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Car seats work best when the straps are tight up against the body. But what happens when there are layers and layers of clothes and coats between your child and the car seat straps? The straps are too tight and uncomfortable and your child complains and you obligingly loosen them up a bit. That doesn’t give your child the protection they need. Winter is coming, but you don’t have to sacrifice your child’s comfort for safety if you employ these tricks:

Infant Seats:

Get an aftermarket infant seat cover for your baby who is still in a rear-facing infant seat. These amazingly useful products, which come in all different types of fabric for different types of weather, keep your baby warm and snug, and are easily adjusted. It’s a perfect solution for the mad dash between the car and the house or the shopping mall. And you won’t have to wake up a sleeping baby by trying to remove his or her winter coat when you go into an overheated environment, which is, in and of itself, a huge bonus.

Convertible Seats or Booster Seats:

Bigger kids in forward facing car seats or booster seats pose a bit of a challenge – especially if they’re wearing bulky winter jackets or coats – but it’s not insurmountable. Have your child sit in his seat without a coat so that you can be sure that the straps are tight. Then have him put the jacket or coat on and leave it unzipped. Once in the car seat, fix the straps as you normally would and then have your child zip up his jacket over the straps.

Voila! Your baby or child will stay warm and cozy and still be perfectly protected.

Tip: The safety of your children is number one and you will pay for a top of the line product to ensure this. We can save you a few dollars by offering cheap auto insurance.

Kids have a way of always finding a puddle to splash in, have you noticed? Sure, you gave them the “puddle warning” before they headed out the door en route to school, but invariably, they always came home with soaking wet pants, soggy socks and shoes, and a nose dripping with who-knows-what virus that heralded the start of another cold. You always figured they’d outgrow it. You did, didn’t you?

If your teenager is about to become a driver, you better pull that warning back out of mothballs. Finding every puddle on the road is not as fun as when we were six or seven, and it can be downright dangerous – much, much worse than a runny nose. Teaching your teenager the rights and wrongs (or dos and don’ts) of driving in rain is vitally important.

Right/Do:

• Make sure a cell phone is fully charged and available (for use when parked, only).
• Make sure the gas tank is filled, or money/credit card available.
• Know where the windshield wiper, headlight and defogger switches are located on the dashboard.
• Make it a rule: If the wipers are on, turn on headlights, as well – not only do you get better visibility, but oncoming drivers may not be able to see you otherwise.
• Avoid puddles if you can do so safely – you never know how deep the pothole is beneath it; if you can’t do it safely, go through it slowly.
• Brake earlier than you think you need to.
• Ensure you have great car insurance for teenagers.

Wrong/Don’t:

• Don’t speed; reduce your speed by 5-10 mph, or as road conditions demand.
• Don’t use cruise control; you need to be in full control of the car.
• Don’t slam on your brakes; on an oil-slicked surface, it will only exacerbate the problem. It’s better to ease off the gas and gently tap the brakes.
• Don’t ever drive across a flooded roadway; believe it or not, even a 1-ton vehicle can be carried away by only a few inches of water.

Finally, in extreme rain conditions, slow down, pull the car off the road to the shoulder, turn on your hazard lights and wait out the storm. Then (and only then) call your parents and let them know you’re safely stopped, ‘cause they’re doing what all parents do when the weather gets really bad and their baby is out in the storm: Worrying.

Do your car and your car seat get along? Is the relationship nice and tight, with little give and take? Or is loose and shaky and basically all over the place? You may believe you have the perfect car, and the perfect car seat, but perfection doesn’t promise compatibility. It may take some effort to become a perfect couple; on the other hand, it also might not work out at all.

The sad truth is not every car seat works in every car, and vice versa. Your back seat may be too tight to fit a larger, convertible-styled car seat. And the fit is very important. The less “give” on the seat the better the protection the seat affords.

Several websites have a compatibility database which will allow you to narrow down your choices. But before you buy your baby’s car seat, take one out to your own car for a test run; most of the larger baby super stores will allow you take a demo model out to your car for just this purpose. Your goal is to buy a seat based on how easy it is to install the seat – which may go in and out of your car several times during the course of a day – as well as how easy it is to get your baby or child properly secured in it.

Not sure if your car seat is installed correctly? Ask if the baby store employs a certified car seat technician, or find out when they’ll hold their next car seat inspection. Many police and fire departments, as well as some car dealerships, also offer this invaluable, free service. The key words here: Invaluable and free. Definitely worth looking into. The key words here:  Invaluable and free.  Definitely worth looking into.And just a step up from invaluable and free, it is worth your while to check out afforable auto insurance.

