should I say something?

I am a part of a group of mothers who are all married to resident doctors. I am a car seat "nut" as my husband puts it and look at seats in cars in parking lots, etc. One of the women in my group has three children. At a gathering the other day I noticed that her middle child (maybe 3yrs) is in a backless booster and the seatbelt cuts across her neck and rides on her stomach. Her youngest child is riding in a 3pt harness with loose straps, and chest clip on stomach. I am used to these mothers ff too early and using boosters at the minimum, but this is just ridiculous. I feel that doctors should know better (although I realize they don't). How could they let their children ride around like this. Would they ride in a car with a seat belt cutting across their neck?

Anyway, I am torn as to whether or not I should say something. I have brought up to the group wanting to give a car seat safety lecture, but have not had supportive responses. My husband has offered to set up a time for me to speak to the residents about this. Any advice on how to approach this?

On a brighter note, I was talking to one of the mothers a while back about our daughters' measurements and she mentioned that her daughter's head size was off the charts. I was then able to talk to her about turning her daughter back to rf and even explained head excursion and how it relates to toddlers' head size compared to their bodies. Anyway, her husband (the doctor) heard me and wanted to know more about it. I think I convinced them to turn her rf, but have yet to see them again to ask about it.

Good luck with the lecture. I'm assuming your DH is a doctor? Right?

* Sorry, I can't give you an answer about the mother with the three children. Ughhh..when it comes to CPS ignorance isn't bliss....it's deadly.:shrug-shoulders:

If you have access to a computer or the net when you give your lecture that would be awesome. Youtube has awesome crash clips...but you can't save them onto your computer. I believe if you visit cpsafety.com there are clips under the RF info that you can save and play w/ Realplayer or something similar. I find that "the proof is in the pudding" and people need to visualize things sometimes to really understand.

Maybe a recent news article like the one from New Zeland where the little girl suffered spinal/brain injuries from FF. If you need the link I'll try to find it for you.

HTH ~ Sara BTW- Maybe print the brochure from cpsafety about "RF unmatched safety" for the mother with the little girl that is FF.

Good luck on that. I have tried with a friend who is an ER doctor herself - she thinks I'm crazy for RF past 1 yr, that my 4 yo should have been in a booster a year ago and that using her infant seat 5 lbs over the limit and the convertibles when they were well over the top slots is just fine. As a mutual friend pointed out, she may just have it in her head that she can fix them if something does happen.

Since you are part of a mom's group I'm assuming you are all linked via email somehow? Could you send out an informational email with some of the important things you've learned about car seat safety say from attending a.....class? Preface it by saying "you didn't know ANY of this either until now" and wanted to pass it along. May not have an impact but then again it might and at least you shared your info in a nonthreatening way.

Thanks for the replies. I think I will find a way to bring it up to the group rather than individually. The e-mail is a good idea, although I couldn't pull off that I "just" learned these things. I think I will get the info gathered as if I will be giving a lecture, and then pass on the pamphlets, etc. to the group.