seat belts

A friend at work just told me a horrifying story that happened to her and her son over the weekend.

The family was driving on the highway, her husband was driving the car, she was in the passenger seat and her 4 year old son and 3 year old daughter were in car seats behind them.

Suddenly, her husband noticed when he looked back in the mirror, that their son had accidentally wrapped the shoulder strap of the car seat around his neck and it was strangling him. It had locked and he couldn’t move and his face was turning red. He wasn’t screaming or making any noise, she thinks because he either thought he would get in trouble, or just because he was in shock.

My friend turned around and tried to free him, but the belt was locked and wouldn’t budge. They pulled over on the side of the road and tried to free him, but realized the only way to do it was to cut the belt. Then, they panicked because, “WHO KEEPS SCISSORS IN THEIR CAR?”

Luckily, their car came with an emergency kit, so they scrambled to get it, found a pair of scissors in it and cut him free. All the while, he was turning more and more red.

He ended up being fine, but obviously, my friend is still upset over the whole incident and told me. “Just make sure you have scissors in your car.”

It’s a good suggestion. I would have never thought about it. I mean, who would? Seat belts are supposed to protect us, right? Even if you tell your kids not to play with them, they sit back there, with nothing to do, they get bored, anything could happen.

I decided to look this up to see how common it was. Apparently, more common than I thought.

I’m not trying to scare anyone, but I figure a lot of parents read this blog and if I could make one person aware to lock the seat belts of the cars before putting your car seat in or to disengage them somehow, it would be worth it. You can read more about it here.

I’m not one of those moms who scares easily, but I could TOTALLY see this happening with my curious daughter. It’s definitely not something I ever thought about until this morning. It’s something so simple to prevent from happening. Hopefully, I will never have to hear this terrifying story again.

Apr. 2 2012
#parenting #toddler #seat belt strangulation #safety
32 notes

Notes

  1. jbugc6182 reblogged this from ilovebean and added:
    Scary thought about kiddos and their seat belts, parents read!
  2. yesterdayschild reblogged this from ilovebean and added:
    Definitely worth knowing
  3. darthmamaa reblogged this from tinalouise22
  4. tinalouise22 reblogged this from ilovebean
  5. mommytothemax reblogged this from littleboystolemyheart and added:
    Wow. Never would’ve thought of that happening. Crazy. Parents be aware.
  6. nosmokewithoutpryor said: oh my god. i never EVER would have thought of that. that is terrifying!!!!
  7. lazydad said: Yikes! That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever heard! I can see it happening, especially with toddlers fiddling around with the belt. Thanks for sharing.
  8. marleypants reblogged this from ilovebean and added:
    Who would have ever thought?? But I will be putting together a little emergency kit for my glove box, which will include...
  9. wheremygreengrassgrows said: crazy scary!
  10. ilovebean posted this