Parents with School Kids!
It’s that time again, 1st of April is NO JOKE, it’s the First Day of Easter School Holidays!
Many of us are planning fun filled family holidays, filling up the cupboards like we are planning for dooms day because let’s face it – the kids eat like they have never been fed while on holidays. We are planning all these extra activities and a lot of us are also doing all of this in between working and still keeping the household running.
If you’re like me, I am just grateful the house is still standing, mess what mess?
I like to turn a blind eye coming home from work, imagining it’s clean and I don’t have to do anything. Don’t worry reality sets in right about 8pm, kids are fast asleep and then I drag myself around the house tidying up and making it somewhat presentable for me to sleep in…why do I do that? Clean the house before I go to bed? no one see’s it while we sleep yet it gives me some kind of relief knowing I’ll wake up to a clean house, well at least until the kids get up and trash it again!
My son tells me when he grows up and has a kid, he’s never going to make them clean because cleaning is boring – HA! Can’t wait to go over his place when he’s older and trash it like his 6yr old self would. OH the joy that will bring me. It’s the little things in life that give me so much pleasure LOL
But let’s get real for a minute and go back to my main point – HOLIDAYS
We spend more time in the car, travelling to holiday destinations, travelling to visit family or just travelling to vacation care and day care doing maybe 2-4 drop offs before we ourselves travel to work or that sneaky day off child free (yeah, you know what I’m talking about!).
Whatever you’re doing, you are travelling with kids in the car. Assuming your school aged kids are still in child car seats, my question to you is – ARE THEY SAFE?
If you answered YES without hesitation – I’m thrilled because that means you have done your own safety checks or had them checked by a professional and you’re ready to get on the road and go!
If you answered YES with a bit of hesitation that’s totally ok too, it’s time to check them!
If you didn’t answer at all then it’s time to get them checked or check them yourself?!
How do you check them yourself? Why check them yourself? Have you ever watched a 6yr old get into a car?
I roll my eyes daily at my son, sometimes he gets in nicely and sits straight down in his seat puts his harness on and waits for me to click it in, sometimes he goes the extra mile and clicks it in himself.
BUT, sometimes he acts like he’s trying out for the Olympics or completing an obstacle course and jumps in, knocks the seat, bangs into the front seat, leans over to the side to see what’s on the floor, then somehow crawls up onto his seat and then sits nicely.
BUT THEN, sometimes he races in from the front seat jumps over the middle console, bangs into his brothers rear facing seat on the side, stands and crouches on his own seat and starts rocking out to some banger he’s got playing in his head. *enter eye roll here*
It’s OK, he is in the car now but while he is having the time of his life, he’s just compromised the safety of his own seat, his brothers seat and also left dirty shoe marks all over my front seat and centre console *enter face palm here*
Getting a safety check on your childs car seat is great but knowing how to check them yourself and ensuring their safety is on point is so much more important!
Your childs car seat moves, it moves when the front passenger pushes their seat backwards for more leg room – they might not have thought about compromising the rear facing seat behind them.
It moves when your children are competing for a spot in High Jump while getting in the car.
It moves when an adult gets in the back and reaches down to secure their own seatbelt but accidentally release your childs seat clicked in so they move around pushing things to the side to get the seat belt which is already fitted perfectly.
I have a simple checklist to follow for a range of different child car seats/restraints. Reach out to me and we can book in for a Free Child Car Seat/Restraint Safety check.
Lets do better together and keep our children safer for many years to come!
Stay Safe and Happy Travels
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