Question on CPST certification

Mae

Well-known member
Do all certifications go through SafeKids? Like, you cannot become a tech unless you go through SafeKids?

If so, then why are there "bad techs"? You know which ones I'm talking about...I don't understand because if your techinician certification expires every X amount of years, you should have to get the newest information from the recert class, right? With that said, instructors licenses expire every X amount of years too, correct? So how do they get their information? If it's the newest stuff, still coming from SafeKids... why are there still "bad techs/instructors"??

I'm just really nervous that I'll get a bad instructor when I get certified...
 
ADS

jess71903

Ambassador
Well, I don't know if this is why across the board, but even in my class I could pick out the bad" techs from the good ones. The lady I was paired with for the seat check told a family that when their baby outgrew the infant seat that they needed to put him in a FF seat. I was trying hard to let her do her part of the check, but I stepped in and corrected her on that one. It was like we weren't in the same class.
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Same reason there are bad dentists, bad tax preparers, bad electricians, etc. Some people will learn just enough to pass and have very little interest in following best practices.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
People come in with their own ideas, you don't need to take a recert class, just have continuing education credits enough and enough seat checks to be recerted. And a lot of "techs" who do checks at fire or police stations either took a one or three day class rather than the full technician class, or they took the class a few years ago and don't care that it expired, or they're just the guy on shift who has five kids and therefore knows what's going on.

Wendy
 

Raegansmom4

New member
Most of the "bad" techs are, sorry to say this, the firemen and policemen who were forced by their employers to be certified. In my original class I remember 4 such firemen who were rude, obnoxious, and didn't want to be there. You can tell they didn't care enough to want to be good. Yes, CPST goes through safekids. I wouldn't worry about a bad instructor - to be an instructor, you probably really have to want to do all the extra work and classes to become one.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Also, people who are not passionate for it, for whatever reason, may be more prone to forget what they "learned" (or retained long enough to pass the class) in the tech training. Like, I've met techs who didn't remember which side a locking clip goes on, even though we spent OODLES of time on that, three months after they certify. They were there for work, it's not a passion for them like it is for us. (And it's not just cops and firefighters. Everyone but me was there for work in my class, and only one was a cop, and no firefighters. They were nurses, social workers, childbirth educators, the transportation director for a SD, a pediatrician, etc. But only a few had volunteered to take the course, most were assigned.) And then some learn it but only use a small part of their training (like, see mostly expectant/new parents, so only ever do infant seats, not boosters) so may only remember a little bit about the rest of it that they never use.

Really, the way the class is set up, you can pass while learning only the very most basic information, and not get much beyond the bare minimums. If you want to, if the instructors let that happen. Going above and beyond is a choice each tech would have to make, to learn more, to keep abreast of everything new that comes out. Some people go in with no clue and come out with a passion, because that's their personality. Some people go in with no clue and come out with almost no clue.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Oh, I forgot to mention. I had a bad instructor. I had one who I like and worked with afterward, she was PI (pregnant instructor). There was one guy who was boring and he didn't seem to care to be there, but he was accurate. There was one guy who really enjoyed it, he was the head instructor. Then there was EI, Evil Instructor. She was a complete not nice person and said things like kids should forward face when they start to talk. Guess she's eating crow now!

I took the class with the old curriculum, so best practice wasn't covered unless I spoke up and opened my mouth. I put two year olds rear facing, six year olds in Marathons if they fit, put the least protected child in the most protected spot rather than the youngest in the most protected. They couldn't argue with me because I was within the regulations of the seat, but they all thought I was a loon (except PI). HA!

Wendy
 

Mae

Well-known member
Gotcha. I guess I didn't really realize what bare minimums you can pass the class with. I think it's sad that the majority of people are there because it's required for their job.. :(
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
And then there are the techs that are parents and set in their ways. The woman next to me had a 22ish pound 2 year old FF. And a 30 pound 3 year old in a NBB. You're a parent, you know what's best for your child. And if it's good enough for your child, it must be for everyone's, right? So you learn how to properly install the seat, and you're good to go (she was also there for work btw).

Or, you've been trained before and don't care to learn the new best practice. Just get the cert out of the way because you already know what you're doing.

Or, the instructors didn't hit enough on things. Like.... I don't think we went over boosters and how they should fit, or the 5 step test :confused:
 

monstah

New member
I'm a little jealous, have fun in class!
I'm pretty bummed that I have to wait until next summer. :thumbsdown: There are classes around me all the time, but with a nursing infant, I need to wait until next summer & my niece can babysit.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
90% of what i knoiw i lerned on this board, NOT in class.
If *ALL* I knew about carseats came from the tech class, I woudl not know ANYthing about extended rearfacing, extended harnessing..or anything above the absolutel legal minimums...i woudln't know much, to be honest..and MOST people going throuigh the class ONLY know what's presented in class.
My instructor was crap...she talked about how it was SO hard to wait until her son was 15 month old to turn him FFing, because he 3asn't 20 lbs until then...*grumble* she also had one of the fugly-ass leather comfortsports and acted like it was the BEST SEAT EVER. And she HATED Britax seats. You see where i'm going here..lol...
so..ya..there you go...
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I had great instructors. :) One of them did some stuff I wouldn't do personally (she used GOs for everyday seats and insisted that her daughter use it until she outgrew the stated height limit) but nothing egregious. Just not personal choices I'd make. And did, heavily, emphasize ERF (and to some extent EH) and booster use until, like, adolescence. ;)
 

morlando27

New member
Okay, so I guess I shouldn't be so disappointed that I didn't learn anything new in the certification class I took last week and the instructors weren't as fanatical as I hoped. They stressed that rf to the seat's capacity was best practice but then seemed to dismiss it as if no one would really do it anyway. They also mentioned hhw seats but seemingly implied that they were specialty seats and that most kids are ready for a booster as long as they meet the booster manufacturer's height/weight requirements. They also didn't distinguish between hbb and nbb other than a hbb should be used if the vehicle doesn't provide head support. Probably after working a few events I too will realize that best practices are seldom followed and talking to parents about them is a waste of breath but I thought the instructors would at least stress best practice to us.
 

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