So if you’re like me, you might not fully understand the concept of a bucket list. A list of things to do before you kick the bucket sounds all well and good, but I worry that if I completed everything on the list would my time be up?
So just to be on the safe side I have added a couple of extra things which are near impossible for me to achieve, but I can still aim high can’t I !? 
One of them is to go to the moon, it’s possible but highly unlikely I’d have time between school drop off and pick up. Other things are easier, for example, I’d love to See polar bears in their natural habitat ( if they get to keep it long enough) and as a child car seat advisor, I’d love to design a car seat that is incredibly safe in any collision, without compromising on comfort for my children. It willl have great storage and gadgets to keep them entertained but most importantly impossible to fit incorrectly in any car.
I’m “anything for an easier life!” After all, it’s hectic enough without me making it any more difficult for myself. I quite enjoy those gadgets that makes my life simpler and gives me more “me” time. Who doesn’t?
In a way I suppose we all do, otherwise no one would have spent millions and then made millions designing dishwashers and vacuum cleaners. And, in more recent years clearly the development of the internet for online shopping has saved many families from hours of pointless stomping around large shopping centres.
It’s a bit like those programmes on TV where someone has a clever invention that was designed with you in mind? Or that homeware shop where you stand in awe thinking “how have I survived without that?” Or like my husband, who can put up a very good argument as to why we need “that” IT gadget in our lives.
Everyone’s inventions ,including mine, starts with a gaping hole in the market, a need or a solution.
Mind the gap!
The gap in the car seat market is that no one yet has designed one seat that fits into all cars, for all children without the safety compromise – some may claim they have but when push comes to shove (literally) it won’t fit into every car.
Being needy? Or nerdy!
We constantly see parents who want the car seat that’s quick and hassle free, the one that there’s no arguing about between partners, and the one the children will love to jump into on every journey. This doesn’t mean putting a cartoon character cover on it, it means making the most safe and comfortable travelling armchair in the World.
Solutions?
Surely this lies with the designers and the European safety bods? Surely they work together with the car seat fitters? By that I mean, people like me who see the common mistakes and misunderstandings about how so many parents don’t quite get it right. Who know it could be better. That isn’t happening yet …. but it will.
I’d like to go out on a limb and say that part of the need and the solution is people power. It isn’t until parents,grandparents and carers make a stand together and say enough is enough, that we will see rapid change in how seriously we take our child’s safety in a car.
A car seat is an essential safety product not a nursery accessory, or a fashion statement. That’s why it’s on my bucket list!
Julie Dagnall
Director
Child Seat Safety Limited