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Protecting your child with car seat safety
By Wendy Simons

Every year that passes children between the ages of one and eighteen are killed in car crashes more than any other cause. A large percentage of these deaths could have been prevented if the children were properly restrained. Your duty as a watching, caring, and successful parent is to ensure total safety of your young child, both inside the home and especially outside the home.

In today's article we are going to discuss car seat safety, which directly relates to children who are small enough where they have to be sat in a car seat during travel times. Contrary to what many men and women believe on the subject, if you are using your lap to hold your child in the car then you are subjecting her to the most perilous place for a child to ride.

If you were to get into an accident with your child in your lap, then you probably wouldn't be able to hold onto her once you were jolted by the sudden shock of being rammed by another car. And even if you could hold onto your child, then your body would invariably crush hers as you were thrown against the dashboard or windshield.

The most important thing that you can do as a caring parent for your child when traveling is to buy and install a safety approved car seat. In fact, car seats are a requirement of the law in all fifty states across America.

Unfortunately, all studies point to the fact that parents do not properly use these car seats. The most common problems occur when parents place rear-facing seats in front of an air bag, putting the car seats in the wrong direction, or failing to strap the harness properly over the child and into the seat.

Did you realize that most fatal children's accidents involving traveling occur within five miles of home and at speeds less than twenty five miles per hour? These statistics cannot be ignored yet many parents think of these "small trips" around town as a safe way to ride without their kids strapped in properly, if at all.

Below are 3 tips for you to take into account when it comes to your children and car seat safety:

1. Choose a car seat that meets current-date federal safety guidelines. Do not use a car seat made before 1981. This is the year that these regulations came into effect.

2. Use a car seat 100% of the time, no exceptions! Whether you are driving to the store 2 blocks away or taking an hour long dive, stay safe at all times.

3. Look for a car seat with a harness that is easy to adjust when the seat is in your car. You are more likely to use a seat if it is convenient.

Author Details:
Wendy Simons, writes for a number of sites about health, beauty and cosmetic surgery, she also makes contributions to the A-Z of.com.

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