CUIDANDO A MI HIJO

"Cuando tienes un hijo tienes a todos los hijos del mundo"... no recuerdo si la frase es exactamente así, pero si estoy segura que el sentimiento que encierra lo es.
Por querer cuidar más y más a mi hijo encontré ésto y quiero compartirlo con quienes tienen hijos, sobrinos, nietos...
Cuidense, cuidenlos!!!


Child Safety in a Vehicle
by Dennis DesRosiers

Every year there is a gripping headline related to a child, or in some cases, children, dying in a vehicle accident. We are all devastated when this happens. And, these accidents are not discriminatory. They can happen with a child in any area of the country; at any age -- from new-borns to teenagers; from any family income group; and any make and model of vehicle. And, for a parent, the prospect of such an accident is scary. You ask yourself what can you do to lessen the odds of an accident resulting in injury to your child.

However, there are some basic steps parents can take to help prevent serious injury to their children in a vehicle accident. For instance, the Canada Safety Council recently released statistics that showed that although more than 90 percent of Canadians now use seatbelts, less than 10 percent of parents correctly use a child safety seat. The problems relate to buying the wrong seat for your vehicle; poor installation; improper use of the seat; or worse, not using a child safety seat at all. Wearing seatbelts and using child restraints reduces the possibility of death and injury in collisions by 50 percent. Think about it. An unrestrained child in a 50 km/hr crash suffers an impact equal to being dropped from a third story window.

Keeping children safe and happy on a long ride, or even a short trip, is not easy, but there are specific steps any parent can follow. First, take child safety seriously when buying a vehicle. The vehicle manufacturers spend millions of dollars building safety into their vehicles but not all vehicles are equally safe for children. Safety ratings for virtually every vehicle are available from government agencies or consumer publications.

Consumers must also make sure they purchase an appropriate vehicle for their children's safety needs. For example, installing a child safety seat in a vehicle with a small back seat such as in many pick-up trucks is inherently more dangerous than installing the same seat in a four-door sedan. Moreover, many child safety seats also do not fit well in vehicles with deep bucket seats. Buying a vehicle that safely fits only two children when you have three children is not smart from a safety perspective. But that kid sitting in the middle could become a projectile in an accident.

No matter how carefully you chose your vehicle, it is essential that your child be properly fastened into their child safety seat, or booster seat and/or seat belt. The safety restraint rule can never be broken. That means no matter how restless the kids are they must be properly buckled. It also means that the time must be taken to properly affix the child seat and use it. It doesn't matter how short the trip is, seatbelts must be buckled up. And perhaps most important, adults can't break the rules - they must wear their own seat belts.

In addition, your vehicle has a trunk for a reason. It's a good idea to put all hard objects into the trunk as such objects can become potential "missiles" in even a minor accident. And while it's tempting to run an errand while your child waits or sleeps in the car, it is very dangerous to do so. The temperature inside a vehicle rises very quickly to dangerous levels. There is also the possibility of a restless child putting the car into gear or releasing the parking brake.