jacqui276
New member
My daughter has gone to two daycares and neither do car seat checks. One was an amazing daycare that I loved (at one of the universities here) where all of the staff was fantastic. She was there from age 2 to 5. I went in to pick her up though, no one ever came out with me to ensure she was in a proper car seat. The teachers couldn't leave the daycare center or it would mess up their ratios. From age 5 to 7 she went to a daycare for before and after school care which I wasn't a big fan of but it was the only option. This daycare was the same way, I would park then walk in to get her and sign her out. Nobody would follow me out. I was appalled a few times seeing kids that were 3, 4, 5 years old getting into the front seat of a vehicle with just a seat belt.
I am a nurse and work on a couple of pediatric units here and on one of the units where we get tons of babies, we do a brief car seat check before they are discharged to make sure that the kids are buckled in appropriately and that the straps are tight enough (it is SCARY to see how some people strap their kids in!). If they are not in an appropriate car seat (i.e. it is expired), we are not allowed to refuse to discharge the infant, but we can recommend that they do not use that seat, tell them why, and offer to allow the baby to stay on the unit longer while they get a suitable car seat. I have never had parents refuse to get a seat that is safe for their baby if I tell them why their car seat is not safe. I also frequently get asked for help getting babies into the car seats (a lot of them were admitted at birth so have never used a car seat before) and I am not allowed to physically do it for them because of liability issues but can walk them through it.
For the person who mentioned that the teachers put the kids in the car seats, I'm surprised that they are allowed to. Legally if the parents get into an accident on their way home and their child is injured in any way, the parents can blame the teacher for not appropriately putting the child in the seat.
I am a nurse and work on a couple of pediatric units here and on one of the units where we get tons of babies, we do a brief car seat check before they are discharged to make sure that the kids are buckled in appropriately and that the straps are tight enough (it is SCARY to see how some people strap their kids in!). If they are not in an appropriate car seat (i.e. it is expired), we are not allowed to refuse to discharge the infant, but we can recommend that they do not use that seat, tell them why, and offer to allow the baby to stay on the unit longer while they get a suitable car seat. I have never had parents refuse to get a seat that is safe for their baby if I tell them why their car seat is not safe. I also frequently get asked for help getting babies into the car seats (a lot of them were admitted at birth so have never used a car seat before) and I am not allowed to physically do it for them because of liability issues but can walk them through it.
For the person who mentioned that the teachers put the kids in the car seats, I'm surprised that they are allowed to. Legally if the parents get into an accident on their way home and their child is injured in any way, the parents can blame the teacher for not appropriately putting the child in the seat.