Question Are CPSTs ever just plain old SAHMs?

So I'm becoming more passionate about car seat safety the more I learn about it and would like to help educate caretakers in how to keep their little ones as safe as possible. It seems like CPSTs have the most influence in this area but I'm not sure if that's a route that is open to me. I am more than happy to complete the certification course but can I do that? Are the only people who become techs firefighters, nurses, EMTs and the like or do plain old stay at home moms become techs too? If I were able to become certified, how could I put this certification to use (ie how does on go about doing parent education & seat checks)?

In fact..I believe that SAHMs who train as techs may well have MORE influence on parents.. not only are they parents themselves, but they're in the same circles as other parents... Add to that the additional empathy and understanding... SAHMs make wonderful technicians and by far reach the population that needs help most.

IMO--people who're trained as a job are often times less passionate. Either being that they internally have less of a passion, or if they do have the same level of passion as SAHMs they're often times busy with other aspects of their job. This leaves less time to focus on CPS work.

I'm a SAHM, a US tech, a Canadian tech, and a Canadian instructor. It's not my job and rarely am I paid--not in dollars, anyways.

-Nicole.

I'm not entirely a SAHM (I wah pt and woh pt), but my other jobs have absolutely nothing to do with carseats or kids. I do seat checks through SafeKids and teach parents through church and other groups.

I'll be a tech after the seat check Saturday and I'm really just doing this because I am interested in it. I plan to volunteer at the monthly SafeKids seat checks, volunteer at the fitting station when I have time, and do private checks for free via word of mouth. I'm also planning a talk for the breastfeeding group that I attend. I really just want to help other parents out.

I am a medical student so it isn't completely unrelated to my field but it's definitely not something I am being asked to do. I will be starting a pediatrics rotation next month and will let the pediatrician I am working with know that I am a CPST. There will be plenty of opportunity for me to talk to parents about car seats in that setting so I am very excited to do that.

I think you will find that many of the techs on this board are either sahms or moms with jobs not dealing with child passenger safety. We just have a passion for cps. There are moms here who do this as their job or as part of their job.

In my area most of the techs do it as part of their job. Most are cops, firefighters, work for the Children's Hospital, ect. However, we are getting more moms. IMO those of us who become certified because we want to become certified are far more passionate and far more likely to stick with it than those who are required to cert for their job.

I am a special ed teacher so not a sahm but not working in the child passenger safety area either. I was one of two people in my class who were there just because they wanted to be certified.

I am just a plain old stay at home mom!!!! (well, not that old...)

I became passionate about car seat safety, have a friend across the state who is a tech and a SAHM who encouraged me to get certified. I don't get to work "in the field" as often as those who's jobs include it, but I do attend as many checks a year as I can (usually 4 or 5 - I live in a rural area) and advocate locally as much as possible.

i almost became certified just because, but i am a GTWD in something unrelated to cars and/or safety.

Another mom here who works out of the home in a completely unrelated field.
In my class were 2 firemen, 6 police officers, 1 CPS worker, 1 child education worker who was bilingual and certifying for his job at the childrens hospital and ME. I got some strange looks
I've yet to see anyone from my class at a check - I cert'd in Feb and have done 3 so far in addition to helping friends and other parents at the daycare.

Cost of class - $60
Cost of transportation & time off work - 200.00
Cost of helping children ride safer - PRICELESS

That's absolutely wonderful

I'm so glad to know that one doesn't necessarily have to be working in a child passenger safety area to be a CPST!

Since I'm not working in a child passenger safety area, how do I put my certification into use once I have it? Is it mostly voluteering at Safe Kids Check Up events and doing checks for people be word of mouth or are there other ways to voluteer as well?

Oh, and I live in WI but the nearest course is in IL since I'm near the boarder. I'm assuming that since it's a national accreditation that it won't matter if I take the course in a state other than the one that I intend to practice in. Anyone know about this?

I am a real estate paralegal and a tech just cause I love it. Oh, and a Mommy to 4 kids under the age of 8!

You're right--it's a national certification. You can take the course in one state and still use it throughout the United States. Once you're certified, you can volunteer at local checks, you can teach mini-classes to new parents, and you can answer questions here at Car-seat.org..among other useful stuff you'll find to propagate your newfound knowledge

Good luck!

