to bring you an important message.
I rarely, if ever, deviate from my book-related posts. However, I came across this video that I feel should be viewed by anyone who has a young child (or is the caretaker of young children). It's all about carseats and safety. And it's about a beautiful young boy who passed away on May 29th, 2005. Please take a few minutes and click on this link.
Les,
ReplyDeleteI can't view videos (stupid dial-up), but I have to tell you what I saw, today. Usually, kiddo gets out of school early but he had after-school detention (for reading a novel instead of doing his classwork - that's my boy!) and I got the time wrong, so I ended up sitting in the parking lot for two hours. Out of about 300 vehicles that passed me, I'd say maybe 30 drivers were using their safety belts.
The real stunner was when one of the Driver's Ed cars pulled into the lot. The kids got out, teacher walked around and got into the driver's seat . . . and pulled away without his safety belt. Do I want this man teaching my son?????
Supposedly, Mississippi's "safety belt compliance" has gone up dramatically since they began enforcing seat belt use. I'm not seeing it. And, I still see parents of small children holding kids in their laps, letting them climb around on the seats. Till people start to understand the physics of car collisions and start watching out for their children, I'm sure we'll see many, many more tragedies.
Okay, I'm done ranting. You may swat me down, now. :)
Nancy, I'll rant along with you. I was practically shouting at a driver the other day who had a small child in the backseat, not only NOT in a car seat, but not buckled up! ARGH!! I really hate stupid people, but I can't begin to tell how I feel about stupid people who put their children at risk.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this video is NOT about negligent parents. Just the opposite. They thought they were doing the right thing. Go to this website to read more. I wish you could see the video if only for the beautiful song by Nickelback and the beautiful, beautiful little boy (who, by the way, died the day after our Rachel).
What a beautiful little boy. I'm thankful you shared this video because our 5 year old grandson recently went to a booster seat. I will be sharing this with his mom. My hats off to those parents who are willing to speak out in behalf of other children.
ReplyDeleteOh, my gosh, I have tears pouring down my face. So much for taking Will out to eat, at least for a little bit. What a beautiful child and a horrible tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI know it's got to be upsetting to you to see parents leaving their children unbuckled because you know what it's like to lose a child (doesn't matter what age). It drives me nuts. I couldn't have counted the times I had to pull over, admonish child, buckle a child back up, pull over, say "You MUST stay buckled", buckle them back up, etc., when mine were little. It's worth the time and annoyance. I wish people understood that. So sad that even a car seat can fail.
Booklogged - Wasn't he an adorable little boy? And what a sweet big sister. How terribly tragic for that family. I feel a strange connection since it happened the day after our daughter was killed. Perhaps Rachel is looking out for Kyle now? He would have been about the same age as Rachel's daughter (our granddaughter), who is now 4 1/2 years old. I'm glad you'll be passing the video information on to others.
ReplyDeleteNancy - I know. I know. I was the same way when I watched it. I came upon by accident (went from Bellezza's blog to one of her friends' who had it posted on their blog). I'm weird but I take these sort of things as signs. Rod thinks I'm a goof, but I think there was a reason for me to see the video.