Child Passenger Safety Week
Child Passenger Safety Week (September 18-24) is an annual campaign to bring public attention to the importance of properly securing all children in appropriate car seats, booster seats or seat belts – every trip, every time. The campaign ends on September 24 with National Seat Check Saturday, when certified child passenger safety technicians will provide advice and hands-on car seat inspections nationwide for free.
I don’t know about you, but car seats scare me sometimes. I worry that it’s installed properly and that my daughter is restrained properly. Child safety is important – I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Rissa in the case of an accident! Since my daughter’s safety is important, we had our car seat bases installed and checked at our local police station. I’m glad we had them checked because they weren’t in right. They weren’t in wrong, exactly, but the cop made them safer.
When I was being discharged from the hospital, I panicked. How was I supposed to know if my barely 7 pound baby was belted in properly. Was it too tight? Too lose? I asked the nurse but all she said was that she couldn’t touch it. I about cried. Then she told me to test and have no more than 2 fingers width between the belt and babygirl’s chest. It looked like it was too tight to me. She assured me it wasn’t. I thought I was strangling the poor kid every time! The ride home with her was the scariest car ride ever. Didn’t all the crazy, reckless drivers know we had a newborn with us? Would her seat protect her if we did get in an accident?
Then my anxiety started over again when she moved from her infant carrier seat to a rear facing convertible car seat. She was below the weight limit still on the infant seat, but was fast approaching the height limit. I couldn’t help but wonder if she should be in it yet? Was it installed right? Is she properly restrained?
If you wonder like me or have a baby on the way, please get your seat checked on Saturday, September 24th!
Find a seat check location for Saturday or ANY time throughout the year.
Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.