In the world of Child Passenger Safety, certain safety topics are a routine course of discussion: Is it better to use a booster or a harnessed seat with no tether? When is it okay for children to sit in the front seat? What do you do if a child needs to use a seating position with no headrest?
Every once in a while, though, there are questions that center around the practice of being a Child Passenger Safety Technician and what that means. One question I’ve seen come up from time to time is: Do you consider/refer to yourself as a “car seat expert”?
The answer, almost unanimously, is no. As one of the few dissenters, I’m baffled by that.
People’s reasoning varies. Some say that they don’t know everything and therefore can’t be considered an expert. Some say there are other people who know more than they do. Some say that it sounds egotistical. Some say that they still need to refer to manuals for information.
I say that none of that excludes someone from being an expert. I also contend that claiming we’re not experts actually hurts our reputation.
First, let’s look at it from a practical standpoint. When I tell people I’m a “Child Passenger Safety Technician,” they usually get a confused look on their face. What the heck does that even mean? It sounds like a piece of bureaucratic corporatese. It sounds like someone who engineers or assembles…children? I always need to follow it up with something like, “I help parents choose and install car seats,” or “I help keep children safe in cars,” but that’s all very clunky. It’s so much easier and clearer to say, “I’m a car seat expert.” That tells them everything they need to know.
Next, and more importantly, let’s take a look at the definition of “expert”: a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.
Okay, so what does “comprehensive” mean? Including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something. I don’t think anyone involved in Child Passenger Safety would claim to know everything, but I don’t think anyone in any field would claim absolute knowledge. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t know everything about the cosmos, but he’s certainly seen as an expert. Are CPSTs not experts just because they haven’t memorized the LATCH manual or installed a foonf?
Let’s look at “authoritative.” Able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable. Online and in-person, CPSTs use their credentials to explain why people should listen to them. Our training makes us better advocates than the friend who just loves her particular (misused) car seat, or the pediatrician who tells parents to turn their babies forward-facing because their legs touch the seat back. If we’re not trusted, accurate, and true, why are we giving advice, and why should anyone listen?
As a consumer, I’d be turned off if the guy who came to give us an estimate on a new fence today said, “Oh, I do this to help people but I’m not really an expert on fences…” Or if my optometrist said, “Nah, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on eyes. There are ophthalmologists who know more than I do.” Or if my mechanic said, “I have to look up the part number for this. Clearly I’m no expert on fixing cars!”
I go to the fence guy, the eye doctor, the mechanic not because they know everything or are the absolute best in the world, but because they have the skills and training to do what I can’t.
Being a car seat expert doesn’t mean knowing everything. It doesn’t mean that we never have to look things up (in fact, our training specifically tells us that we should look things up). It doesn’t mean we can solve every problem. It doesn’t mean we’ll never run into a situation we haven’t encountered before. It doesn’t mean there aren’t other people in the car seat universe who know more or have more experience than we do.
Being an expert does mean that we know more than the average bear, at least in terms of child passenger safety. It means we’re a reliable source of information that we can use to help make kids safer.
To claim we’re not experts on car seats undermines what we do. Why would a parent trust someone who says, “I’m no expert, but your kid shouldn’t be in a booster seat”? It is our expertise that leads people to seek our advice and to trust what we say. If we claim we’re not experts, where is our credibility?
Somewhat related to this topic… What to do when a tech is clearly not an expert? I just had my third child and the hospital recommended a car seat check, so we had one done just this morning. The tech was actually a security officer at my husband’s job. I went in thinking it was very cool that his employer provides that service. But then she told me that my two rear facers should have their straps ABOVE their shoulders- information that I know to be untrue, and is clearly stated on the stickers on the side of the seat. You wouldn’t even need to read the manual. Now I’m worried that she’s telling other people bad information. I pointed out the sticker to her, I hope it helps.
Like any vocation, you have your experts and you have those who are incompetent. I think the incompetent ones are pretty rare, but there are definitely people who refuse to stay current or even refuse to learn, and just explain things incorrectly. Usually it’s best just to schedule another appointment elsewhere if at all possible. If someone is giving out dangerous advice, it is possible to contact your state transportation agency in charge of child passenger safety or Safe Kids USA and ask if there is a system to report them. It’s never impolite to ask a tech to see their current certification, either, or if they don’t have it, look them up on the Safe Kids technician locator to verify.
Good article Jennie. Some brilliant points, well made!
I am a Vehicle Safety ‘Expert’. I am an engineer who has been impact testing vehicles and car seats for over 10 years. I used to work for a leading UK based road safety test laboratory and conducted their NCAP assessment program, impact test dummy development and ECE R44 Child Restraint certification tests, conducted the impact test data analysis and vehicle inspections as well as gaining a qualification in forensic collision investigation. In 2010 I left to set up on my own as an independent consultant, advising on UK Government and European Union road safety policy, Vehicle and Child Restraint Manufacturers on safety design and help impact test labs design and run impact safety tests. I have recently started my own blogging website to advise on car seat safety.
