Top 5 Carseat Mistakes Most parents think, I got this, when they look at a carseat. I mean, really, its just some straps that go over your kid, right? Everyone who has a kid has to use a carseat, and we all know there are some parents out there barely qualified to...
The Pinch Test for Harness Tightness How do you know if your harness is tight enough? Give it the Pinch Test. Your child won't be safe in his carseat unless his harness is snug. The Pinch Test is the accepted method for testing harness tightness. An outdated method...
One of the top 3 mistakes we see at checkup events is a harness that's too loose. Nearly *every* infant seat I see when I'm out and about has a loose harness. How do you know if your child's harness is tight enough? Also, see The Pinch Test.
Maybe we need a branding campaign. My husband is an Enrolled Agent. For several years he would introduce himself as one and people would give him blank looks. Then the national professional association for EAs (NAEA) started a big branding campaign, taking out ads, promoting EAs as “America’s Tax Experts” (which they are.) They got companies (like H&R Block) to make a big deal out of having EAs on staff and what that means for clients. And it worked! He rarely has to explain to people looking for a tax accountant what an Enrolled Agent is anymore. Companies post ads specifically looking to hire EAs. People search for one online.
I think it could work for us too… If we had a professional association. I don’t know that Safe Kids has the same kind of goals for that, being a non profit. Hmmm.
I just say what I do, not what I am. “Hi, I teach classes on car seat selection and use/ Hi, I do car seat checks with , would you like some help?” Usually this is to someone standing there looking shell shocked at the rows of seats in Target or Babies R Us, but it works for friends and family too.
Yeah, I’m not sure where our support lies with SK. There’s support within the technician group of SK, but I don’t feel it from SK as a whole. But it is a grassroots organization and there’s little money to be had for grassroots orgs–if we had MONEY behind us as a profession, people would know who we are.
Since everyone thinks firefighters are all carseat installers, does that also make us firefighters? Maybe I should try just saying THAT…Hey, I’m a fireman, I can check your seat! Might get me more attention at BRU than telling people I’m a ‘carseat technician’, which is usually all I can spit out in a ‘find me if you need help’ 2 seconds of introduction. Not that I’m allowed to check seats there… so we have a profession no one recognizes, and a job we can rarely legally do. Talk about an altruistic bunch 😉
Where can I take a class to become one? I see so many parents not doing it right around me and I wanna help!! Our local police department even STOPPED doing carseat installings and promoting it in general. There’s no one around her to help parents.
Lots of typos… My apologies 🙂
Katie, you can look for a class near you by going here: http://goo.gl/VzW2KI . Some classes are controlled classes, which means you’ll have to contact the lead instructor to see if they’ll allow you to take the class because it’s closed to the public.
There may be resources in your area to help and you might not know about them. I’m the president of my local Safe Kids coalition (have been for a few years) and only just found out that there’s been another group running events in my city. Since I’ve been very active in my community, it was a shock to find that out! Most of us just don’t have an advertising budget.