We spent half a day at the Detroit Zoo today and had a great time, but I did notice some cringeworthy carseat situations.
Near where we parked, I noticed an SUV with a forward facing infant seat on the front passenger seat. Nobody was in the vehicle and it was still parked there when we left. I can only hope they brought the infant seat along to use as a carrier and don't buckle a baby into it in that spot in the car, ugh. I had purged excess stuff out of my messenger bag to allow room for snacks and water bottles, so I didn't have anything with me to even leave a note on the windshield, argh.
I also saw babies riding in infant seats clipped onto strollers who were too tall for the infant seats. I'm talking about babies with their head above the seat shell in several instances. Presumably they're still riding in the infant seats in the car or else why would they use them with the stroller anymore? I know infant seats often have very generous canopies to shield from the sun, and it's very sunny today. But the babies I noticed who had less than an inch of headroom didn't have the canopies over them, probably because they were too tall for the canopies anyway. I can only guess their parents/caregivers thought it would be easier to use the infant seat instead of just the stroller in case the babies fell asleep for transferring back into the car where they wouldn't be properly restrained. It was tempting to approach a couple of people with the outgrown infant seats but I held back because of how negatively people can react.
A suggestion/idea for the techs out there: With so many patrons with carseat age children, wouldn't zoos in general be a good place to do a seat check? Or maybe use the zoo as a venue to publicize a seat check or promote CPS in general if the zoo would agree to hand out flyers at the admission gate? Just a thought inspired by what I saw today.
Near where we parked, I noticed an SUV with a forward facing infant seat on the front passenger seat. Nobody was in the vehicle and it was still parked there when we left. I can only hope they brought the infant seat along to use as a carrier and don't buckle a baby into it in that spot in the car, ugh. I had purged excess stuff out of my messenger bag to allow room for snacks and water bottles, so I didn't have anything with me to even leave a note on the windshield, argh.
I also saw babies riding in infant seats clipped onto strollers who were too tall for the infant seats. I'm talking about babies with their head above the seat shell in several instances. Presumably they're still riding in the infant seats in the car or else why would they use them with the stroller anymore? I know infant seats often have very generous canopies to shield from the sun, and it's very sunny today. But the babies I noticed who had less than an inch of headroom didn't have the canopies over them, probably because they were too tall for the canopies anyway. I can only guess their parents/caregivers thought it would be easier to use the infant seat instead of just the stroller in case the babies fell asleep for transferring back into the car where they wouldn't be properly restrained. It was tempting to approach a couple of people with the outgrown infant seats but I held back because of how negatively people can react.
A suggestion/idea for the techs out there: With so many patrons with carseat age children, wouldn't zoos in general be a good place to do a seat check? Or maybe use the zoo as a venue to publicize a seat check or promote CPS in general if the zoo would agree to hand out flyers at the admission gate? Just a thought inspired by what I saw today.