I say all this not to boast, but to help explain why my Wife goes insane when I struggle to use the word ‘Expert’ when describing myself. There is so much information on this subject that no one person can ‘know it all’ and to claim as much would be to overestimate ones abilities. Human beings have a finite memory.
I believe that I could be referred to as an expert for two important reasons:
1. I know way more than the average person on the subject of vehicle safety and child restraint
2. I know enough to know that I know very little!
Keep up the great work!
Excellent article, Jennie. I don’t often refer to myself as an “expert” – usually I tell people, “I teach car seats.” Even that’s not truly comprehensive or representative; I coordinate a large safety program for a major hospital. But it’s easy and it makes sense to people.
On the other hand, those around me – from my boss to others at my workplace, family and friends – frequently introduce me as, “This is Carrie. She’s our car seat expert.”
Expertise, too, is multifaceted. In my last position, I worked closely with a CPST-I who has ten years of certification on me. In many, many facets, she is “expertier” than me, but if a Radian rolls into a check, she immediately defers to me, as they happen to be an area of expertise for me personally.
(And I worked an event once where a Dad brought in a vehicle with a weird tether setup. After we’d finished teaching him about his RFO, he was pleased as punch to explain the tethering methodology to us – he’d helped engineer it! Who was the expert there?!)
I’ve got some pretty strong opinions on this subject. Let me start by saying that most who know me would not consider me a dyed-in-the-wool feminist. But I think this particular subject does have its roots in feminism or at least how women treat themselves and children. Consider the subject: children. I *do* consider myself an expert in child passenger safety. I’ve actively spent 15 years in the field with my own website, answering questions online, becoming an instructor, making professional contacts, and writing this blog to name some of what I’ve done (I could continue with my resume, but it seems overkill). At what point shouldn’t I call myself an expert? Should I instead use the term know-it-all? I don’t and that’s a jackass of a term.
But we’re dealing with children and children have never had any credibility or standing in society. Who consistently gets the lowest pay? Teachers and daycare workers. We don’t hold our child-related workers in high regard in our society. I’ve read many comments before from techs themselves who say that CPS techs should not charge for their service because it’s a life-saving service *for children*. We’ve long known that people don’t value what they don’t pay for. I firmly believe that women undersell themselves and their knowledge and given that the majority of childcare workers are women, it makes sense.
And so what if I have to look something up in a manual? The day I gave myself permission to forget which seat had a 6 year expiration date vs. a 7 year expiration was the day I started living my life! It was like cleaning off my DVR–so much more random stuff could be filed away. Doctors, university professors, and engineers confer with colleagues all the time and are still considered experts in their fields. A tech who has just taken the class is far from an expert, I’ll give you that. I always tell my classes that they know enough to be dangerous at that point. Many of them are still getting their retractors mixed up and need help with seat belts. Like I tell my dd, you’re not going to be an expert overnight–it takes a while.
You make a lot of good points! Well done!
Very well said, Jennie. 🙂
I agree. I believe the key point is that many certified technicians and advocates are experts in the field of educating parents on how to keep their kids safe in automobiles. Sure, some techs and even instructors will never be experts in practice or by definition. Perhaps they were forced to certify by a supervisor and simply have no passion to keep up-to-date. Or maybe they have only done the bare minimum to stay certified for many years. A few just lack the necessary attitude in listening and talking to caregivers. There are always exceptions.
Many technicians, however, do have what is required to be an expert: Experience, passion, knowledge and the interpersonal skills to convey your knowledge to another person. I can’t say where the threshold is. Maybe it’s 10 years? Maybe if you’ve installed 1000 carseats? No one can say for certain, but if you’ve been instructing parents and caregivers for many years and have a passion to keep current on the latest products and research, then you’re probably an expert!
Yes, there are always people that know more than you do. Many instructors are experts in training technicians. Engineers may be experts in designing carseats or conducting crash testing. Scientists can be experts in research and statistics vital to our profession. It’s good to know these people so you can ask questions or refer people to them on specific topics. But you don’t have to be an expert in those areas to be an expert at teaching a mom or dad how to install and use their carseat correctly!
Ultimately, it’s not rocket science or neurosurgery. And it shouldn’t be. There are plenty of expert technicians who are stay-at-home moms, community service officers, firemen, nurses, injury prevention educators or who work in various other occupations. Some do this as part of their job, others as a hobby or volunteer work. Regardless, when combined with some experience, passion and a friendly attitude, many of us qualify as experts at teaching others how to keep their kids safe in cars.
I think this is a key point.
Passing the class doesn’t automatically make you an expert; some who aren’t currently certified may legitimately be experts.
But, if you ask questions of a CPST you have a higher chance of getting an expert reply than if you ask around your mom play date group in general.
There are passionate advocates who are not currently techs I’d consider experts. There are techs I’d consider not experts in many ways. But another key part is we all have our areas of more or less expertise and can access info to find out the rest or know whom to ask. That’s why networking is important to me as a tech- I know who I can ask about seats for a truck, and who will know what the newest seats out are and have tried them, and have manufacturer contacts to ask when an obscure product question or unusual situation comes up.
So yes I am an expert- I’m an expert at finding the correct info and helping parents access it, at, as Darren says, educating parents on proper use. 🙂