Would you ever imagine a person could emerge alive from car wreckage such as the one you see in the image above?
Could you imagine a child living through the accident that caused this wreckage? Well, in the US, little Hunter Barrett -- just two years old -- did, and he survived thanks to a 'miracle' known as a car seat.
His mum, Kylee Barrett, is sharing the photos of the terrible crash that she and her two young sons emerged from alive, because she wants other mums to learn a valuable and potentially life-saving lesson from it: the importance of keeping young kids in a rear-facing car seat for as long as possible.
“All the doctors keep telling me if Hunter and Kolton would have been any different than they were in their seats, we might not be here today,” said Kylee according to a Yahoo news report.
The accident
Earlier this month, Kylee and her boys were on their way to her older son (age 5) Kolton's school, when she hit black ice, and, avoiding a head-on collision with another car, slid off the road.
Her vehicle flipped, smashing into a tree and crushing two-year-old Hunter's side of the car completely. "We had to be cut out of the truck" said Kylee.
Miraculously, the toddler's only injury was a broken femur, while his brother escaped with just a bump on his head.
What saved them?
It's very clear that what kept these two little boys alive in such a horrible accident, and with minimum injuries, was the way their mum had strapped them in their car seats.
Little Hunter had been in a rear-facing car seat and his big brother Kolton was in his booster seat with a seat belt.
Kylee pleads with others mums: "Please everyone keep your kids rear facing as long as possible! Please don't use the excuse he doesn't like to be rear facing or he's too big!"
“It’s so scary to think if one little thing would have been different I wouldn’t be sitting here holding him,” she replied to well-wishers on Facebook.
Positioning a child face-forward too young is simply not a risk worth taking, says Kylee, according to Yahoo News.
“It’s crazy to think that someone would want their child the other way because their legs are too long or ‘they don’t like being rear facing — they can’t see me.
“Get a mirror. Put a mirror there. They’ll see you just fine.”
For child car seat rules in Singapore, please read this important theAsianparent article. Note that you can be fined by law if you don't follow car seat regulations.
Watch this informative video that shows exactly how and why a rear-facing car seat can save your child's life:
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