So, which car seat should you buy?  Well, how much money you got?  Just kidding… money is not and should not be the single deciding factor on which car seat you eventually buy for your child.  You can alleviate your budget by finding cheap auto insurance.The generally accepted standard is that you buy a child restraint system that first fits your child and your car, and then, fits into your budget.  The truth is, despite all the hype from the car seat manufacturers, there is no single perfect car seat.  And as long as a car seat meets government safety standards and is certified as such (look for the label) it’s deemed safe.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe for your child.

If you can afford a child car seat with all the bells and whistles AND it works in your vehicle, that’s great.  Your child will ride in style and be protected; you couldn’t ask for more.  “But,” you’re probably wondering, “is there one single thing you should consider in any car seat, even if your budget is small?” 

The simple answer is:  Yes!   And it’s the 5-point harness system.  With a 5-point system, the straps go over your child’s shoulders and around his or her waist to clip at the crotch.  Studies confirm that a 5-point system provides significantly better protection than shoulder-only straps which pose a risk of the child being ejected in a crash.

Granted, you want to keep a wary eye on your newborn, and it’s nearly impossible to do that if the baby is facing backwards in his or her infant seat.  You must resist the temptation to turn that seat around; it is in your baby’s best interests.  Until a child has celebrated his or her first birthday and weighs a minimum of 20 lbs, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises that it’s best that they remain rear facing. 

As you may have noticed (or experienced!), babies have pretty big heads and pretty fragile necks.  It will be months before they can hold their heads up or have good control of their neck muscles.  In the event of a car crash, if a baby is facing forward there’s a much higher risk that the baby’s spinal cord will be damaged.  Just think about how hard your own head jerks forward when you have to come to a sudden stop… and you’ve got strong neck muscles!  Babies don’t have that, and in a very common frontal car crash, the bones in a baby’s neck could actually separate. 

If your baby weighs more than the recommended 20 lb. threshold for an infant car seat, or is older than one year in age, you may think it’s alright to switch to the forward facing car seat.  That’s still not a good idea.  According to a 2008 article published in Pediatrics, a professional journal, three out of four children are less likely to be severely injured or killed if they remain in a rear facing car seat until they are at least two years old.  If your child reaches the weight limit for an infant seat, then switch to a rear-facing convertible.  Your child will get the same protection, and (provided you get yourself a rear-facing child seat mirror) you’ll get peace of mind.

Tip: Keeping your children safe is your number one priority. Would it not also be a bonus to couple this with affordable auto insurance?

Some kids just have a bit of magic about them – they have absolutely no trouble getting into cookie jars or getting out of car seats. While it’s not exactly a tragedy if junior munches on the Sausalito cookies (unless, of course, it’s the last one and you were saving it for yourself), it could be a tragedy if he escapes from his car seat while you’re driving.

Keeping Houdini restrained isn’t impossible, but it may take some ingenuity on your part (or at the very least the purchase of some ingenious products), not to mention a little patience and a lot of perseverance. One thing is certain, there should be no allowances made: Without your escape artist sitting – properly restrained – in a car seat, the car shouldn’t move. Period.

If your child escapes from it, then your car seat is useless. Here are a few things you can do, short of chains and padlocks:

• Contact the seat’s manufacturer to find out if they offer different clips than the one that originally came with the seat, or purchase a cover that fits over the clip, and prevents little fingers from doing their magic.
• Reverse the button to the strap mechanism so that it faces your child, rather than outward.
• Set the proper example and always buckle your own seat belt, and ensure that all passengers (including pets!) are buckled up.
• Make a show of buckling up a favorite doll or stuffed animal if your little one insists on bringing it along.
• Try a simple, but firm, “No, don’t unbuckle.” (You never know, it could work.)

And finally, for those children for whom a word to the wise is not sufficient, there’s always bribery. 

Tip: If you would like to have enough cash to purchase the safest baby seat, you can find cheap car insurance to give you better cash flexibility.

Ask your mother (or grandmother) what they used to do with a baby in the “olden days” and she’ll likely tell you how she used to hold you in her arms while sitting in the passenger or back seat (unbelted, of course, and probably while smoking an unfiltered menthol cigarette).   Or, if she was the driver, how she’d lay you down next to her on the bench seat and keep one hand on the wheel and the other on your back (your were always face down) to protect you from rolling off. 

However many children there were in a family, that’s how many sat in the back seat.  And it didn’t matter if there were two or three (or no) lap belts in the back, hardly anyone used them anyway.  Of course, if you had a station wagon (and most families did), then you could comfortably (not necessarily, safely) plunk a couple of kids (usually the oldest ones – the lucky dogs) into the back.  Of course, you’d also have the door window rolled all the way down, with strict instructions NOT to stick your head out the window (a rule that was quickly forgotten, once you hit the highway).

