September is National Child Safety Month (don’t you love all these “awareness” months/weeks/days? There is even an awareness week for. . .drumroll please. . .
head lice. No, really.)
Anyway, unlike some of these "awareness topics", this one interests me greatly. It would take a few volumes to describe every particular thing you can do to try and keep your kid safe. And it changes on a near-daily basis as your little one learns to roll, crawl, walk, open cupboards, and operate heavy machinery. So I’ll narrow my focus to the NUMBER ONE safety issue. Nope, not rabid dogs. Or pennies. Or lead paint, iron pills, Drano, or the temperature on the water heater being too high. The number one cause of death for children 1-12 is car accidents. And sadly, many of those deaths occurred because child restraints were missing or improperly used. Of course, determining what “proper use” means isn’t always easy. . .The whole issue can start sounding like one of those logic problems on the SAT:
“A child can be in Seat A until he reaches 20 pounds OR 26 inches and must be in the rear-facing position at all times. In order to be forward facing the child must be 20 pounds AND 1 year, regardless of height. Seat B can be used in the rear-facing position from 5 pounds until 30 pounds OR approximately 35 inches. The straps may be at any slot setting but they must be below shoulder level. The seat may also be used in the forward-facing position, but only if the child is 1 year old AND 20 pounds and only until the child is 40 pounds OR 48 inches, but the straps may only be in the top slot setting AND must be above shoulder level. Seat C can be used as Seat B, but additionally as a booster without the internal harness if child is 40 pounds AND 4 years old and until the child is 100 pounds OR 4’8”.”Phew! It’s no wonder that more than half of all carseats are installed or used incorrectly—some studies even suggest it’s as high as 80%. (Starting to wonder if you’re in that 80%? Keep reading. . .)
We’ve made puh-lenty of our own carseat mistakes as new parents, and we’ve learned quite a bit in the process. I was planning on writing out all the things I wish someone had told us at the beginning about car seat safety. . .but then I found the following site that sums it all up quite nicely. So instead I've devised a little test. Go ahead and read the info on the following link--your current and future children and grandchildren will thank you!--then come back and take the test.
Car Seat Safety GuideOkay, finished reading? Great, here's the test. . .What's wrong with this picture?:
(For the benefit of those who don't read PEOPLE magazine, that's Britney Spears with her 8-month-old son Sean Preston.)
a) The harness straps should be snug across the shoulders and body, with the harness clip at chest level.
b) The baby should be in a rear-facing seat until at least 1 year
and 20 pounds.
c) World-famous pop singers should not have babies with their skeezy thug-wannabe backup dancers.
d) All of the above.
