Car seats and other what nots...

I have always been perplexed by the general argument "Well, my parent did...AND I turned out 'just fine". Beautiful. I am impressed. Would you like a round of applause? My mom made some really uncool decisions as far as my rearing but I am not going to run around bragging about them. While many of these statements drive me to sheer insanity. The one that get's my grit that absolute most is that about car seat safety and extended rear facing. I mean, after all, it is only your kids safety...if not there life at risk. I am sure if someone told you that you could lose up to 500% more weight by drinking a cup of lemon water every morning that you would take up stock in the lemon business but someone tells you that it is 500% safer for your child to be rear facing until the age of two and suddenly they are a "pushy bitch" who should mind their own business? Well, sorry for showing an ounce of care and concern about your child. I may be old school in that nature but I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and if not a village the care and compassion from people other than yourself. Here are my basic arguments for ERF 1. It is 500% safer 2. There is this absolutely HORRIFIC thing called internal decapitation that occurs when an infants head is thrown forward violently when they are forward faced too soon. Don't believe me? Google it. Or better yet...watch this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8 Still not sold on the idea?? www.joelsjourney.com No parent or grandparent should EVER be forced to tell this story. And to think...it could have been prevented by keeping the car seat rear facing. 3. In Scandanavian countries, children are frequently rear faced until 3 or 4 and have a substantially lower infant/toddler accident involved death rate when statistically compared to the US. 4 A secondary study of 870 automobile accidents in the US showed that children rear facing past the age of two were 4 times less likely to be seriously injured in an accident. FOUR TIMES. 5. Let's go back to internal decapitation. Children ARE NOT "pint sized adults". They are children who a physiologically less developed than adults. Their necks cannot withstand the force of most automobile accidents. 6. There has not EVER and I do mean EVER REPORTED been a case of a child breaking a leg in an automobile accident because they were rear facing. And I suppose if there were a million of them I would still deem my child's neck and spinal cord "more important" than their legs. But, hey, that's just me and I may be weird... Yea, I know the tone of this probably came off bitchy but I am not much into beating around the bush or sugar coating things for peoples ignorance. Have a nice day folks.