Where to start? RE:Seat check

djma · Aug 20, 2008

Ok, first off...I should've never been asked to help with carpool at work. The misuse-non-use is killing me!

So, I am going to approach the Director about having a seat check. But I have a few questions...

I would love to have SafeKids do it, but do they require the company doing the check to pay them? I don't think the Director will go for that because she's already a worry-wart about money.

Do local police or firestations perform this kind of thing? The parents seem so busy and I forsee a lot of rolled eyes when we mention doing this...so I don't think they'll listen to the ERF or EH lectures. My main concern is getting these kids' seats installed properly and getting the 2 and 3-year-olds that don't use anything a proper seat.

Help? Suggestions?

TIA

Defrost · Aug 20, 2008

My local SafeKids doesn't charge anything - they are funded by grants. I'd start by calling them and asking.

mish · Aug 20, 2008

I would call Safe Kids too. I would be thrilled if someone called me (I'm a coordinator) and asked me to do a seat check. I'm sure they would be happy to do it.

LISmama810 · Aug 20, 2008

I would also call up the coalition and ask.

Just something to consider, though: I don't think my coalition will do checks for a single organization--it would have to be open to the public. So they could do a check for your school, but other people would be able to make appointments, also. I don't know if all coalitions operate that way, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Victorious4 · Aug 20, 2008

You can also scroll down Sacred Journeys: Safety Seat Basics to the Child Care & Carpool section for printable information to share with parents and/or use for coordinating rides :twocents:

If I were in your area, I would be glad to arrange a workshop with less than a dozen families.... Providing a seatcheck for all the families at once would be very difficult & time-consuming without at least a few techs to pitch in, though.

djma · Aug 20, 2008

papooses said:
You can also scroll down Sacred Journeys: Safety Seat Basics to the Child Care & Carpool section for printable information to share with parents and/or use for coordinating rides :twocents:

If I were in your area, I would be glad to arrange a workshop with less than a dozen families.... Providing a seatcheck for all the families at once would be very difficult & time-consuming without at least a few techs to pitch in, though.

I was thinking we could have it for 2 days from 1:00-3:00. Carpool technically starts at 1:15, but for this we could start early. And the 2 days would help break up some of the crowd. My concern is that not many would want to participate. I plan to start calling around tomorrow. I was going to mention it to the Director today, but she had me doing several other things and I just didn't bring it up.

LISmama810 · Aug 20, 2008

That might be tough. Most techs have other jobs (i.e., police officers) who can get away to do a seat check once a month, but maybe not two days in a row. Also, we usually schedule appointments every 45 minutes to an hour, so with a 2-hour window, you're looking at two appointments per tech (or, ideally, per team of techs).

It might be better to try to set up an educational talk for the staff parents (as a PP mentioned), then steer them to a community check.

Definitely make some calls, though, and see what people tell you. They might be able to work something out.

djma · Aug 20, 2008

See, I had a friend tell me several years ago that the PreSchool she worked at had a couple of police officers come out and inspect seats as the parents left through carpool.

So although a SafeKids person would be ideal, I figured they may not be able to do this in the time frame that we would need.

So I'm wondering if our local police stations have someone "trained" at least in proper use, proper car seat etiquette (not using expired seats)...and the basic "if you read your manual, you wouldn't be doing this" kind of stuff, that it would be easier for them to come out.

It may be a lost cause, but I am sick to my stomach by the end of carpool because of the utterly beyond fixable twisted straps, kids outgrown the seat, no seat at all, using latch and seatbelt with alternating beltpaths...

Isn't there a car safety month coming up or something???

Baby D · Aug 20, 2008

My DH organizes checks like that in NC. Safe Kids doesn't charge anything for them. He does a different poverty school in our district each month and just asks that someone at the school (usually the parent advocate or social worker) provide lunch for the techs that come out and volunteer their time.

He does them by appointment only and the school is the contact with the parents for making the appointments and providing the translators. (Most of the families we serve are illegal and do not speak English. We have better luck reaching them with the school than police.)

You might have a traffic issue doing it during pick up. We schedule 30 minutes per child and that could really back up the line. Don't know what the parking lot you are working with looks like.

Where to start? RE:Seat check

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