Kylee, the formative years..: Child car seats

.. are probably the most misunderstood automotive safety features.

When you buy a child car safety seat, you are not buying it to comply with the law. You are buying it to SAVE YOUR CHILDS LIFE in the event that you are involved in a collision with another vehicle or immovable object.

A child's body up to the age of eight has not fully hardened to take large knocks, and the seat you buy is the extra strength that your child will need to sustain and survive a hard knock, so don't buy cheap.

All child car seats are adjustable to take into account your child's growth, so adjust the seat as your child grows. The top of the seat is a NECK RESTRAINT and the pad on it should be BEHIND your child's head, NOT ABOVE OR BELOW it. The same applies to ALL SEATS in a vehicle. It only takes SECONDS to make adjustments.

Vehicle safety belts are also adjustable on the door pillars. The belt should NOT come across the NECK of the person being restrained. It should come from just above the shoulder or the guide fitted to the child's car safety seat. If adjusted properly, a child's car safety seat is easy to use. If yours is NOT easy to use, YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG.

There is NO SECOND CHANCE. If you don't get it right the first time, it's GAME OVER for the child. Do you understand that?

Next time you strap your child in, take a look at how it is all working out. Owning and fitting a child car safety seat does not automatically give full protection to your child. If it isn't right, get your child to move to one side and ADJUST IT PROPERLY. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that your child is protected. You OWE IT TO YOUR CHILD to get it right.

Don't have time to do these checks? SO GET UP EARLIER..

Pie crusts..

"Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken," wrote the British satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

From this, we get the phrase 'pie crusting', used in the UK to describe the action of making a promise to somebody while secretly having very little intention of keeping one's word.

Pie crusting is a dangerous game when played with one's kids. It leads to mistrust and eventually a lack of respect. If one can't trust one's parents or grandparents, who can ever be trusted?

Think about this next time you make a promise, and when you make it, also ensure that there is a 99.99% chance of keeping it.

Your child may be young and short on life experiences, but this is one experience which you do not want your child to learn.

You might also want to remember that a child is actually a small person, and is every bit as good as or better than an adult at spotting and remembering instances of pie crusting..

Car seat safety - Very Important

The expiry date..

All child car seats have an expiry date stamped onto the carcass. It may be on the back of the seat or one of the sides, but it is there somewhere.

Not all seats have the same lifespan, some manufacturers allowing six years, others allowing seven or eight years. the important point is that the seat should not be used beyond the date stamped onto the seat.

Here is why.

The type of plastic used in ALL child car seat manufacture is polypropelene which is tough and resists cracking. As good as it is, years of being fixed down inside a vehicle, where the internal temperature can fluctuate between +50°C to -50°C takes its toll on the plastic and the harness parts.

There is no way that the seat will suddenly fall apart after the expiry date. It will hold together long after, but the residual strength left in the seat is a buffer zone. It means that, for the life of the seat upto the expiry date, the seat will properly protect its occupant.

Harness adjustment..

Before fitting the child car seat, you should always get the child to sit in it, and adjust the harness such that it fits snugly. Where the harness goes over the shoulders, the point where the harness is fixed into the back of the seat should be level or slightly above the shoulder.

The plastic two piece clip should be placed midway up the chest of the child, not too close to the neck. The purpose of this clip is to hold the top of the harness together such that the harness will not roll off the shoulders of the child.

Roll off is a very real possibility when the weather is cold and the child is having to wear thick clothing. It is a good idea to re-assess the clothing that your child is wearing as the interior temperature of the car rises.

Also, bear in mind that as your child grows, you will have to re-adjust the harness to allow for the growth. Child car seats are not a 'fit once and then leave' item.

Fitting into the vehicle..

Whether using the latch straps or the vehicles own seat belts, you must put pressure into the seat, taking up any slack in the vehicle seat belt. Do this a couple of times just to ensure that it is securely fixed down.You will find it easier to do this with the child car seats arm rests in folded position.

The recline function on car seats should not be used such that the child can sleep more easily when on the move. The function exists such that the base and the back of the child car seat fit firmly against the vehicle seat surfaces.

The top tether strap should be the last strap to be hooked up, and you should take as much slack out of it as you can. After fitting, check for movement. The seat should have virtually no movement sideways, and hardly any in the forward/backward plane.

Sleeping in the child car seat..

This is a real no-no. The last thing you want is your child's head slumping forwrds and out of control. It is a dangerous condition which can lead to constriction of the childs airway. Some children have been known to die when in this state for a protracted time. It can be the vehicle equivalent of cot death.

Do not ever use the motion of travel to get your child to sleep. If the child does fall asleep while in the seat, either get the child home or to some location where the child can sleep in a more natural position. Do this at your earliest convenience.

On a long journey, allow fresh air into the vehicle, and try to engage the child, singing or talking or playing a spotting game.

You owe it to your child to ensure maximum safety at all times.

Kylee, the formative years..

Child car seats

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