Search Results for: blog should your child still be in a booster seat

Easy Save

The mass killings at Sandy Hook Elementary were beyond senseless.  Nearly a month after the tragedy millions around the world are still stunned by the horror that robbed Newtown, Connecticut, of dozens of its most precious residents. Of those millions, many are parents, who cried with Sandy Hook victims’ families in the days following the horrific shootings.  Ironically, some of those same moms and dads, who clung tightly to their own children in the hours and days after the murders, are the same ones who place their kids in jeopardy when they get behind the wheel of their vehicle. According … Continue reading →

Giving Your Kid a Boost

My daughter is in the second grade and still rides in a five-point harness child safety seat. You’d think by now she would have graduated to a backless booster, but not all kids grow at the same rate. Similarly, not all car seats are made the same. My daughter’s Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 car seat is designed for kids up to 100 pounds. Currently, she doesn’t even weigh half that. While the seat converts to a backless booster for a child 40 to 100 pounds, my little peanut barely makes the mark, so for the foreseeable future she will remain strapped … Continue reading →

IIHS Finds Half of All Booster Seats Do Not Fit Properly

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently evaluated 83 booster seats. They found that around half of them do not fit children properly. It might be time to check and see how well your child’s booster seat fits, and what the IIHS thinks of it. Booster seats are a slightly more “grown up” version of “infant seats”, or “convertible car seats”. All are designed to safely restrain babies and young children with a five-point harness. It helps to ensure the physical safety of infants and small children in case the vehicle they are riding in is involved in a traffic … Continue reading →

New Car Seat Guidelines

Posted on by

I was watching the Today show this morning when I heard that the American Academy of Pediatrics had changed their regulations for child car seat safety. With two children still in car seats, I was listening with all ears. The most surprising is their recommendation to keep your child rear-facing in their car seat until the age of two. Additional changes were that kids should remain in a booster until reaching at least 4 ft. 9 inches in height. This could happen anywhere between the ages of 8 and 12 years of age. Also, do not put your child in … Continue reading →

Safest States To Raise Kids

If you have kids and are considering making a move but don’t know where you want to settle down, you might want to consider one of the top 10 safest places to raise kids. In the November 2006 issue of Child, a special report outlines the top ten states, along with some of the reasons why they are considered safe for kids. Here’s some highlights from the report. #(1) Rhode Island Improved the safety of playgrounds, minimized transportation-related deaths for children under the age of 18, first state to require kids wear helmets when riding scooters. #(2) Connecticut Each school … Continue reading →

Front Facing Car Seat – When?

The front facing car seat is a question many mothers struggle with as their infants develop and become toddlers. It’s hard enough to keep the baby happy in the car when they are no longer going to sleep in it. It can be even tougher on them when they can’t see Mom. The question to ask is when is it best to turn the seat from rear-facing to front-facing. Many parents do it when the baby is about a year old. On the other hand, research now shows that it is better to wait for your baby to achieve a … Continue reading →

The Most Precious Cargo

When coming up with different topics for my blog, I tend to focus more on air travel, forgetting that a lot of people use ground transportation to arrive at their destinations too. Since this is a family blog, I thought that including a blog about traveling safely with children via ground transportation deserved some attention. I was also motivated by the numerous drivers I see daily that have children climbing around inside the car while it’s in motion. It’s amazing how the most precious cargo is at times neglected. One basic reminder by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is … Continue reading →

Top 15 Child Safety Seat Mistakes

Infant and Child Safety Seats are only safer than seatbelts alone if they are used consistently and properly. Below are the top 15 most common car seat errors that parents might make: 1. Keeping the handle up on infant seats: Infant seats can pose a hazard to the infant and others in the vehicle in the event of a crash. There are a few car seats that are safe to use with the handle in the upright position so always check your owner’s manual and, when in doubt, lower the handle every single time you buckle baby in! 2. Turning … Continue reading →