Resources

Mirrors

Posted in: How to Keep Your Kids Happy (and safe)

Distracted driving.001It’s best not to use a mirror for two reasons. First, the mirror is a risk to the baby’s face (it fails the Ouch Test.) Second, and more importantly, the mirror is also a risk to everyone in the car, because it encourages the driver to take her eyes off the road to look at the baby. Driver distraction is a real problem, as is evident from the number of crashes caused by cell phone usage or texting. In the second that you take your eyes off the road to look at your cute baby you could miss avoiding a crash.

Many parents worry about not being able to see their child in the car. But no parent can or should watch a child 24/7. Just as you can’t watch the baby while you are sleeping, so too you can’t watch the baby while you are driving. Besides, what’s the mirror going to show you that you don’t already know? It will show you that the baby’s crying—but you already know that, since you hear the baby crying! Or it will show you that the baby is sleeping–but you already know that because the car is very quiet. Are you worried that the baby spit up and is choking? Gravity will take care of getting the spit up away from the baby’s mouth. Are you worried that the baby god forbid stopped breathing? As a pediatrician, Alisa can tell you that this would be an exceptionally rare occurrance in a healthy baby. If your baby has medical needs that require close monitoring, there needs to be an adult in the vehicle to tend to the baby, so the driver can tend to the road.

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