). A lot of them give out really bad info, and I don't want to be involved when they get sued. Not that I think all of them are bad techs, I just don't know who the good one's are.

In the Bay Area I worked with a lot of people who either trained me or I trained, so I knew what was going on even when I couldn't monitor every tech. Most times I am the most experienced tech at a check, but that is because I did 10-12 checks a day for 3 plus years, and because I have been a tech so long. And because I did a lot of checks with a very experience tech/ PITA named Bob who thinks it's hilarious to ask me questions I don't know the answer to just to see me obsess until I have researched the answer.

Kimberly

elle7715 said:

Shoot, I'm not a tech and I felt that way Saturday. I had 5 techs oogling my RF tether like they'd never heard of such a thing. They didn't want sign off on it so we left it unhooked and I hooked it back up to the D ring when we got home. I would have loved it if one of you guys were there.

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I must be in the lucky group too. The techs and instructors at our monthly checks are "regulars" and know how to install and instruct. Our senior checkers always quiz the parents about how to know if the install is good and the seat fits the kid as they check the actual seat/install.

Recently we've had a couple of "gotta get signed off before my certification expires" techs who were pretty out of the loop, but we just covered close.

RE the RF tether: I would have whipped out the manual and done a show and tell. More Britax seats are coming through checks so more are seeing them. At a recent check, an instructor came and had me help as she knew I'd worked with several RFing tethers. . .but she tried to have the other techs stop by to see it as well. Ditto for the Chicco Keyfit or any new/unusual seat. The instructors try to pull out manuals and have as many as possible observe.

safeinthecar@mac.com said:

Here in Reno I don't work with any of the local techs ( the ambulance company REMSA does most of the events). A lot of them give out really bad info, and I don't want to be involved when they get sued. Not that I think all of them are bad techs, I just don't know who the good one's are.

Kimberly

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well, I've seen those guys on Reno 911. No way I would trust them to install my carseat.

crunchierthanthou said:

well, I've seen those guys on Reno 911. No way I would trust them to install my carseat.

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Ya know I I've never seen that show.

Kimberly

My area isn't bad. Most techs educate instead of just installing and while they may not always promote extended rear facing or extended harnessing, they generally prefer to keep kids harnessed until they outgrow at least 40lb harnessed seats.

As for recalled seats... every check event has multiple copies of the the most recent recall list (one for each tech team) and we check the list for EVERY seat.

Most of the techs don't tether the Britax seats rear facing, and one of them refuses to do so at all because there isn't a specific spot to tether it.

They are in general all good techs, and while they aren't all as anal about stuff as I am...they are out there, giving out solid info,even if it isn't cutting edge.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868 ...it's four times safer in SIDE impacts only, only a bit safer in frontal impacts. Nothing to do with tethering (not enough rf britaxes/radians for kids to be getting into the injury/statistical databases yet in this country)

chickenman said:

Sure I am felt that I was the most knowledgable, at certain times. I did learn a lot from my instructors, and a lot from just reading on my own. Like I have said before, I think its hard in some cases, because they isnt always a clear answer, with such things as : tether rear facing, what age for boosters, and for me I wish I saw the 5 step test performed besides just reading the pamphlets. Does anyonw know the statistical, where most people say the child is 4 times more likely to be seriously injured if they were forward facing as compared to rear facing? Does anyone know if this is with or without the tether in both cases? The world has there own opinions on safety children, Australia with there 9 months ff with tether, and sweden with there rigid latch and rear facing until age 3, but then the kids go to a belt positioning booster.

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I was in a CEU class yesterday. They showed "new seats". We were to get familiar with them. I had already installed all but two, played with the two I hadn't installed at stores. I felt I knew more about all of them. No one else, but my friend had even seen a lot of these seats. Yikes!

This is percisely why i DONNOT take my carseat to my local CPT's!!! they are just full of misinformation! It is weird really. They just quote the "law" without giving any reommendations for higher harness seats! They think nothign of seeing a 20lb child FF even though they can be RF for much longer! they advise all the time that a 40lb child can go into a backless booster and by age 6 they don't need any booster seat, can sit in the vehicle's seatbelt. Heck unitl i came here i'd never heard of the 5 step test! the CPT's here don't use it!
Beth

Betsyconnersmommy said:

This is percisely why i DONNOT take my carseat to my local CPT's!!! they are just full of misinformation! It is weird really. They just quote the "law" without giving any reommendations for higher harness seats! They think nothign of seeing a 20lb child FF even though they can be RF for much longer! they advise all the time that a 40lb child can go into a backless booster and by age 6 they don't need any booster seat, can sit in the vehicle's seatbelt. Heck unitl i came here i'd never heard of the 5 step test! the CPT's here don't use it!
Beth

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Well, I have to very strongly disagree with this sentiment. Not all techs are created equal, but I would say 99% of them will pick up on misuse. Their advice may not be spot on, but they will be able to ensure that a child leaves the check with their seat safely installed, and I personally don't think a parent should ever minimize the ability of a tech to make sure a seat is installed safely and being used correctly just because they're not giving out best practice information. :twocents:

Techs who haven't seen seats can still do a perfectly fine job with them provided they read the manual - and that is something DRILLED into a tech's head in training. Read the vehicle and owner's manual. It's a mantra.

I would hope that someone reading this thread wouldn't think there's no point to getting their seats checked because most techs are fruit loops who don't know what they're doing.

There's a huge difference between being more knowledgeable than the tech's you work with, and saying that other techs are incompetent fools who do nothing but give bad advice and waste a parent's time. :twocents:

I'm just saying don't throw a huge blanket over all techs in the area being useless until or unless you've dealt with every single one of them. :thumbsup:

I will admit to being a hypocrite and not having my own seats checked after my 1st encounter with a seat check here when dd was a baby. It was before the nationalized CRST program was largely in use though, and our program is different in some aspects compared to the US one and seat checks are run differently by every region... Change is slow to happen when those who do seat checks were doing them back 10yrs ago when there was no curriculum here...

But despite my lack of confidence in our local public program, I do believe that the vast majority of incorrect installs and misuse are caught in these clinics.

Most parents think that they're using their seats correctly when they come to a seat check - and most of them aren't. This is why it's so important to go to a seat check.

edited: I realize you didn't come right out and say don't bother getting your seat checked, you're likely to know more than the tech anyways... but that's just the general jist I got reading your post, and I feel it's important it be addressed since this is a public forum and I don't want other parents to get the wrong idea.