Baby Safety!

I decided to write about safety in a separate entry on my blog because I think it’s something a lot of people take for granted, and by putting it separate it sticks out more than if I just added it in any other entry I did.

I must confess that my house isn’t completely child-proof and even though Kayla isn’t left alone for more than five minutes when she’s awake, anything can happen in 1 second, especially because she’s a very curious person. I keep intending to put child locks on the cupboards, protection on the doors so she doesn’t get her fingers caught, etc. I know it’s not something that I should intend to do, but take a move and just do it, because if something bad does happen I’ll regret it for the rest of my life!

But one thing that I never want to be careless about is car safety! When Kayla was born I didn’t know much about car safety, I used to hold her in my arms or feed her while we were driving and when she was in her car seat I wouldn’t attach it with the seat belt and I’d put the seat facing me, but then, with the help of friends, family and others, I learned that for one, by law that wasn’t allowed and two it wasn’t safe! Until a baby is a year old, also depending on how much he/she weighs, she must ALWAYS be in her chair facing backwards TIED IN WITH THE SEAT BELT! I heard a story once on Oprah about a mother who got a ride from a friend who didn’t have child seats in the car, the woman was putting the seatbelt on one of her two children when the friend had an accident and the two children flew out the window and died, I thought to myself that if that were me I wouldn’t know how to live with myself, a spur of the moment decision to get a lift with a friend, not even thinking something might happen and her life was changed forever! My mom only lives a few minutes from us and I ALWAYS tie Kayla in properly, there’s no room for carelessness. Now she’s got a seat that faces forwards and she likes it better than the other one because she can see more, but I’ve noticed that some people have these chairs, but don’t tie their kids in! Do they just care about whether they get fined for not having a child seat, don’t they think that the law is made for the safety of their children? Sometimes I want to go up to these people and ask them if they don’t know that their child’s life could be in danger. Do they think “that happens to other people, not to me” like so many people think, until it comes knocking on their door, or do they think “I know how to drive”? Ok, you might know what you’re doing, but you don’t know what other people are going to do, besides, who ever knows what our reaction will be when we’re confronted with a situation we’ve never gone through before and we only have a millisecond to react?

Please people, if you are being careless of your child’s safety in the car or if you know someone who’s being careless, do something about it! Just imagine your life if something had to happen to the little person who looks up to you, it only takes a few seconds to tie a child up properly and even if he/she struggles not to be tied, she doesn’t understand the concept of danger, but we do. So ALWAYS take the safety procedures needed for your children, whether it is for a drive that lasts hours or one that just lasts a few seconds. Ever heard the saying “Most accidents happen close to home”?

This goes for adults too! Always wear your seatbelts!