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My name is Dr. Norman L. Collins, Sr. I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, where I’m a proud father of seven children and eleven grandchildren.
Two years ago, my family suffered an unbelievable tragedy. Three months after my handsome grandson Norman Lee Van Collins III was born, I received a call that would change my life forever.
My grandson was a wonderful baby, with beautiful brown eyes, soft curly hair and a precious countenance. I celebrated him every day.
A colleague of mine was all set to write this Mother’s Day blog. She had her first child three months ago - a beautiful healthy baby boy - and was excited to share her thoughts on her first Mother’s Day. But then the reality of being a brand new mom set in - sleep deprived, new routines, all the standard questions like “When do they start sleeping through the night?"
The decision to have a child . . . is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body - Elizabeth Stone
The first time I read this quote I was a brand new mom, and I’m not sure I fully understood just how true it was.
I grew up around kids – I baby sat, had lots of younger cousins, and my brother is nine years younger than me. So I’ve always been comfortable with babies and kids and I knew I wanted my own when the time was right. But it only took a few seconds after our first son was born before I realized that I was not really ready for fatherhood.
This little, wrinkly 6-pound ‘thing’ invades your home and everything changes, every perspective you once had is different. Instantly. You are now responsible for another human life and there is something very sobering about that.
I’ll never forget the day I decided to get involved in child passenger safety.
That morning, a 12-month-old child involved in a car crash was brought into the emergency department where I was working as a nurse. She was still buckled into her car seat, but we later learned that the car seat had not been secured in its base. It had simply been placed on a seat in the car, so when the crash occurred the baby and the car seat shot forward, hitting the mom seated in front in the back of the head.
2017 sponsorships are now available. Please contact Marya Kawmy 202-662-0622 or [email protected] if interested.
Earlier today, celebrities, parents and hundreds of kids celebrated Safe Kids Day, presented by Nationwide. This LA event at Smashbox Studios was just one of 223 Safe Kids Day events taking place across the United States this spring to raise awareness and funds for Safe Kids Worldwide.
I am convinced my son, Winston, was born with gills. He delights in all things water: oceans, rivers, pools, baths, even our plastic baby pool – he loves them all.
At six years of age and with dozens of swim lessons under his belt, I cautiously say Winston can swim. Just last week, at our community pool, he jumped off a diving board into the deep end and swam to the side unaided. He proceeded to repeat this 10 times in an hour.
The resident dads at Safe Kids were asked about what piece of advice or tip they would want other dads to know about. We are certainly no experts (is there really such a thing?), so take what you like and ignore the rest.
Safe Kids Worldwide is teaming up with Babies “R” Us to celebrate Baby Safety Month during September.
Each week in September, Babies “R” Us stores will offer parents helpful information on car safety, safe sleep, childproofing and bath safety. Also, customers can get 25 percent off certain car seat models starting Friday, September 1 through Sunday, October 1. Babies “R” Us is donating 5 percent of the car seat sales during this time back to Safe Kids!
Types of Car Seats
There are three types of car seats: rear-facing, forward-facing and booster seat. Even though there are many different models to choose from, all car seats meet the same U.S. federal safety standards.