Or maybe you do use a car seat. Most of the time. Your child
is strapped in, maybe not perfectly, but they’re sitting in the seat. You
follow most of the rules- loosely. There’s no need to be too strict, right?
After all, what could possibly happen?
Every 6 months, over 200 people die as a result of car accidents in Kuwait. Notice that this statistic doesn’t say anything about injuries. We’ve spoken to a few pediatricians and even a pediatric dentist, and they’ve told us about the results of those minor accidents. Deformities. Life-long brain damage. A face that has taken years to reconstruct, and still isn’t quite there yet. Paralysis. Broken backs, arms, legs, ribs- any bone you can think of.
You see, a minor fender bender doesn’t affect most adults. We’re bigger, taller, weigh more, and our bones hardened a long time ago. A small bruise from the seatbelt is usually what most people suffer from. But for a small child, it’s much more severe. If someone rear ends your car at only 50KM/H, then a child sitting unrestrained (and that includes children sitting on someone’s lap) flies forward at 10 times the speed. That’s 500KM/H. That’s how fast your child will be thrown forward, sometimes out of the car, if they’re not properly secured.
And if your child is forward facing before the age of at least two (2) years old, they’re also not as safe as they could be. Their bones are so fragile and their heads fly forward in the case of even the slightest bump or accident. Keep every child rear-facing until at least two years. Experts recommend that children stay rear facing until 2 years old, so the closer you can get to that, the better. Then turn them, but keep them in their seat. Once they outgrow their car seat, children need to be in a booster seat until at least 8 years old. Boosters just help elevate the child so that the car seat belt protects them properly. Boosters are small and may seem useless, but are as equally important as car seats.
It can be so inconvenient- your child screams, cries, hates the car seat, isn’t willing to get in, or any combination of the above. But it’s our job as parents to make sure that we do the best for our children, even though they hate it. What child likes to get injections? None. We still get them vaccinated. Kids hate everything that’s good for them- school, vegetables, taking a bath, playing with their siblings, but we make them do what’s best for them anyway. Car seats are no different. Find a way to make it tolerable- iPads, mirrors in the back, toys, bribing with candy, whatever works!
It’s so easy to make sure that your kids are safe in the car. Come by and have a chat with us about car seats. We’ll be able to tell you what type of car seat you need, weight and height limits, they can even install them in your car and show you how to strap your children in correctly. If you have any questions, just ask.
We spend so much time as parents getting ready for our babies. We paint the nursery, pick the perfect crib, spend hours finding tiny little clothes and matching hats, and go to every doctor’s appointment. We spend days, weeks, and maybe even months coming up with the perfect name. We want to do everything humanely possible to ensure that our children have the very best, and protect them in every way possible. So the question is- why would you not put your child in a car seat? Is it inconvenient? Takes longer? Whatever the reason- is it worth your child’s life?