5 Safety Tips for Traveling with Children in the Car

As vaccinations roll out, more and more folks will be going back to pre-pandemic routines, returning to work, leaving the home and driving more. After having self-isolated and limited our travel for so long, this is a great time for a post about safety tips for traveling with children in the car!

All parents know that a car ride will often lull a baby or toddler strapped into their car seat into a peaceful sleep. Some of us even use the car as a pacifier when a teething baby doesn’t stop crying. I’ve done it when my child was a baby, and I bet a lot of other parents have too. Done what? Taken baby for a drive around the block to help them fall asleep! It’s pretty easy to remember the baby is in the back seat when lulling the baby to sleep is the only reason we are in the car. 

While many kids are staying home during the pandemic, parents may be looking for extra reasons to find things to do together as a family. Taking your kids on an outing is a great way to keep them from getting bored or stir-crazy at home, and many outdoors areas are offering up more free events for families. It’s great to take advantage of these events when we can.

But what about those times when we are merely running errands? What about those times when the babysitter cancels at the last minute, and we are breaking our normal routine of leaving the baby at home while we drive to work? What about those times when we are not so aware of our child sleeping in the back seat?

It’s all too easy to forget our child is in the car when it is not our normal routine to have them there, and they are sound asleep, not making a peep. This doesn’t make us bad parents, but we are creatures of habit and habits are not broken overnight. We’ve seen the headlines all too often: child found dead in the back seat of the car; parent forgot he was there. These are in most cases loving parents; they are devastated by their loss, and often deal with lifelong issues of guilt, never forgiving themselves. The mission of this blog is to help raise child and pet safety awareness and help prevent tragedies such as this from happening ever again. To that end, below are five safety tips for traveling with your children in the car.

5 Safety Tips for Traveling with Children in the Car

1. Never leave a child or pet unattended in a vehicle. Not even in the shade. Not even when you are only going inside the home or store or whatever for just five minutes. Five minutes easily turns into ten. And on a very hot day, five minutes can be enough to cause serious injury to a child.
   
2. Use visual aids to remind you that you have precious cargo aboard. For example, you could tie a colorful bandana to the handles of your purse or briefcase, or tuck it into the driver side door handle – somewhere you will have to see it before you get out of the car. Wear a button that tells your co-workers and colleagues to ask you where your child is. In your office keep a reminder in bold color and in plain view asking you the whereabouts of your child. Have your computer screen saver ask ‘where is your child?’ 
   
3. Place belongings that you need to take into the home or office in the back seat with the baby. Leave your purse, briefcase, phone, groceries – anything that you have to take with you  – next to your precious cargo, so you cannot forget them. And then always take them in first.
   
4. Be extra aware of change from the normal routine. Set a reminder alarm on your phone to go off when you reach your destination, or at the end of your commute time, or both! If you are going to work, before you leave send an email reminder to your work email and leave a phone message on your work phone reminding yourself that you have your child with you.
   
5. Have an accountability partner. Have your spouse, a parent, a friend, or even a call service call you and check up on your child. 

I hope these 5 safety tips for traveling with your child or pet in the car will help you, especially whenever you are doing something outside of your normal routine. It may sound like overkill to wear a button or have a call service call you, but it only takes one instance of forgetting your child is in the car to get you over an hesitation at welcoming the extra helpful reminders! 

I don’t ever want you to feel the sheer panic I felt that one time I realized I had left my child in the car. My story has a happy ending, but I definitely got my wakeup call! Now my mission is to help parents and caregivers everywhere with that extra safety planning. The Safety Inspiration by Liz shop carries a number of safety reminder items I designed especially with you loving parents in mind. May they give you peace of mind and help keep your loved ones safe!