I care about my child's safety more than you care about yours...

if you choose not to extended rear-face your child in their car seat. Its as simple as that. The law says children can be in a forward-facing car seat at 1 year and 20lbs but it has been proven that children are much safer in a rear-facing car seat until they reach the seat limit, which is usually 30lbs. There are no added benefits of forward facing. I have heard lots of excuses for it like..."they are bored", "I want to be able to interact with them", "I want the air conditioning to reach them", and blah, blah, blah. None of those reasons are valid. My son can see much more in his large rear-facing seat looking out the side and rear windows than he could staring at the dashboard in a forward-facing seat. If your car is cool from the air conditioning then your child will be cool facing backwards. I sing to Michael, talk to him, point out things he can see, etc. As for their legs being squished(another common excuse), Michael weighs 28lbs and is 33 1/2 inches tall and fits comfortably with lots of leg room in his seat. If you get the proper car seat there should be no problem with your child fitting in it. I read an article about car seat safety once and one quote really stuck out to me: "Broken leg, cast. Broken neck, casket." Think about that. They are not that expensive. Ours cost $150 and should last him until he is 10 years old. I don't see that as a valid excuse either. As a parent I feel that any price is worth it for something that will keep Michael safe.

Here is some info from CPS Safety . This is an organization dedicated to care seat safety. All of their information is thoroughly researched and from credible sources.

 Rear-facing - Unmatched Safety

Rear-facing is the safest position the child can ride in.   It is strongly recommended that all children stay rear-facing beyond the minimum requirements of 1 year and 20 lbs. Children should not be turned forward-facing until they reach the maximum rear-facing limits of a convertible seat (that allows rear-facing to at least 30 lbs).  These limits are either the maximum rear-facing weight limit or when the top of their head is within one inch of the top of the seat shell, whichever comes first.  While most parents are aware that they must keep their children rear-facing "until they are AT LEAST 1 year old AND 20 lbs", very few are told that there are significant safety benefits when a child remains rear-facing as long as the seat allows.  For most children, rear-facing can and should continue well into the second year of life.  

A few quotes from their site:

Rear-facing CRs provide the best protection from injury for any child that can fit in one.
- SafetyBeltSafe USA technical encyclopedia, written by Kathleen Weber, retired Director of the Child Passenger Protection Research Program in the University of Michigan Medical School

---

...a child should remain rear-facing for as long as possible...even beyond their first birthday, increasing their protection until they are 30 to 35 lbs.
- Dr. Michael Sachs, Pediatrician and Child Passenger Safety Expert

---

...for optimal protection, the child should remain rear facing until reaching the maximum weight for the car safety seat, as long as the top of the head is below the top of the seat back
- American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement

---

 A child should stay rear-facing for as long as possible
- Flaura Koplin Winston, MD, PhD, principal investigator of Partners for Child Passenger Safety, a research collaboration between The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Company.

---

 Basically, the longer a child can ride rear-facing, the better protected his or her spinal cord is in the event of a collision.�
- Joe Colella, Former Child Passenger Safety Training Manager for the National SAFE KIDS Campaign

 

These passages link to the original articles.

Please check out all the information on this great website. Do your research before you make your decision. Being stubborn on this issue can risk your child's life. I am not writing this to judge anyone or offend anyone. If you choose to ignore straight facts about car seat safety and forward-face you child at the minimum limits then you don't care about their safety as much as you should.