Strapping kids in safely
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With the weather actually starting to feel more like it should this time of year, we have a story tonight about the one mistake many parents make in the winter.
We’re talking about putting your kids in car seats, while wearing their winter jackets. You think you’re strapping them in to keep them safe, but you’re really setting them up for possible danger. There are some simple steps you can take to keep your child safe in his or her seat.
A child dummy goes flying out of her car seat. And in another one the little body violently tossed forward.
She was strapped in. All looked good. So what went wrong?
“Basically the rule of thumb that you go by is a sweatshirt or spring jacket and nothing thicker.” said Jacqueline Boyle.
Boyle owns Secure Munchkins, a company that will install your car seat and teach you how to use it properly.
`The chances of them being hurt in a collision if they are wearing a bulky jacket is astronomical because they are not done up in the car seat properly despite what you think.”
To demonstrate, Boyle put her son in a puffy winter jacket and secures him in the car seat.
“So as far as I am concerned he is in there nice and tight with his jacket on.”
Without loosening the straps, when she takes her sons jacket off and leaves him in the seat in just his sweater, there is a lot of movement.
“It takes the force of a collision to really demonstrate the fact that they were not done up properly and you don’t want that to be the thing that shows you that they weren’t done up properly.”
There is a crash test video seems horrifying. The child goes flying out, her jacket sliding right off.
There are no Canadian statistics on how many kids are injured or killed because of improper car seat use. But Boyle says it’s what can happen when your child is wearing a winter jacket in their car seat.
But so many of us wonder how to keep our kids warm in the car in the winter.
Some tips: keep a blanket in the car to cover your child once secured in their seat. Keep their mitts and hats on at all times. And put their winter jacket on backwards and upside down.
“Put their arms through once you have done them up and now they are wearing their jacket in the car.”
When you are dealing with an infant car seat you want to make sure that you aren’t using any products that will interfere with straps. You don’t want one that has a blanket that goes under. You want to look for something that goes right overtop of the car seat that can help block out that cold weather.”
