Years ago, before Meredith was born, one of the few things we really felt we needed was a car seat. We could do without a crib and stroller and most of the other “essentials”, but a car seat was definitely a necessity. I stumbled about the car-seat.org forums and was both fascinated and mystified by them. I remember mentioning to Kris how these people were “a little obsessed” with car seats, and listed all their car seats in their signatures! But, the people who post there are so friendly and really want to help and make sure everyone’s kids are safe. They seem to understand real-life limits (such as budget) and, while they can be pushy about some things, most also seem to know when to drop a subject in order not to alienate a parent and to be able to find some middle ground. With their help, we settled on a car seat we were happy with and moved on to other things, like being first-time parents.
When we were in a very minor accident eight months later, the insurance company agreed to replace our car seat. So I was back on the forums asking for recommendations. Once again, we settled on a seat we were happy with. But this time, I found myself being drawn back in. Over the next couple of years, I often would go and lurk around on the forums and read posts. I don’t know why, but I was starting to understand the interest obsession.
I had planned to keep Meredith rear facing until at least two, but had learned on the forums that in Sweden, most kids are rear facing until between 4 and 6 and then often go straight to a booster, and their mortality rate from crashes is way less than ours. I don’t have actually statistics, but in articles I’ve seen rates as low as 9 deaths in kids under 5 from car accidents in 4 years in Sweden, compared to 60 per year here. Our population is three times theirs, but that’s still a huge difference. Kid’s spines don’t even start to fuse until around age 3, and finish between 4 and 6. We decided we’d like to keep her rear facing until three, and then see how it went after that. When she was two and a half, she was outgrowing her seat by weight, so we sold it and bought a new one with a higher limit.
She has never once complained about being rear facing. And she is vocal when she is uncomfortable (in fact, we encourage her to be, as I don’t think she should be uncomfortable for no reason!). In fact, I think she would be more uncomfortable facing forward. She doesn’t like chairs where her legs dangle with nothing to rest on, which is what would happen in a forward-facing seat. (As a side note, parents who continuously ask their kids to sit properly in their chairs at the table should consider getting a little stool or a youth chair with foot supports. Most people don’t find it comfortable to have their legs dangling!) She is tall for her age but the height is all in her legs. In fact, her torso is quite short (if you look closely at both pictures above, the straps are actually slightly too high for her in both, but were on the lowest settings they could be on). Her inseam is 3” longer than other kids her age.
Anyway, starting before Fiona was born I have been keeping an eye out for a car seat technician course I could take. I already knew there was a shortage of techs on the island because we couldn’t find one to help us install our new seats (we ended up having one in Vancouver help us on our way to Calgary). The courses are expensive though, and up to three days long. Hard to do with a baby in the house, especially since it looked like we’d have to travel to the mainland.
Then I found out that technicians in BC have to be certified by BCAA. I’m not entirely clear on whether techs who take the St John’s Ambulance course also have to take the BCAA course, or if they can get certified another way, but there is a course not associated with the St John’s Ambulance that BC techs can take. On a whim, I went to see if there were any courses being offered and found one on the island (though still two hours away). Not only that, but you can do the classroom component via distance learning (so, at home, on my own time) and only have to travel in for the hands-on stuff (one day). And it gets better. The course is subsidized right now. Normally it’s close to $500, but it’s currently only $75 including all course materials. So, I enrolled, and less than half an hour later the course was full. Can we say lucky? It means next week we have to travel up to take the course, but I’m really excited about it!
I’ve had a little related project on the go since before Fiona was born, but it got put to the side with a new baby and then moving. I’ve been working on it again lately though. We will see if it comes to fruition this time. I think being a certified tech will be nice, not only can I officially actually do something with my hobby (Kris would say obsession), but I can help people out, meet new people, and it gives me something to do and work on. The funny thing is, I’m so interested in a lot of this stuff, that reading the course manual is like reviewing stuff I already know. The techs on the board say often the courses are full of people who have to take the course for their jobs (fire fighters, police officers), and one or two people who are really there because they are interested. And those latter people always know the material best and walk away having gotten the most out of it. Definitely an example of life learning for adults and how even now, we learn and retain what interests us.
So anyway, now I’ve officially outed myself as one of those weird car seat nuts I was so amazed by four years ago. Can’t wait to see what the course is all about.
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