Oh thank God!

brightredmtn

Well-known member
We were just out shopping and came across a 4 month old in a Snugride with super loose straps and her chest clip touching the buckle. So I approached her mother nicely like I always do and ask her if she tightens the straps when she is in the car (giving her the benefit of the doubt.) She says no but is really responsive to my advice. She tells me that they took off the cover to wash and couldn't get the straps back in correctly. Upon further inspection they were horribly twisted and in the top harness slots when she wasn't big enough for them yet. Yikes! So I offered to rethread the straps. Only problem is that it's the kind of Snugride that adjusts from the back and we had the kind that adjusts from the front, so I've never seen the manual on how to do it. I took a calculated risk and put them back in the hooks how the mother had. I figured the baby was better off with untwisted straps and in the right harness slots and I wasn't making the thread in the hooks any worse. I just checked an online manual and thank God they were in the correct way.

What would you have done? Maybe I shouldn't be doing stuff like this before I'm a tech but it makes me so sad when I see such horrible misuse.
 
Last edited:
ADS

Mom to a few

New member
Well, the goal with seat checks is that the child should leave safer than they came, and I think you accomplished that. You were brave enough to approach a total stranger, and you obviously did it in a way that wasn't offensive to her:thumbsup:. Her child now has a harness that is tight, untwisted, and coming from below her shoulders...and the mom hopefully understands how to keep her daughter a little safer. She may have never gone to a formal seat check, and the information you gave her in the parking lot might save her child's life one day. I'd say you did great :).
 

lovinwaves

New member
Aw, what a great story!! That was so great of you to speak up. I help people out in public only if it is a seat I am familar with, or if they have the owner's manual with them.
 
Goon onya for speaking up, and doing it in a way that kept the lines of communication open! :up: What a lucky mom & baby to have met you today! :D
 

flipper68

Senior Community Member
Similar experience. . . I was recently at TRU, and as with any trip there, I have to make a stop in the car seat aisle.

I encounter a sales clerk and grandma looking at an Eddie Bauer AO. I don't remember what they were wondering, but I approached and offered to answer the question (and show them the answer on the seat). Long story short, the clerk disappeared and I convinced grandma not to buy the seat {yes, it in theory it can be used to 100 lbs, but usually is outgrown by height long before 4 & 40 lbs.}

Turns out, daughter is using a OHS seat given to her by her daycare. I suggested she to go to WalMart and purchase 2 new seats (Sceneras that will RF to 35, since baby is chunky and she can get two NEW seats for the price of one AO.) She writes down the details: Cosco - Scenera - Pt. harness (our Walmart carries the brown 5 pt and the blue OHS (which fortunately is $20 more).

I offered to go out and check her seat/show her how to install. . .and she took me up on it, although she kept saying, "I don't want to take your time." My reply was it's worth it if I can help her keep DGS safer.

As I paid for my purchase, the clerk asked about tech training, saying she hated not knowing how to answer customer questions. I tell her check out "Safe Kids.ORG" and there was a class coming up soon.

Out at the car ('06-'08 Mazda sedan), I find a FF OHS (for 7 month old) and the seatbelt isn't locked. When I take it out to show how to install it RF, I discover it is an Evenflo with a 12/99 manufacture date. . .UGH!! I tell her about expiration dates. Since I've just suggested/recommended she drive 3 blocks to another store for seats, I tell her it's not good to use expired, but I'm sure this will be the last time baby rides in the seat (I didn't mention I'd take a correctly used - RF - and installed (snug) expired seat is better than any new one with as much misuse as I encountered with the present seat ANY day). I also tell her how to make an appointment for our monthly seat checks.

That's one baby that left a WHOLE lot safer than when he arrived. Hopefully grandma can remember enough of the info to educate her daughter. At the very least, she now knows the seat is expired, sees/feels how a seat is SUPPOSED to be installed - no movement & the importance of RFing.

BTW - Baby boy was an Adorable Flirt! :)
 

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