Keep your Pant-Shitters Safe.

Soooo,  i have recently become a car seat safety FREAK!  i watched a few of those  Car Seat Safety Videos on youtube and became a blubbering mess and decided it was my job, as mother to keep my children safe, at all times, but ESPECIALLY in my car.  IMO the safest (and most convenient) place for a baby is in mother's womb, but they cant stay there forever.  So when out and about on the dangerous roads of the world why not pay the extra dough to keep you child as safe as possible?  Sure you can get by with a $30 seat from walmart, but does it have integrated steel bars? Or true side impact protection?  If you look hard enough and do enough research you can find a car seat that will suit your child for the entire life time of the carseat.  Which most car seats expire after 6 years, or once they have been in a car accident.

Did you know your insurance should cover the cost of a replacement car seat if yours is in a car accident?

i plan to do a follow up to this blog posting pictures of common mistakes most parents make when putting their children in carseats.

but until then please keep you children safe, sure it can be a hassel, and time consuming, and even a pain in the ass to buckle your kids in and to make sure the car seats are installed properly, but right now thats the least of your problems.  a child with a spinal injury, in a halo, or in a wheel chair would consume even more of your precious time.  and i look at it this way, id rather pay $200 for a good quality carseat, than pay over $20,000 in medical bills, and/or $20,000 for a funeral..

The AAP recently released their new guidelines for car seat safety.
     * Keep your child REAR FACING for as long as your carseat height or weight limits allow them to be.  for most carseats this is up to 40 lbs - my 4 year old is just over 40lbs.
     * It used to be that you could turn your child around on their 1st birthday, as long as they weight at least 20lbs.  THIS HAS CHANGED!!   Again, while you should keep your child rear facing as long as possible you can turn them to forward face at the age of 2 years.
     * Once your child has been turned to foward facing keep them in a 5-POINT HARNESS  SYSTEM for as long as your car seat allows.  i have a Britax Frontier 85  (which i got off amazon) for my 42lb, 42", almost 5 year old son.  He can stay in the 5-Point Harness in this car seat until he is 85lbs!
     * The next step is a BELT POSITIONING BOOSTER.   Children must remain in a belt positioning booster until they are 4'9" tall AND are between the ages of 8 years and 12 years old.
     *  AND  of course kids should remain in the backseat until at least age 12 years.

It is your responsibility to keep your children safe.