Capsules and Car Seats and Boosters…Oh My!
On the 15th of February, several of our team gathered at our Melbourne office in Mooroolbark to learn about car seat safety. We were fortunate to have Kathy and Michael from Kidsafe Victoria’s Road Safety Team join us (on a weekend!) to ensure we could all gain theoretical and practical knowledge about how best to protect children on our roads and in our vehicles.
Our morning was spent learning about the different types of car seats available on the market, how to tell what the right seat for a given child would be, the risks if child car seats are not installed safely, and having some common myths about car seats busted. We practised conversations we might have with families about their child’s safety in the car, discussed what current best practice is for fitting and maintaining car seats, and explored how we can help families overcome barriers to accessing safe and appropriate car seats for their children.
It was a typical Melbourne day, being unseasonably cold for summer (many of us were in our winter woollies) and rapidly switching between sunshine and heavy rain, but our intrepid team braved the weather after lunch and got outside among vehicles to practice installing and uninstalling a range of child car restraints. For some of our team members who don’t transport children in cars, this was their first time ever installing car seats, and it was a wonderful learning experience for them especially. Each of us had the opportunity to install a rear-facing car seat with an inbuilt harness, a forward-facing car seat with an inbuilt harness, and a booster seat that uses the car’s seat belt to restrain the child. Many laughs were shared amongst our team as we watched one another climb through cars and grapple with bulky seats and awkwardly placed anchor points. We got very soggy but had a lot of fun building our skills with colleagues who feel much more like friends.
All team members present on the day have now achieved a Statement of Attainment in Providing Information and Advice on Correct Child Car Restraint Use. Please note that, with the exception of our Coordinator, Kathi, our team are not accredited car restraint fitters, but they are able to advise you on whether your car seats are set up appropriately for your children, help you make minor adjustments to improve safety and fit, and advise which seats might be the best choice when it’s time to size up. In addition, everyone at Foundations Family Day Care has access to our Car Seat Checklist, which they can use to help you assess the fit and installation of your car seats. If you are local to the outer east of Melbourne and would like an accredited Type 1 Restraint Fitter to help you with your car seats, please contact our office for more information.
We are so thankful to Kathy and Michael for giving up their Saturday to come and share this valuable knowledge with us. We know our community is safer because so many of our team have received this training.