It was an otherwise quiet Sunday when Jen McLellan got a call that made her stomach drop: Her 9-year-old son, Braeden, and her husband Chris had just gotten into an accident while driving to a friend’s house. Another car had apparently ran a red light, causing Chris to T-bone the SUV with his tiny Huyndai Elantra — the force of which sent both cars careening through the intersection.
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The Elantra was totaled, and her husband was left injured. But Braeden was relatively unscathed, save for some minor burns created by his seatbelt.
When Jen arrived on the scene, paramedics were amazed at how well her son was doing, considering what he’d just been through. They were also quick to praise the reason he likely escaped with little more than a few scrapes: his booster seat. The same one Jen had squabbled with her son about more times than she could count.
“I can't tell you how many arguments I've had with my 9-year-old about him not wanting to be in a booster because his friends don't use one,” the Albuquerque, New Mexico, mom later wrote in a now viral Facebook post. “I'm forever thankful I never budged.”
She was even more thankful when she accompanied her son to the ER, and later took him to a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician. In both cases, she wrote, medical staff “echoed what the paramedics said: ‘Thank goodness he was in a booster!’”
Speaking with Mom.com, the certified childbirth educator and host of the Plus Mommy podcast says that talking about car seat safety has always been near and dear to her. She’s even written about it on her blog, in a post she shares every year to remind parents of the importance of removing bulky winter coats before buckling your kids in.
“It always causes a stir,” she admits, but even still, she says, “it's important to put this information out into the world.”
So far, she’s only received positive reactions to her latest Facebook post, which in addition to sharing her own story, offers an urgent reminder to parents to keep their kids in boosters until they meet all safety requirements.
Of course, Jen knows that getting kids on board with this isn’t always easy — especially as they start to get bigger, and notice that their friends are ditching their own boosters.
“Last year, when he was in 3rd grade, Braeden started listing off the names of his friends who were no longer in boosters,” she says. “I was surprised, as in my eyes, these kids are still so tiny.”
But when Braeden entered the 4th grade this year, Jen says he only started protesting further, putting even more pressure on her and her husband, Chris.
“We just refused to budge, beyond allowing him to remove the detachable back piece from the booster in my husband's car,” she says, adding that by that point, he had met all requirements to no longer need it.
Knowing what she does now — and especially after hearing what the paramedics, ER doctors, and her pediatrician had to say — Jen says she felt “called” to share her story with others.
“Everyone said things would've been so much worse had he not been in a booster, because they often see kids who aren't properly restrained,” she says. In fact, Jen says her pediatrician lamented just how many kids she’s treated over the years with neck and spine injuries, all from not being properly secured in a booster. “She also warned against putting kids in the front seat too soon,” added Jen, ”as airbag injuries can be terrible.”
Part of the issue here, Jen notes, is that “parents are constantly talked to about car seat safety, but there's a lot of misinformation about booster safety.”
It’s true — there’s a ton of information out there about the do’s and don’ts of car seat safety when it comes to newborns and toddlers, but when it comes to older kids, who may be well into elementary school, but still need a booster, our collective knowledge seems to get a bit fuzzy.
“Booster safety isn't just about the weight or height of the child,” she tells Mom.com. “It's also how the seat belt comes across their body. My son's bruised body clearly shows how the booster allowed the seat belt to be in the correct position and that very well could've saved his life!”
Today, Jen says both she and Chris are “overcome with emotion” that something good could come from their truly traumatic experience. And while these last few weeks have certainly turned the McLellans' life upside down (Chris, for instance, has still not been able to return to work due to his injuries), this at least brings one bright spot the family can feel good about.
As the story has continued to go viral on both Jen’s Facebook page and Instagram account, thousands of comments and messages have flooded in.
“I've read so many comments from my Facebook post to Instagram post with people saying they are putting their kids back in boosters after hearing my family's story,” she says. “As well as parents saying they'll no longer consider removing their kids anytime soon.”
So far, the Facebook post has climbed to over 5.5K shares, leaving Jen more than grateful she could use her platform to start a much-needed conversation.
But there’s been one other nice upside to this whole story, too: Braeden is no longer fighting his parents on climbing into that booster seat. (And at this rate, he’ll probably never want to ditch the thing!)
“Braeden told his pediatrician during our follow-up visit from the emergency room, ‘My mom says I have to be in a booster until college now, and I'm not happy about it,’" Jen shares. “His pediatrician and I laughed. We both told him he'd be tall enough long before college, but we need to wait until he's safe.”
“I keep telling Braeden that cool kids are safe kids!” she adds. “He now agrees and doesn't complain at all getting into my car in his booster!”
There’s a silver lining we can’t argue with.
