Safely Unsafe

Someone emailed me this video yesterday and some of you, I forwarded it to already. I rarely forward emails, I rarely read emails that are forwarded to me. But this one just stuck out in my inbox so I naively clicked on the icon and watched the video. I watched it 3 times in a row in complete silence, jaw dropped, teary eyed.

There is a part of me that silently hopes that this is some cruel joke, a hoax, that there is not a Mom out there who actually lost her precious son in this way. That there is not a little girl who lost her best friend.

I have no clue who this person is and I'll probably never meet this person or correspond with this person but yet I still cry for her. I can't even for a split second imagine the immense pain she must be feeling for the loss of her son and the nature of his passing I'm certain to this day haunts her, it haunts me. To not have warning. To just be going along your day with no worries and within seconds the course of your life to be changed forever by one irresponsible person.

It is also very disturbing to know that this little boy was placed in a car seat that US Government standards classified as safe for him, but in reality, it wasn't the safest. We have these car seat manufacturers out there advertising their products as the best thing for your child, but how can it be the best thing when Kyle, 40 lbs just like Graco outlines for their booster, couldn't survive this car accident. Yes, yes I know, the cars seat belts came undone, but if he had been in a 5 point harness he would still be here today and I wouldn't be writing this post. So really, Graco was wrong, the seat isn't safest for a 40 lbs. child. It's all so confusing. And after hearing this, it's all so infuriating.

I bought Camille a car seat that was a little pricey and because I bought this car seat a lot people questioned my decision and accused me of being materialistic and extravagant. But for me, there was no price you could put on my child's safety. My car seat goes up to 65lbs. and 40 inches and believe me, my daughter will be chained to a seat until 80lbs. It also says it exceeds US Safety standards.

Of course, her seat will only work if installed correctly, which if you have ever tried to actually read the directions these seats come with, that is an impossible task. Lucky for me, I got certified as a car seat inspector for my old place of employment so I really didn't need the instructions. It scares me to think if I didn't know what I know would she really be safe? Would I have been able to decipher the jargon that they called instructions?

This worlds a scary place for our kids. It's a scary place for us raising our kids and all we want to do is what's right for them, that's all this family wanted to do. She says in Kyle's memory, she wants everyone to be aware of her situation and to honor his memory, I post this tonight.