It seems that every year we always hear some news about how car seats are becoming more safe and technologically advanced, but now experts that have put actual science behind their findings are speaking out.
Now when your best friend Sally shares an image on Facebook you can let her know the actual truth. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “the most dangerous thing that U.S. children do as part of daily life is ride in a car.”
Before these findings came out, the previous advice was for kids to stay in rear facing car seats until they are two. But now with research that has spanned the last ten years, they are advising for people to leave them in as long as possible.
So this can range from kids from under the age of two of course but also as old as four. According to ABC News, Kerry Chausmer, who is the director of certification at Safe Kids said that:
“Every month that a child rides rear-facing a little bit longer gives more time for the head, neck and spine to develop. And that’s really why we want kids to ride rear-facing.”
The complete guidelines say:
“Children should ride in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible, up to the limits of their car safety seat. This will include virtually all children under 2 years of age and most children up to age 4.
Once they have been turned around, children should remain in a forward-facing car safety seatup to that seat’s weight and length limits. Most seats can accommodate children up to 60 pounds or more.”
They go on:
“When they exceed these limits, child passengers should ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they can use a seat belt that fits correctly.
Once they exceed the booster limits and are large enough to use the vehicle seat belt alone, they should always use a lap and shoulder belt.
All children younger than 13 years should be restrained in the rear seats of vehicles for optimal protection.”
Dr. Ben Hoffman who is the chairperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics also said that he understand’s children’s want to graduate to a big kid seat, but it’s important to stand strong on this subject.
Speaking of how a child’s car seat can save lives, this was the exact thing that happened to this mom all due to a text message to her husband.
Sometimes you just have to pay attention to the details. Moms are the best when it comes to this and sometimes dads just don’t see the whole picture. That’s what happened in this story when Rebecca Tafaro Boyer saw that there was something off about her child’s car seat. Her husband had sent a text of their baby all strapped in and she noticed something about the straps.
Many people would think she was “nagging” but this detail saved her child’s life. She posted on Facebook later that day with the story.
She said:
“Friends, let’s have a quick chat about something that some of my family members think makes me a super annoying overprotective mom – car seat safety.
So today, my first day back from maternity leave, I demanded that my husband send me hourly updates and recaps on how baby William was handling his first day away from mommy. This afternoon around 2:15, I got a text from my hubby during their trip to Walgreens.
My nagging wife reply was to correct William’s position in the car seat – the straps were too loose and the chest clip was way too low. And because I know my husband, I’m sure that he laughed at me and rolled his eyes before tightening the car seat and fixing the chest clip.”
Then the unthinkable happened and her husband and child were in an accident. Her post continued:
“At 2:30 my phone rang, my husband’s panicked voice came through the line, “Honey, we had a car wreck. We are fine, but the car is going to be totaled.”
The boys were less than three miles from our house when a woman pulled into oncoming traffic to try and make a quick left turn. David just didn’t have enough time to stop – it could have happened to anyone.
He slammed on the brakes at nearly 50 miles an hour before colliding with the front passenger side door of her SUV. My precious little bundle of joy was so well restrained in his car seat, THAT HE DIDN’T EVEN WAKE UP”
Her husband didn’t have the same luck as their baby and had a broken foot and dislocated a few toes. But the real win was their baby didn’t suffer anything and it was all for Rebecca’s quick thinking.
Her post went justifiably viral and was shared over 40k times. She concluded her post with:
“Thank you all for reading and for being so vigilant about the safety of your children! I love all of the women who are tagging their husbands. Feel free to share if you think that this post will help educate someone you love in protecting their little miracles!”
We are just happy everyone is safe and sound and there was no tragedies at the end of this story. So if you have kids in car seats, make sure they are strapped in properly so you never have the opposite of this story.
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