Child Safety Seat Laws

Today I did some research on child safety seat laws after talking with a friend about car seats. I thought I knew the child safety seat laws for the state of Florida, but after our discussion, I realized that we had different ideas on the actual "law" in Florida.

I was surprised to find out just how diverse the child safety seat laws are across the country. One state might require a child to be in a booster seat until they are 8 years old AND 80 lbs., while another might only require that a child is in a car seat until age 3.

I am disappointed that Florida has some of the least stringent laws regarding child safety seats in the country. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website, in Florida a child 3 years and younger must be in a child restraint, and children 4-5 years old are permitted to wear adult safety belt. With that said, technically none of my children are required to be in a safety seat of any sort. I'm not good with that. My youngest is 4, but is only 35 lbs, and my 7 year old is only 42 lbs. I do not feel that either one of them should be riding in a vehicle without some sort of child safety seat. In the case of my 4 year old, he is currently in a traditional car seat, while my 7 year old is in a high-back booster seat. To be honest, my 10.5 year old just stopped using a backless booster seat last year, and is about 65 lbs.

I tend to lean on the side of caution and safety, and prefer the guidelines set out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA advises parents of four steps to help protect their children while riding in a vehicle.

1. Infants - from birth to at least 1 year old and at least 20 pounds For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until a minimum of age 1 and at least 20 pounds.

2. Toddlers - Age 1 & 20 lbs to Age 4 & 40 lbs When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at a minimum age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).

3. Children - from about age 4 to at least age 8 Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall).

4. Tweens - age 8 and older When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall) they can use the adult seat belt in the back seat, if it fits properly (lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest).

I would encourage everyone to find out the child restraint laws in their state. If the laws in your state seem a bit lax, you may want to adopt the guidelines set forth by the NHTSA. Sometimes meeting the minimum standard just isn't enough when it comes to the safety of our children.

New Year, New Blog Layout

Out with the old, and in with the new.

I thought it was about time to give this old blog a bit of a face lift...and hopefully with the face lift will come some more frequent blogs.

I did some searching on how to create my own blog background and found that digital scrapbooking materials do the job well. I found several sites, but liked the materials offered at ShabbyPrincess the best. ShabbyPrincess has some great scrapbooking collections that they offer as free downloads for personal use (even for use on personal, NON-commercial, blogs - check out their Terms). PowerPoint 2007 worked wonders for creating my background and made saving it as a .jpeg a breeze (just be cautious because not all of the older versions of PowerPoint have that nifty ability). I uploaded the background .jpeg and header .jpeg to PhotoBucket (but, again, I'm sure another site, such as Picasa, would have worked as well). A little fiddling with Blogger and I was done.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

If you get a chance, jump on over and check out Jolie's new blog background. She, too, is hoping to get some new blogs posted in the near future. She has already begun writing a new story to post.

Back from Hibernation

I’m back and ready to blog.

Sorry for the mini-blackout.

Stay tuned for updates on the home front, some new life perspectives, and general discussions.

Birthday Time Again

Six years ago today…no, I won’t put you through that.

Today my baby girl turned 6. She is becoming a wonderful young lady. She makes me smile every day.

I love you, Jolie. I look forward to watching you become the woman you will someday be.

One Step Closer to Home

We now feel a little closer to our “someday” home. We received and put our new Washington license plates on the van.

We are Washington State residents. Yes, I know we live in Florida, all the way across the country from Washington (don’t remind me), but we enjoyed Washington so much when we were stationed there (both sides of the Cascade Mountains) that we changed our residency from Florida to Washington several years ago and plan to eventually retire from the Navy and settle in the Evergreen State.

We are pretty serious about this plan…

We are registered Washington State voters
We have two vehicles registered in the state of Washington
We have Washington college funds for each of the kids
We are saving to buy our “someday” land

As of today, when I grow up I want to be a farmer. You know how it is when you’re growing up…your career plans change over time, but for a while now I've wanted to be a farmer (my Grandfather would be proud...my Grandma told me so).

I’d like to have some land; raise Angora goats (for fiber), Great Pyrenees (for breeding and herding), and chickens (for eggs); grow some pumpkins (to sell); and have a nice big garden. I don’t think that’s a terrible dream. I’m saving my pennies to make it happen.

All you Washingtonians be looking for us in about 9 and a half years. We’re trying to get there sooner, but if all else fails, we’ll get there eventually.

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

It has been a while since I last blogged. My family has been working hard at getting ready to move.

Hubby and I spent ten days on a house hunting/mini-vacation without the kids. This was my first time being away from my baby and my second time being away from the older two. It was really nice to get away and have some adult time, but we aren't big on leaving the kids and just gallivanting around. We were on a mission, and if we had a spare moment to enjoy a walk on the beach or a romantic dinner, then all the better.

We found a wonderful house and are now getting our stuff prepped for the movers.

Last week Justin took vacation time so we could finish seeing all the local sights we were interested in seeing before we leave.

I'll get caught up on all my "back" blogs as I find time.

Be patient with me and check back when you can. I'll get you all caught up slowly but surely.

Why "the one less traveled"?

Starting a Blog has been on my mind for a while now. Really, I was just waiting until I could come up with an appropriate heading. I thought about giving it a Latin title, such as “Carpe Diem.” Then I thought about translating “seizing the future” into Latin, but didn’t figure than anyone would have any idea what I was talking about. So, after about two weeks worth of contemplation, I settled on “Down the Road Less Traveled.”

Why “the road less traveled” you ask? Well, the title really seems to describe many of the decisions made during my adult-life.