Juice Box Jungle: Are YOU a Safety Nut?

This month's sponsored post on Juice Box Jungle is child safety. Am I a safety nut? This is an interesting question. In most instances, no I'm not. I mean, let's review:

At not even 8 weeks, wonder Mom here put Chunky Monkey in a swing, not strapped in. Why would I strap him in? He couldn't even sit up, so he sure wasn't going to fall out, right? Um, wrong. Review this post for a refresher.

Or, how about the time I nearly catapulted his tiny little body through the air when I slipped on ice in the mall parking lot? Granted, he WAS strapped into the infant seat, so no harm came, but still.

Let's not forget the time he tumbled head first off the couch. Ooops.

Now clearly none of these instances have scarred Chunky Monkey. Every day, he gets bolder, and climbs something higher. He loves standing on top of the coffee table and dancing. One day he pushed a chair out from the dining room table, climbed on it, got onto the table, and then the little weirdo crawled onto his high chair tray and then INTO the high chair! He climbs the baby gate, onto the back of the couch. He is NOT afraid of stairs, even though he's taken a few tumbles. At my parents house two weeks ago, my Dad climbed a ladder, and then shimmied on to the roof to clean the gutters. No joke, Chunky scaled that ladder to the top in less than 10 seconds. Yes, we knew what he was doing, and we were standing right with him. We DID stop him from trying to get on the roof.

He earns things like this:

by doing this:

and this:

I sort of view these (insane) things as part of being a boy, and part of growing up. I want him to have fun, I want him to experience things. If I keep him in a bubble, and never let him take risks, he won't grow up to be confident. Sure, he gets scraped knees and I'm POSITIVE at some point we'll have an ER trip for some sort of broken bone or concussion. And it's not that I look forward to it, but I think it's inevitable. I can't watch him every single second, and I want him to gain independence. So, I think I'm fairly lax when it comes to most things.

Now, when it comes to car seat safety, I am a stickler. I am the car seat Nazi. Ask any of my friends or family. To say that I am a firm believer in extended rear facing is an understatement. I am in fact, adamant about it. Most laws state that to forward face in a car seat, a child must be at LEAST 1 year and at LEAST 20 pounds. Many people assume this means when their child hits that, they should automatically turn their child forward facing. This is false. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends a minimum of 2 years rear facing, but even more, that the child should remain RF'ing until the limits of the seat have been reached.

WHY am I so passionate about it? We have very good family friends who lost their daughter and their grandson in a car accident. She was driving home on I80 from Omaha to Lincoln. She was a teacher here in Omaha, but lived in Lincoln. It was right before Thanksgiving. She hit a patch of ice, and her car spun out. Her brand new Saab with front and side impact air bags. Her son, recently a year old, was in the middle of the back seat, in his forward facing car seat. Her car spun out and was hit. It crossed the center median, and was hit again. She was killed on impact, and so was her son.

I will never, EVER forget my Mom's description of seeing their bodies at the funeral. It was an open casket. She said you could tell she had been in an accident. To be respectful, I will leave it at that. But her son? There wasn't a scratch on him. He looked as if he was sleeping. Why? Because his car seat protected him. Since he was forward facing, his body was slammed forward with brutal force, which snapped his neck. This is referred to as internal decapitation. His fingers were curled around his Mom's, and he looked like he was sleeping.

But, he wasn't sleeping. He was dead. And sadly, it could have been prevented. Rear facing your child's car seat is the safest option. In fact, it is FIVE times safer than forward facing. Take 30 seconds to watch this video, and you'll see why.



So, car seat safety is something I am a stickler on. Chunky Monkey is BIG. He's over 30lbs and over 35 inches, yet we still Rear Face. In fact, if he outgrows his current seat (RF'ing) before 2, we will be upgrading to a different seat to KEEP him RF'ing longer. If I had an itty bitty of a kid, they'd be rear facing until 4 or 5. I'm laid back about most things when it comes to parenting, but this is something I will NOT budge on. He will NOT ride in a car forward facing. I will NOT turn him forward any time soon. And if you think I'm a freak... that's ok. But I pray that you never have to sit through your child's funeral.

**Please Note** Evenflo has just released the Momentum 65 DLX Convertible Car Seat, with features that help make safety, installation and use as easy as possible for parents.  Evenflo and JuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post, and talk about what child safety means to me and my family.  While my post DOES have to do with car seat safety, I chose this particular topic, as it is near and dear to my heart. All thoughts in this blog post is mine, and mine alone.