A reality check

Today I sat down to play with some photos and checked a few blogs first and saw Di's post. I got very side tracked and taken in. Here is what Di shared on her blog today.

The story of Ava Rosemeyer a beautiful full of life three year old who accidentally got stuck in the family car on a hot day in summer, the heat overcame her and her family found her in the car, she passed away in hospital two days later. This was a tragic accident, but the Rosemeyer's loss shone a light on something I never even considered a danger. To share this story is a way we can honour Ava's memory and make other families aware of the danger.
While at Sheye's blog I noticed a link to another family who had lost a daughter, Isabelle Broadhead, she also died at age 3 in a car accident. Isabelle died because of outdated car restraint safety laws, and after much campaigning they are to be changed in March 2010.

Here is Isabelle's story.
Isabelle died as a result of an injury sustained by her adult belt in a low impact car accident. She was seated in the rear left middle seat of our people mover.  She was seated in a high backed booster seat and it utilised the three point lap and sash belt.  It was fitted as directed.  This injury was Isabelle's only injury and had she not sustained this injury she would be here today. Her gift to you (amongst others) is the knowledge that children under five or 18kg should always remain in a five point harness. Isabelle outgrew her 0-4 seat- weighing 20.5kg and being 105cm tall. We knew she wasn't safe in her baby seat and wrongly assumed Isabelle had to move to a booster.  The label on her booster stated it was safe for 14-26kg. We believed that the Australian Standards were the toughest in the world and that this was what was safe for her.

There is not a single seat on the Australian market that has an in-built five point harness for a child of Isabelle's size.  Had she been using a seat such as the Maxi Rider she would have used a harness in conjunction with an adult belt.  We were unaware that the Maxi Rider even existed when we bought her booster.  We believe these seats need to be better advertised and parents also need an education program in the use of child restraints. We believe that parents are generally not well educated on the use of a harness and booster.  We believe that much more needs to be done to stop this happening to our children. We are hoping that only specialty baby shops will be able to sell Child Seats in the near future as major department stores don't have trained fitters. 

Safe'n'Sound (Britax) sells a booster in the USA that holds a child up to 36kg and it has the in-built harness (as seen in Maxirider and 0-4 seats).   This is the kind of seat we need on the Australian market so that children aged 3-5 that are too big for their 0-4 seats can stay in a five point harness. Please visit her website for more details.


Di also share what she wishes she knew to be able to keep her little boy safe and still here And my message is to make sure your children have their immunizations up-to-date. If I had known about the Meningococcal Vaccine Mark would be with us still today!

So while heading to the hair dressers this afternoon with a heavy heart from all I have processed I thought a lot and I came up with this. The best way I think I can honour these stories I have heard is to share them and pass on my thoughts. Ava's mum Sheye no longer has her little girl, and she posted here about not having many photos of her with Ava. Di no longer has her little boy, and she treasures those photos she has of him and of the two of them. Hilarie will not be there to share in her little boy's life as he grows up and we are trying to create as many photos and video memories as we can. They all have the same point, mum's and their precious children. Girls take note, as Sheye said there are things she never would have done before, like post a photo of herself on her blog,  MAKE the effort to get into photos with your kids, they don't care if your hair isn't perfect or there a few more wrinkles than you would like, they just want to see you. You sharing time with them recording life moments, moments they will treasure because we never know what tomorrow will bring.

Tonight I sat with my kids and ate dinner while watching Toy Story. What it is all about. (Note: daddy was not home or he would have been right there too).
Please share these stories with everyone you know and it may just save someones life.
I hope I have done these beautiful mothers' stories justice.