Are you ready to be DONE with that car or booster seat? Well, even if you aren’t there yet, it is estimated that nearly three-quarters of safety restraints for children are not installed properly or used correctly.

Vehicle safety events and child safety seat checks are being held tomorrow around the country to help you make sure that each and every time you take your child in your car, he or she is safely restrained.

To locate a Safe Kids Buckle Up car seat checkup event on Seat Check Saturday or throughout the year, go to www.usa.safekids.org and click on “find coalitions and events near you.”

Courtesy of Cari at www.emergencycafe.com

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! It is finally summer! The kids are out of school! Let your travels begin!

Whether you are taking to the sky or the road, here are some great tips to make your trip a fun and SAFE one.

Make a check list. Tickets, maps, ID, medication, phone numbers, and cameras should all be accounted for before you leave your home.

Always call to confirm your reservations - all of them - including restaurants! Get the confirmation number and name of person that you talked too.

Upon arriving at your hotel, take a moment to introduce yourself and your family to the concierge and front desk people! It sets the tone for your trip and you have an immediate connection with the hotel staff.

Have your car serviced before that road trip! Also, remember to take along healthy snacks and water in the car.

Make sure that you travel with your cell phone AND charger.

If someone is watching your home and/or pet, make sure they have all the phone numbers to contact you in case they need to reach you.

Consider throwing a flashlight and extra water and food into your suitcase when packing. If you never touch it - great, but you will always have it.

Bring a first aid kit on your trip.

Taking a few extra steps this summer before you leave will insure that your family has a wonderful, SAFE and memorable vacation! And after all… aren’t memories what it is all about?

As we near Memorial Day weekend - thoughts of families gathered celebrating with delectable BBQs, sometimes long-winded story-telling, inevitable laughter and splashing sounds from swimming pools filled with kids in this year’s new bathing suit float through the mind.

Flash to a horrifying statistic: did you know that drowning is the 2nd most common accidental death among children between the ages of 1 and 14.

Join Safe Kids USA in their campaign to wipe out childhood drownings by making a pledge (no money involved) this Memorial Day to wipe out childhood drownings. Parent or not, it is all of our responsibility if we are with children by a pool.

Go to: http://tiny.cc/o5SXZ Let’s do all we can to change these stats. Drownings are preventable!

Now sit back, enjoy the breeze and the sun, the laughter and the love, the food and the friendship…and have a great weekend!

Ernest Hemingway once asked: “But did thee feel the earth move?”

I don’t think he was talking about earthquakes, but for those of you in Southern California, did you feel it? A 4.7 earthquake shook Southern California last night!

Are you ready? Are you prepared?
In the last month, we have had 5 earthquakes! Two weeks ago there was an earthquake in Malibu - it was on a NEW fault!

May is Family Safety Month!

Make sure your family is safe! A number of companies out there have special products or disaster preparedness kits or can set up a private consultation to assess your needs.

Cari at www.emergencycafe.com is one of them. Contact her or look up someone else in your area.

So next time you feel the “earth move under (your) feet” (Carole King), you can stand solid in knowing what to do and that you are prepared to keep your family safe.

In the newest of celeb sightings with SafetyMate, Victoria Recaño and her husband Tom Burwell were gifted SafetyMate for the New Parent at their recent baby shower. The party was hosted by Hot Moms Club and Fit Pregnancy Magazine and held at the trendy Ketchup restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in LA.

What a beautiful couple! Best wishes in this new chapter in their life…

Super Mom Brooke Burke & SafetyMate: With Four Kids, Brooke has to be prepared for anything!

SafetyMate® for the New Parent, debuting in September 2008, already has been widely reviewed in print, on the internet and by celebrities, receiving positive accolades across the board in all mediums. Innovative in both concept and function, SafetyMate is a hand-held bilingual talking first aid device with information for over 30 first aid issues.

Pregnancy Magazine has selected SafetyMate as one of its “Go-Go Gadgets, Today’s innovations in baby safety (that) make it easy to keep it simple.” Recently, a picture of Alison Sweeney, her husband David Sanov and their son Ben graced the pages of Pregnancy showing Alison holding SafetyMate, given to her as a gift at her second baby shower.

On the internet, MetroMoms (www.metroplexbaby.com) selected SafetyMate as one of the “Best & Hottest Products From Pregnancy to Preschool™” “in the category of why didn’t anyone think of this sooner.” With the caution that you do not want to find yourself unprepared for a dangerous occurrence involving your child, Stay At Home Mom Answers (www.sahmanswers.com) finds SafetyMate to be an invaluable product for all parents.

Described as the perfect alternative to conventional baby shower gifts, SafetyMate’s review by Parent Click (www.orangecountyparent.com) states it is “an absolute must for new and seasoned parents!”

SafetyMate has won the Swanky Moms Award and been covered in video on Pregtastic.com and Mommywarriors.com. Other positive reviews include www.safbaby.com, www.lilaguide.com, www.momfuse.com, www.momstylenews.com, www.learning4lyf.ca and www.jetwithkids.com.

Finally, SafetyMate has been featured nationally on the Today Show, Univision, Fox & Friends on a number of local stations across the US by Lifestyle Expert, Tanya Whitford and by the Safety Mom, Alison Rhodes.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, together with the White House and other governmental agencies, such as the EPA, have designate October to be Children’s Health Month.

Parents are urged during the month of October to do a “safety check” where by an inventory is taken of environmental hazards in their home. Taking a few simple steps can help reduce or eliminate home-based non-intentional injuries and deaths.

Some of the most common home emergencies include burns, head injuries, accidental poisoning, strangulation, drowning, and suffocation.

A few ways to prevent such injuries:

• Keep medicines and hazardous household chemicals locked up and out of sight. Use child-resistant packaging for medicines and hazardous household chemicals, and call 1-800-222-1222 if a poisoning occurs.
• Cut the loops on window-blind cords.
• Turn pot handles on the stove towards the back where toddlers can not reach.
• Stay within arm’s reach of your baby while your child is bathing or near any container of water.
• Babies on adult beds risk suffocation from hidden hazards such as entrapment between the bed and wall; entrapment involving the bed frame, headboard and footboard; or soft bedding such as pillows or thick quilts and comforters. Co-sleeping side beds are becoming more popular as these risks become more well-publicized.

Always call 9-1-1 first in case of medical emergency.

For other potentially life-saving tips, go to www.healthierus.gov or www.childrenshealth.gov. Finally, know what to do if an emergency does happen. Take a class, remain vigilant of environmental hazards as your child continues to grow, and make sure any caregivers are trained in first aid/CPR.