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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Rant: Carseats

I apologize. This is a rant. Nothing more.

I had a chiropractor appointment yesterday. After 2+ hours in there (long story), I went through McDonalds to get some lunch to bring home to Mom and Keevia. As I walked back to my car, I noticed that there were two little kids and a lady in the front seat of the truck parked beside me. One of them looked to be younger than Keevia, and was sitting in the ladies lap, fast asleep. I wouldn't have judged automatically, except for the fact that THERE WERE NO CARSEATS IN THE TRUCK. AT. ALL.

This irks me people. Sure, by putting my baby in a carseat, I don't guarantee her safety. But I can guarantee she is a heck of a lot safer in a carseat than in my lap. I am ALL about buying used stuff, especially for little ones, but I will never, EVER buy a used carseat unless I know the person and I KNOW that the carseat hasn't been in a wreck.

To me it's just idiotic not to pay attention to carseat safety. It is the singularly MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do. I could look up the research, but your kid is much more likely to die from a car crash than almost anything else. Why NOT do every single thing you can do to protect them?

It's not even about rear-facing or forward-facing (although, I have to admit, I'm rather passionate about extended rear facing as well). It's just about safety in GENERAL. I understand that not every parent can afford a $300 car seat. Trust me. That's fine. Do your research and purchase the best carseat you can in your price range. Get the installation inspected by a professional. Make sure that your child is properly buckled in EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Don't put your baby in the carseat in bulky clothing. Do the best you can in the constraints of your budget.

It just KILLS me when I see kids freely moving around the backseat or the front seat. Sitting on parents laps. And it is a HUGE epidemic around here. I need to start writing my article for the newspaper again, and I need to go into a (calmer) rant about carseats. But it is seriously one of my biggest parenting pet peeves.

Thanks for listening to me rant.

2 comments:

  1. Isn't it illegal there to not use a carseat? Here, you'd be pulled over in two seconds. I can't believe that there are people who don't use them. Even if you're dirt poor there are always garage sales with decent ones.

    ReplyDelete

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