car seat ID tags

A while back I attended a baby safety seminar and something that was talked about has stuck in my head and so I thought I would share it. The seminar started out with the scenario of you are alone in your car with your kids, and suddenly you are involved in an accident. You are knocked unconcious or worse, your children are rescued out of the car and you are all separated to be taken to different hospitals, or taken in different ambulances at different times. What happens to your kids? Do the ambulance attendances know them, or any medical conditions that they may suffer from? No, generally no. Studies have shown that when children are removed from an accident that they are taken out of the vehicle still in their car seats to ensure that any injuries are not worsened.

 The advice that was given during the seminar was such a simple one I wonder why I had never thought of it myself. Basically they advised that we as parents make out a list of important information pertaining to our children, for example their full names, their birthdates, an emergency contact # of someone they can contact as well as any pertinent medical information.. eg, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc etc.  Write this list on a small piece of paper .. the size of a recipe card is what they suggested, place the paper inside of a resealable baggie and then either tape or as they suggested attach it with double sided velcro to the side of your childs carseat, away from any other children that may be tempted to try to grab it .

 I think this is wonderful advice and I myself have now done this with all 3 of my carseats. I hope I never have the situation where they are needed, but it has given me a little peace of mind knowing that if something where to happen to me then at least my children would be taken care of, called by there names to comfort them, and that my family member listed as my emergency contact would be able to be there for my kids when I couldnt be!