-Nicole.

I've been a SAHM for 7 years and a CPST for 6 years. So, yep. I do it b/c I love it.

I'm a SAHM. Everyone needs a hobby, right?

For those of you that are SAHM's or don't work in a related field (like Hospital, EMS, Police etc) HOW and WHERE do you do checks??

Are you hired privately by parents or do you work at checks??

Does anyone work with local PD or Fire??

SafeKids around here doesn't really do community checks-- like one or two a year, at most.

I do private checks (for free-- most people in this area charge but I do not) and have hooked up with another organization that sometimes puts on checks in the area. If I hear there's going to be a check I can attend, I e-mail whoever is in charge and ask to help. I also would love to do some the next county over but it hasn't worked out, timing-wise. (I can't really do community checks if they're not on Saturdays.) At the community checks I go to I often work with CHP techs (most PDs and FDs around here don't have any techs.) I've considered leaving some of my cards with the FD nearby in case people come by and want help since they really shouldn't be checking seats, but I don't know how that would go over...

ketchupqueen said:

I'm a SAHM. Everyone needs a hobby, right?

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You betcha...I can't think of a better hobby than one that has the potential to save children's lives

mamabear said:

For those of you that are SAHM's or don't work in a related field (like Hospital, EMS, Police etc) HOW and WHERE do you do checks??

Are you hired privately by parents or do you work at checks??

Does anyone work with local PD or Fire??

Click to expand...

I do seat check events with several of the local Safe Kids groups. I usually do about one event a month when the weather is warm-ish - say, April-November. (There aren't many events in the winter, because it's too cold to hold them outside and it can be hard to find an indoor location.) There are definitely more events I could do if I cared to, which I would if I had more child care options. Basically in my area, volunteer techs can stay as busy as they want to/are able to.

I personally prefer not to do private checks unless it's for a friend/relative. I like the reassurance of having other techs/instructors for backup if needed, and I guess that I feel a little uncomfortable meeting up with strangers by myself. I've never been hired by anyone - usually we get lunch at checks, and sometimes we get little appreciation gifts like t-shirts or tote bags, but no other compensation.

I don't work directly with any local police or fire departments, though there are always police officer techs (and sometimes firefighter techs) at the big events I work in Detroit and sometimes at the smaller checks as well.

mamabear said:

For those of you that are SAHM's or don't work in a related field (like Hospital, EMS, Police etc) HOW and WHERE do you do checks??

Are you hired privately by parents or do you work at checks??

Does anyone work with local PD or Fire??

Click to expand...

We have a local car seat group that I work with. And I get 'hired'(not paid) by local parents. The local fire/CHP work the same checks the rest of us do.

I'm a SAHM. The only one in my tech class, and one of two in my local SK in North Carolina. I would often get applause during introductions for being a SAHM passionate enough to attend class, checks, and monthly meetings.

I'd do SK checks, here in WA I work with Car Safe Kids and Safe Kids South King County, and I do private checks. I find that if you join a mom's group and tell someone you do checks then one person will step forward after a bit and ask you to check their seat. Then they tell others, who tell others, who then ask if you can check theirs, etc. In NC where I'd been doing checks on my local mommies list for a couple of years (someone here asked me to join to answer carseat questions and I ended up agreeing to private checks) I'd probably checked 150-200 seats for that group. Especially as I'd do presentations for groups and knock out a bunch of seats at once. Here it's been a bit slower since I just moved, and now I need to stop because my own belly is in the way (another week and if I showed up to have me check my seat I wouldn't require that I do it because I'm too pregnant. Make sense? LOL). I'll get back into it as soon as I can figure out what to do with the baby while I do checks.

I actually have gotten paid for doing checks here, but mostly it's volunteer. I've had people tip me, I've had people hand me cash on behalf of their group, I've had people ask if they can donate to an organization as a thank you for my services (I tell them to go to safekids.org). But most of the time I get a very heartfelt thank you and I get references and have people come back to me when they get new seats, and that says a lot. I've had one or two people email me that they've been in collisions and I made a difference. Or that they convinced their families to turn their kids back rear facing or keep them harnessed. And the best is when I see carseat questions on a local board and I don't need to even step in and say anything. Everyone else is giving out great advice that they've learned from me over the years. It makes me smile.

Wendy