Protective mom’s text on how to correctly buckle their son into car seat might have saved his life

Some moms are very protective of their children, especially very young children who aren’t able to make choices for themselves. These moms sometimes hover over their children, watching over their children’s every move, ensuring their wellbeing.

Sometimes people don’t like the idea of having a helicopter parent, but if it manages to save children’s lives, maybe it’s not so bad.

For Rebecca Tafaro Boyer, even at the expense of being called a “super annoying protective mom,” she demanded that her husband David update her hourly on their son, William, according to her Facebook post.

It was her first day back at work after her maternity leave, and she wasn’t sure how her son would handle his first day without her.

At around 2:15 that day, she received a text from her husband, during their trip to Walgreens, and attached with that text was a picture of their son, sitting on his car seat in the back the seat.

Boyer replied to her husband’s text and nagged him to correct their son’s position in the car seat. She wrote that the straps were too loose and the chest clip was way too low.

And knowing her husband, she wrote, he was probably rolling his eyes as he fixed their son’s position and the car seat straps and chest clip.

Then, 15 minutes later, Boyer received a phone call from her husband, sounding quite panicked.

“‘Honey, we had a car wreck. We are fine, but the car is going to be totaled,'” he told her, according to the Facebook post.

Boyer’s husband and her son were less than three miles from their house when a woman tried to make a left turn after pulling into oncoming traffic. Boyer’s husband didn’t have enough time to stop—he slammed on the brakes at 50 mph and ended up colliding with the woman’s SUV.

The good news was, her son was fine—he was strapped in his car seat so safely that the crash didn’t even wake him up.

Boyer’s husband didn’t do so well, his foot was broken in three different places along with three dislocated toes.

Both Boyer’s husband and their son went to the hospital to get checked, and she said her husband would go to the hospital later to make sure that he didn’t require surgery.

Regarding what happened, she wrote: “The car is a loss, but cars can be replaced—my boys can’t.”

Boyer then added on the post regarding car seat safety and baby harnessing.

“All infants should be REAR FACING in the back seat until at least the age of two and snuggly secured in a 5 POINT HARNESS in a car seat base that does not move more than one inch in any direction,” she said.

Boyer said she was extremely thankful that her husband took the extra minute to secure their son on the car seat as per her suggestion because couldn’t imagine what would happen if he didn’t.

“I truly believe that the reason my family is at home sitting on the couch with a pair of crutches instead of down at the hospital is because of my annoying nagging mom voice,” she said.

The Aftermath

After she posted the Facebook post, she received numerous positive messages.

“I am absolutely astounded by the outpouring love and support that y’all have sent to my little family and me,” she wrote, in an update to the previous post.

She also added that her husband, who suffered the most out of the incident with his dislocated toes, didn’t require surgery.

She thanked the people who commented for taking the time to read her post, and that it was important to be able to, as mothers and parents, to keep their children safe.

And as for the car seat, Boyer and her husband were able to get a new one for their son, William, and her husband suggested that they get the same one since it did its job properly.

Boyer also found out that their insurance company was able to reimburse them for a new one.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Boyer said the old car seat should be thrown in the trash, even if it doesn’t seem like it suffered any damages.

Boyer wrote that it’s very important for parents to know that even if the car seat seems to be fine, it could be damaged in ways that are not visible—making it unsafe.

“Any car seat that has been involved in a moderate to severe motor vehicle incident where the car cannot be driven away from the scene of the crash immediately becomes defective,” she wrote.

Boyer said she would be donating her old, damaged car seat to the NICU at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital so that it could be used to educate other parents or parents-to-be about how to safely and properly secure their infants.