5 Car Seat Safety Tips for Parents

As a parent, you have several responsibilities. Between making sure your child is always supervised, doing well in school, ensuring the house is clean, and your child is always safe, we always have a job to do or a role to play. Although there are important things that need to be done around the house, and at the office, there are even more important things that can’t wait or be ignored – and those have to do with your child’s safety. Car seat safety is a must, and is something that should be considered every time you ride in the car with your child. If you’re looking for tips on how to keep your child as safe as possible during everyday drives, consider these car seat safety tips below.

5-car-seat-safety-tips-for-parents

5 Car Seat Safety Tips for Parents

 

1. Find a car seat that fits:

 
You always want to make sure you find a car seat that fits your child properly. By having a car seat that is too big or too small for your child’s height, weight or even age, you’re only making matters worse. So, make sure you always follow the recommendations for the seat. When it comes to car seats, you can choose between an infant, convertible or a booster seat. Newborns can fit into an infant and/or convertible, but they both have different weight limits, (the infant being usually 5-30 lbs. and convertible being usually up to 65). A booster seat is usually for children over 3 years of age.
 

2. Install it properly:

 
Always make sure your child’s car seat is installed properly. If you didn’t know already, 3 out of 4 car seats are installed improperly in some way. Whether they are big mistakes or small, your child’s safety isn’t where it should be. To make sure your seat is installed correctly, you can always go down to the fire station or police department to have them look it over.
5-car-seat-safety-tips-for-parents

3. Placement:

 
The back seat of your vehicle is always the safest place for your child. You should always avoid putting your child in the front seat of the car due to airbags. In some states, children can’t even sit in the front seat until the age of 12, could that possibly be your state? Check your state laws to be sure.
 

4. Position:

 
If your baby is younger than 1 year of age, and weighs less than 20 lbs, they should always be rear-facing. Once they have exceeded both those recommendations, they can be forward-facing. But one of the best car seat safety tips is to keep them rear-facing as long as possible.
 

5. Car seat laws:

 
Each state in the U.S. has a different car seat law. They tend to vary from state to state, so it’s important that you know the laws for the actual state you live in. If you don’t follow these laws, it can result in an unsafe atmosphere for your child, can leave you with fines and even traffic violations and cost you points on your record.
 
As you can see, there are several ways to protect your child when they’re riding in the car. These are just a few of the reasons to, but are also some of the most important reasons! What car seat safety tips do you have to add?

About the author
This is a guest post written by the author of a FindGasCards.com a website where you can find the best gas cards, as well as a helpful auto blog!

Updated January 2014 by Kimberly