"Hurumph," I thought. "I have mine in right."
We installed our car seat days before Brixton was born. Logically, it's in the middle back seat, anchored down on both sides. Duh. It's that easy. I didn't install it myself, but Brendan did. I think he even glanced at the instructions, but really, it seemed like a no-brainer how to put it in.
Back again at the rec center, Brixton and I walked down the sidewalk and passed one of the policemen that was giving car seat checks. "You should have us take a look at your car seat, I can already see it's installed wrong." He said.
What?!
Now I was just plain curious. I've driven around with a car seat in the back of my car for the better part of 12 years with other people's kids in them and now my own. Brendan, while almost completely inexperienced with children besides scaring them, has a long list of attributes that inspire great confidence that he'd understand the mechanics and physics of simple car seat installation, such as:
- Experience with remodeling/refurbishing houses
- Building expensive and complicated road and mountain bikes from scratch
- once rode his bike for 24 hours in a row on purpose (irrelevant, but kind of a neat random fact)
- used to work in a fabrication shop welding stuff like cars
"Wrong?" He said, affronted, his male-dad-ego falling out of his pant leg. *plop*
Long story short, it was wrong. Yes, while the most logical place for a car seat to go is in the middle of the car, if you are putting it there you need to use the safety belt, not the latches to anchor it. Only if you put the seat on one of the sides should you latch it! He said 90% of people that come in there have them done wrong.
Do you?
Anyway, they did install our car seat for us while we watched. (Well, Brendan watched. I drank coffee and tried to appear like I was paying attention, but really I was looking at Brixton and thinking about what I was going to eat for lunch). It took them about 45 minutes to get that sucker in my car and they even used pool noodles underneath it to really get it stable. I think a Mack truck could t-bone my car and Brixton wouldn't even move an inch, that's how tight the seat is. Of course, I'm not interested in finding out if that is actually true.
My point: check your car seat! Many fire/police stations have someone there that is certified to check them for you. Call ahead to see if someone is at your nearest one and stop in! It takes a few seconds to see if it's wrong, but it could save your child's life...
About to make our first big fail as parents without even knowing it. Way to go, guys.
our hospital has a location where they install car seats before you leave. it's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteI read both manuals for my kids seats, and never heard about that. I feel like I learn something new every day since I've had kids. haha
ReplyDeleteWe use pool noodles too! My husband is a fire fighter and does car seat installations frequently. I common mistake they also see is the height of the straps in the seat itself at the wrong level.
ReplyDeleteour hospital had that same program as deanna's...it really was awesome, because we got it installed before he ever rode in it and we knew it was correct :) Maybe you should call (or email?) your hospital and suggest that program to them...they may not listen, but it's worth a shot!
ReplyDeleteOk, that totally worries me, because my husband already told me a few times that "it's ridiculous to have to take it to a fire department to have it checked, because he can install it himself, it's not brain surgery".
ReplyDeleteI am going to show him this post and drag him out to the fire dept. regardless of what he thinks!
Deanna-That would have been nice..but like I said, we completely thought we had it right..boo.
ReplyDeleteLesley-I know. I thought I was done learning. :)
Bob-My dad was a fireman and I swear growing up we still had them in wrong!
Joan-That's a really good idea. You are a good person. I'm a bad person, which is why I'm probably going to forget.
Elena-It doesn't hurt to check, right? I'm sure your husband is just as capable as mine, but for peace of mind I know I'd want it checked!