I Survived!

Yesterday we went to a three-hour training about car seats. Stating this to friends and family usually prompted the response "three hours!?"  I can now say with certainty that yes, one can discuss car seats for three hours.

There were a lot of materials, and demonstrations as well as watching many crash test dummies try and survive car safety testing. With an age range of 2-8, we have a lot of options and possible requirements. If a child like Roman or myself gets placed with us, they will likely have to be in a booster seat until they take drivers ed, we are a very small people. If a tall child gets placed with us we may only need a booster seat for a short time.


One of the best parts was that my Mom attended. When we learned about Sudden infant death syndrome and how to prevent it, I leaned over and said: "I survived!". She in turn also rejoiced when she found out she survived 1960's style car seats- which are basically just a mechanism for containing a child, and allowing them to be high enough to see out the window. Point being, safety and "the right way to parent" are always changing, but most of us survive!


Two major takeaways: 

1. Kids are pumpkin headed
2. It's actually important to read manuals

Mostly what we learned was from the people attending the training with us. It is really important to just let the teacher speak. There were several people that were interrupting, and overreacting to the teaching material. The Instructor had been teaching this subject for 17 years, he was informative and funny, and his presentation was memorized- Just let him talk- you are just slowing down the already long process.  If you want to teach the class, get certified, and teach your own class.