Blog: You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks
Posted by:
Lorrie Walker
at Sep 22, 2011 12:00 AM CDT
Keywords:
Education
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Twenty-five years ago I was a new full time seat belt user. Working for the PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, it was a requirement, and just months before, my kids had shamed me into using my own seat belt. I was always careful about their safety but had been casual about mine.
It would have been hard at the time to find an employer who was more encouraging and eager for me to learn all there was to know about child passenger safety. The more I learned the more I realized how little I knew. There was little organized help nationally and certainly no technician training to guide my highway safety education. Fortunately for me, there was one child passenger safety guru who was never too busy to answer questions and offer guidance to me. Annemarie Shelness was a true find, a mentor and a gold mine of information. If you have ever viewed one of her videos, you know she has a wealth of information and knowledge.
Annemarie was active in Child Passenger Safety before there was chrome on bumpers and she and her group lobbied hard for the improvement of vehicles, car seats, laws and education materials. She was the perfect mentor: patient, non-judgmental, kind. Annemarie is a shining example of how to grow new advocates in child passenger safety. She has been active since the 1970s and is still involved. Now that is staying power!
So here is my request: If you are a parent and someone encouraged you to go to a car seat checkup event or inspection, can you let that person know how much they helped you protect your child? If you are a certified technician or instructor, do you remember the person who inspired you to take the technician course or who mentored you through your instructor candidacy? What qualities did they show you and what was it about them that made you want to learn more about child passenger safety? Send them an email during Child Passenger Safety Week and let them know how important they were to you in your child passenger safety work.
Use this week to help families by attending Seat Check Saturday on September 24, or another checkup event or program but also to acknowledge the people who helped you get where you are today. And better yet, become a mentor to another new technician and nurture them into the field. The problems facing new parents are many and we need all the people we can get to help them learn what they need to know to keep children safe in cars. Without my mentor I wonder where I might be today? Let me know if you said a big thank you to the person who helped you along the way by writing to me at lwalker@safekids.org.
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