If you were really lucky, you got to ride shotgun, in the passenger seat.  Your mom would tell you not to touch anything (she meant the radio), but to hold on (to what, you wondered?) and you’d grab the door handle and discover (as you tumbled to the pavement) that your mom forgot to lock the door. 

Your mother or grandmother might even still cling to the notion that car seats are a waste of time and money – after all, you came out (relatively) unscathed (except for that nervous twitch you get when you see a Ford Fairlane) right?  Those were the days, weren’t they?  It’s amazing that anyone survived ‘em.

Tip: If you’d like to have a bit more cash to put toward the safest car seat possible, why not compare discount auto insurance quotes and possibly save some money over your current rates.

After hours of the hardest labor of your life, you’ve finally got that little squirmy person in your arms.  You can’t believe how quickly and how hard you’ve fallen in love, seemingly in a split second.  You plan to do everything you can to protect that child.  Congratulations!  You’re a parent.  And within a very very short time, your parental nurturing mode is going to kick up into high gear, cause you’ve got to take that baby home with you.  And you are just going to have to put that baby into a car seat, because as protective as your loving arms may be, they will not protect your baby in a car accident.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that all hospitals and medical facilities within the United States discharge a newborn baby only if the parent(s) can show them an approved child safety seat.  In some states, parents are also required to watch a video on the proper way to secure a baby in an infant or convertible car seat.  “But, you don’t own a car,” you might say.  Will you be traveling by horse and buggy, then?  Irrespective of your private ownership of a vehicle, an infant car seat is a mandatory, non-negotiable item. 

And look at it this way, you’ll probably want your baby in his or her own baby seat anyway… have you any idea how many germs are crawling over the baby seats that are attached to shopping carts?  Quicker than you can spell streptococcal your baby will have picked up a virus.    Remember, an infant seat protects your child in more ways than just the obvious.

One last note to new parents.  We know that the birth of a new baby is a busy and expensive time, but don’t let that prevent you from covering your safety bases.  If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to compare free auto insurance quotes online and determine if you could pay less for the coverage you need.  Any savings you can find could help offset the cost of a good car seat.

It’s often been said that driving is a privilege, not a right.  That’s never been a truer statement as it applies to the teenage driver.  Just as you expect your child to do his chores in exchange for his weekly allowance, you should expect some tit-for-tat for driving privileges.  Sure, you could make him regrout the bathrooms before you toss him the keys (and he’d probably do it, too), but that wouldn’t make him a more responsible driver – a happier, stickier driver, perhaps, but not necessarily a better driver. 

How can your teenager earn those all-important key privileges?  By showing a level of maturity beyond his years in accepting his responsibilities that don’t involve your car, that’s how.  And you can measure that by how often you need to “talk” or “remind” him… Did you…?  Will you…?  Have you…?  Don’t forget to… Whatever the blanks may be, if your teenager can say, “Yes, yup, you bet, and already did” then he’s well on his way to earning the keys.  He understands his responsibilities to you and the household. 

That’s good.  Because driving is a privilege, and no one is entitled to do so merely because he’s “old enough” to do it.  There may be a vast difference between chronological age and intellectual age.  And, let’s face it – in the grand scheme of things, a teenager is still a baby, and baby’s still need some guidance.  Telling your teenager that he’s still a baby will probably not go over well, but telling your child that he is still your baby will certainly gladden his heart… though he’ll probably never tell you that.

Children are expensive, and it’s absolutely mind-boggling how much it costs to outfit them properly.  In this tough economy, it’s not at all inconceivable that you’re pinching pennies.  Maybe you’re using coupons or shopping at off-price stores, consignment or thrift shops and frequenting yard sales.  Sure, they’re all wonderful places for picking up cast-offs at bargain basement prices.  But one thing that you should never ever scrimp on is your car seat.  Sure, a “seemingly” brand-new (to you) car seat bearing a sticker price of $3.95 at the local thrift store looks like a great deal.  Compare it to that “r”-us store down the block that wants more than 10 times that price for the same car seat.  No brainer, right?  So, what do you do?

You buy the most important, life-protecting baby item you will ever need at the “r”-us store, that’s what you do.  There is no way you could know if that thrift store car seat was involved in a car accident (unless of course there was a big sticker on it proclaiming, “Buy Me!  Lucky Car Seat!  Survived a head-on!”).  Even a single fender-bender type accident can compromise the integrity of the plastic shell meant to protect your child.  And that plastic degrades over time, so if a car-seat is nearing its maximum useful life (generally six years) it needs replacing (the manufacture date is embossed on all car seats, so look for it).  With a used car seat, you also won’t know if the car seat is the subject of a recall; it’s critically important to find that out. 

Remember this:  A car seat won’t be much of a bargain, it if fails to protect the thing you love most in life.