I remember trips to the city with my mom. She’d put me in the back seat of the car and we’d head off for a day of shopping in a world that I rarely ever saw, being a country kid surrounded by woods. The hour-long drive was a whole adventure in itself!

I remember playing with my stuffed animals, tucking myself down on the floor of the car and spreading them out over the back seat. I remember getting sleepy and my mom suggesting I lie down on the seat and have a nap.

Yeah – 30 years ago, you could actually do pretty much whatever you wanted in the back seat of a car. I don’t even remember that there were seat belts at all.

These memories came to mind recently when I saw a mom offer to drive some teens home from a soccer game. Her little girl was strapped into her car seat in the back, but the mom had room to take two passengers. The teens climbed in, there was some shifting around…

… and then one teen got out. She looked concerned. With good reason – she’d discovered there wasn’t a seat belt available for her. For some reason, the mom’s seatbelt arrangement to strap in her toddler had taken up two belts, not just one, leaving one person short of that safe strapping.

The situation made me realize a few things:

We’ve come a long way since those days when back-seat seatbelts weren’t used, and today’s kids know that “buckle up” is the rule – and they’ll enforce it themselves, even, refusing to get into a car that doesn’t provide safe traveling.

We’re also not as far along as we’d like to think. There are still plenty of parents out there that don’t know how to properly attach car seats for children or which seat is the right one to use for their child’s size and age.

If you have kids, head on down to your local fire department or police station and ask them to double-check that your child’s car seat is properly installed. They’ll do it, and often free of charge. Ask them whether your child has the right seat to keep her safe, too. You can even go one step further after your car seat arrangement has been given two thumbs up and install extra safety accessories like a Seat Snug seat belt cinch.

It’s worth it – and you won’t have any children refusing to drive in your car because it isn’t safe.