I am going there...

So there are some hills I will die on as a parent...The two biggies are car seat safety and health and wellness of my kids. I am a HUGE, avid researcher on all things kid related. Before I make a decision I have probably sat on the Internet, read a lot books, talked to some really smart Moms or well researched people, prayed and so on. I do not really make flippant decisions. My decisions are backed and I have documented research to prove my point.

So here in lays why I am going there....I have been asked over and over and over questions about why I do the things I do with my kids. Why our family is a bit different then others are. I am not a conventional Mom that follows one particular system or model. I take different ideas from various styles and make my own style. Different is not bad. I have never been a conformist and I really don't think I will. It just is not my personality. Also I realize more and more I am not the mainstream Mom. All these things that I have done for the last 4 years. That were not in the mainstream but slowly but surely coming to be mainstream...I am so thankful all the different things get publicity and make others think...

Anyway, I have always said you cannot put a price tag on safety and most important car seat safety. So here is where I am going.

So let me go into a dialogue I had at Bunko this week. A friend has twins a few months younger then Easton. She is needing to get new car seats b/c her 2 only go up to 40 lbs. She does not want to do a booster. Which I wholeheartedly agree with. Jon and I joke that if we could keep my 2 harnessed till 18 yrs old we would do it...5 pt harness is by far the safest...Anyway I digress. So she is not wanting to do a booster but can't afford to buy 2 car seats at $200 a pop for a seat that goes up to 65-80lbs. I told her about the Graco Nautilus which I have been looking at. It is a car seat that converts to a booster down the line. So another lady chimes in, you know how easy it is to use a booster. Blah blah....for her it is convenience. It is by far more convenient to have your kid jump into a booster then to securely harness them. Let me tell ya something...If I EVER got into a car accident and either 1 of my kids was in a booster and GOD FORBID something happened to them you know the guilt I would feel. You cannot put a price tag on safety. I would much rather throw down a couple hundred bucks to have my kid living, breathing on their own then it to be a bit convenient for me to have them hop in and pull the seat belt over their shoulder.....Now I know what you are thinking, Melissa you are going way overboard and being overly dramatic. Maybe a tad. But have I made a point. Is there truth in what I am saying. Now I am in this place where Easton is technically old enough now that he is over 4 years old to ride in a booster and he is nearly 40 lbs. Which they have to be both 4 years and 40 lbs before they ride in one. I will give him probably another year and then reassess to figure out if I even go there or not....I have met quite a few Moms who have their schoolage kid still 5 pt harnessed. But to me this is common knowledge. B/c I researched it but to some people they have no idea they have the option to keep their child harnessed. That is why I took the time to research my car seats and talked to moms with older kids who still harnessed.

I have also watched WAY TOO many youtube videos on car seat safety that just make you cringe and cry and cry.

If I have not scared you away there is a great post that someone wrote on MckMama 's blog. Here is what MckMama says about her....Laura Bower, a super sweet, generous friend who happens to be a car seat safety activist and the executive director of the Kyle David Miller Foundation

Here is a little snip it she wrote before on the blog
"Sometimes we can almost get into competition as parents. Well I breastfed Billy until he was 2 years old, no 3, no until he self-weaned at 4. Yes, well I cloth diapered to keep Sally's bottom chemical free. Yes but we only buy organic food/clothing/cleaning products. It can become obsessive to try to stay current with the latest guidelines and try to follow the vaccination debate. There are many facets to this and it is all done in the name of doing our best for our children. But there is one area where sadly many parents seem happy to just get by, and the irony is that it is probably the most dangerous of situations that we put our children in.....daily. What I'm talking about is when we put our children into a vehicle. Vehicle crashes are the number one killer of children ages 1 and up, above all diseases. And I'm here to share with you about keeping your children safe as it regards car seats in vehicles."

Want to read the rest of Laura's amazingly informative post about car seat safety? Please click here! Then click here to read about Kyle Miller. When I read the story about Kyle Miller a few years ago this is what got me so passionate about car seat safety. Both my kids stayed rear facing way past 1 yr of age. It is by far the safest. Now people will say, but what about their legs being folded, blah blah. It is by far better to have a broken leg if you are in a car accident then a broken neck b/c their bones are so soft and not quite matured. Now the AAP recommends till the age of 2. So I am not as quaky as you thought I was now am I....