Some "reasons" for not rear-facing, and their solutions.

"My son/daughter cries when they can't see me." - Get a mirror! You can see them with out turning around, and they can see you, simple. They can even look at themselves in there too. The Monstar's quite often pulling faces at himself.

We have this one. The Monstar calls it his cheeky monkey :) We got it in BigW. They're pretty easy to find in stores and on line.


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 "Their legs are uncomfortable." - I doubt it have you checked out how they sit normally? Reading, playing, watching TV...

Not many straight legs happening here...even on the couch...










 So do these kids look uncomfortable?

I think not :)
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"Their legs will be broken in an accident." -There are actually NO statistics to show rear-facing children with leg injuries from accidents. There are however studies showing forward-facing children are more likely to suffer leg injuries in an accident. http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats_6.html

More to the point, there are children with serious neck and spinal injuries, and children who did not survive accidents because they were forward-facing. Even if it were a factor, wouldn't you prefer a broken leg?
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"There's nothing for them to look at, they can't see out the window." - The Monstar gives a running commentary on what he's looking at all the time. He tells me when we're nearly home, or when we're nearly at the shop.  Just because they can't see what we see out the front, doesn't mean they can't see anything.  If they have siblings travelling with them, there's another source of amusement for them too.
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"My toddler doesn't like rear-facing." -Well to be honest if they don't know any different they're hardly going to complain are they. If your toddler wants ice-cream and Coke for breakfast lunch and dinner, do you give it to them? Is your toddler allowed to play on the road, because they want to and they think it's fun? Seriously that is just a ridiculous excuse to forward-face when there's the option to rear-face.
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"What about in rear end accidents?" -Frontal and side impacts are the most common types of accidents. They account for 96% of all accidents. They are also the most deadly type of crashes (especially side impacts) and rear-facing children have MUCH more protection in both types of crashes than forward-facing.
 So rear end accidents only account for 4% of accidents are are less likely to be the most severe, as forces are different, they're often at lower speeds, and both cars are travelling in the same direction.


Here's a link to a rear end survival story from the UK
 https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=303948046323061

Here's another from Australia 
https://www.facebook.com/notes/extended-rear-facing-for-aussie-kids/rear-facing-protected-the-6-month-old-baby-in-this-rear-end-accident-in-australi/235615796535269


And another from the US 
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=268397099878156
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