Students in the South Tippah Pre-K program had some special guests on Monday, Nov. 2: Mississippi state troopers. The troopers read to the children, let them explore their patrol vehicles and talked with them about why car seats and booster seats matter, according to a post from the South Tippah School District Pre-K.
“A big shoutout to some friends of Pre-K for stopping by today!” the program wrote on its Facebook page Monday afternoon, thanking the troopers for taking time out of their day to visit.
South Tippah Pre-K community helper visits
Monday’s visit follows a string of community helper visits for the district’s youngest students. On Thursday, Oct. 29, the Pre-K welcomed crews from Tippah Electric Power Association as part of Community Helper Week. The lineworkers brought a miniature set of power lines and talked with the children about:
What to do if they ever see a power line down
Why they should never touch a power line
How line crews do their work on the lines
Visits like these give young children a friendly first meeting with the people who keep the community safe, whether that’s a trooper on the highway or a lineworker restoring power after a storm.
Car seat and booster seat reminders for parents
The troopers’ car seat message is one parents in Tippah County hear often for a reason. Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for young children, and a correctly used car seat greatly lowers the risk of serious injury.
Mississippi law requires anyone driving a child under age 4 in a passenger vehicle to properly use a child passenger restraint that meets federal safety standards. State law also covers booster seats for older children who are still too small for an adult seat belt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offers these general guidelines:
Rear-facing: Keep babies and toddlers rear-facing as long as possible, until they reach the top height or weight limit of the seat.
Forward-facing with a harness: Once children outgrow the rear-facing seat, move them to a forward-facing seat with a harness and tether.
Booster seat: After outgrowing the harness seat, children should ride in a booster until the adult seat belt fits properly, which is usually when a child is about 4 feet 9 inches tall.
Back seat: Children under 13 should ride in the back seat.
Free help checking a car seat
Many car seats are installed incorrectly without parents knowing it. NHTSA’s website, nhtsa.gov, has a car seat finder and a locator for certified child passenger safety technicians who can check a seat’s installation, often at no cost. Parents can also check for recalls by registering their child’s seat with the manufacturer.
Congratulations to the South Tippah Pre-K students and staff on another fun learning day, and thank you to the troopers and Tippah Electric crews who took the time to visit.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
