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ADVICE RATING
 (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) 4.87 (Highly recommend) from 14 votes (216 Visits)

If there is a restraint. Use it.

meggles by meggles Talking Back(January 2007) (rank 54th)

Yesterday where I live a 12 month old child fell headfirst from a trolley hitting the hard floor, She is in stable condition but has head injuries.  when you look around you regularly see really little children unrestrained in trolleys, prams and worse of all in cars.

I guess

we think it cannot happen as us are "I am right next to her/him"  " I can catch him/her" but it only takes seconds to go from now to tragedy. No one can watch there child 24/7 Our car accident happened in 3 seconds.  If there is a restraint use it. I know its a pain to put it on and off alot if you are getting a child in an out of a trolley/pram but it will stop or delay them getting free and injurying themselves.

Some of the horror stories you here, where children have been in the front seat (I think the rule is they must be 12 years old bt don;t quote me) and have no belt cause "we were just going round the corner". Trolley seat seems snug so should be fine. We all have probably done it at some point myself included and unless we are personally touched by a tragedy it does not always seem a big deal.

The facts are we cannot watch them every second, sometimes we cannot catch them. My son was 3 when I popped him in his carseat and bent down to put his bag on the floor before putting his belt on this choice resulted in disaster. In 3 seconds he jumped in the front and knocked the car out of park. Sending the car backwards down a hilly driveway, crushing me between car and brick retaining wall. Had I put his belt on first........

Someone once said to me its all the little things that count and I really think this is true. Take every precaution cause sometimes theres no second chance to get it right.

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blackwidowkate
February 2007 | blackwidowkate
Trolleys and restraints
Hi
My sons first black eye was because of a trolley accident.....He was buckled in and i was being careful but we hit a uneven part on the sidewalk and the trolley fell over.......with him and the groceries in it.   I grabbed him out and raced him into the doctors who sent him for a xray straight away......luckily enough his head was hard enough to only bruise him but it could have been a lot worse........
The doctor said straight if i had not of had the restraint on him it would have been a whole different story as he more than likely would have been flung out and broken a leg as well as his head......and could have rolled under a car.......was soo scary.....
We are soo vigilant with restraints......no matter what

Luv Deb


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crazy-mumma
January 2007 | crazy-mumma
If there is a restraint. Use it
Great advice! I am appalled at the number of kids I see unrestrained or just as bad in an adult seat belt when they are far too young/short. As for the front seat thing. I was shocked that in Australia most states do not have a law about children in front seats. Even with airbags fitted it is just "recommended" not to have children in them. Also you are only legally obliged to have a proper child restraint for children under 12 mths  Over that they only must be restrained IF there is a restraint in the car, otherwise it can be an adult seatbelt. I think our law makers need to remidy this ASAP as obviously some people need a greater deterent to do the safe thing by their children.


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      crazy-mumma
January 2007 | crazy-mumma
If there is a restraint. Use it
Oh I meant to add. I always use the trolley belt. Although I DO get frustrated with the number of trollies I have to go through in order to get one that works.


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Raine
January 2007 | Raine
If there's a restraint. Use it - But make sure it's fastened securely
I thought you had to be 12 years old before you sat in the front of a car also, but my daughter says that's not so... She now allows her son to drive in the front of the car at 5. (He's in a booster seat & harness but I can't say I'm happy about that, however, it's her right to do what she thinks best)

When he was little he was in the baby car seat & my son had an accident. Somehow his buckle came undone & he was flung out of the seat & onto the back floor at around 18 months of age. Now, that fastening had been checked when he was placed into the seat... His seat was a AU safety standard approved; we've since learned that small children can sometimes manage to get them undone - So a LITTLE TRICK we have now learned, twist the buckle around so that a bright child cannot undo it... (BTW, Dr's checked him out & luckily he was OK)


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OzBinky
January 2007 | OzBinky
Great Reminder....

Great article matey...

There is a reason shopping trolleys have restraints on them and parents should use them....

I had a little belt that was on my car seat which I used. It was much like an extension belt. I carried that with me in my hand bag everyhwere. Back then trolly's didn't have them attached but i would used this to strap my children in.

Thank you for writing this

Lavinia



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mama3
January 2007 | mama3
good advice
good advice....


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allyp
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | allyp
Excellent, excellent!!

Excellent, excellent advice!! Thank you soo much for writing it out. Accidents can happen more often than we think.

You are right about a child being in the front of the car.. They do have to be 12 yrs old, expecially if the car has air bags a child is defiently not allowed to be there as it could cause some serious damage.

Everytime I put my daughter in her carseat I make sure that it's nice and snug for her and if we ever do get into an accident nothing would happen(i hope) I also make sure that I am only able to fit 2 fingers(that's the rule I was told before leaving the hospital) in the straps and if I can fit more then I know it has to be tightened a little more.
Again, thank you sooo much for this great article!



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nell18-3
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | nell18-3
Use Restraint
It is so needless to think your child is safe and ignore safety. How can you gamble with your childs safety


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MadMel
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | MadMel
I always restrain my boys
I think its stupid and lazy not to. Takes 5 seconds and will save them from serious injury!
Great advice well done :)


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angelmum
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | angelmum
Makes me angry
I see it so much, especially in the area I live in, when there is kids in cars just about hanging out the window, its quite obvious they are not belted in, I was shopping the other day and the women in front of me in the line had a little girl in the front of the trolly, she was getting all her groceries out and the little girl stood up in the seat, her mother looked up and said darling don't stand up, she didn't sit her back down and put the belt around her she just continued, next minute the little girl starts to try and climb out, still the mother did not try to stop her so I went to the front of my trolly sat her back down and put the belt around her, I got a filthy look from her mum which I gave right back, I didn't care I was not going to be the witness of this little darling falling. Grrrrr it makes me so angry that people can be so complacent.  Great article x


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      MadMel
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | MadMel
Makes me angry
you go girl! Needs to be more people like you out there!!


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breannababy
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2007 | breannababy
TIMELY REMINDER
I THINK THIS A  great article,we all need a little reminder every so often.regards Merle


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