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5 Year Olds In Car Seats??  

post #1 of 41
1/21/04 at 4:32pm
Thread Starter 
Ok. Joe will be five on Feb. 23. As per our state regulations he has been in a booster seat since he outgrew the regular car seat. It has been my intention to keep him in the booster until he is 8 years & 80 lbs, which is the new recommendation but not requirement.

joesdad thinks this is extreme, overprotection, overkill, etc. He thinks the day he turns five we can ditch the booster. My sister's son is gonna be six in June & she still has him in the booster seat. I dunno. I am unsure of what to do.

I would just like to get a vote, a general consensus if you will. Are your kids over age five still in booster seats of some type? Why or why not? What are the laws in your state or province?

Thanks in advance for the help!
post #2 of 41
1/21/04 at 4:43pm
Oh man! I'm gonna be the litmus test!

My son is in 4th GRADE and 10 years old and is still in a booster seat (he weighs 55 lbs)

My dd is in 2nd grade and is 8 years old and is still in a booster seat (she weights 57 lbs)

My ds2 is in first grade, weights 35 lbs and yep, you guessed it, still sits in a booster seat.

You know what I tell people when they tease me? I tell them I never put my kids in carseats in the first place for convenience. I did it for safety! And it is still safer!

I do worry about my oldest being teased but he is very ok with it, he tells his friends that he can see better! Until recently (since now most of his friends are around the 80 lb mark) he flat out told one friend who was teasing him that if they were in an accident my son would live and the friend might not : I was shocked! His poor friend!

Anyway, keep him safe! That means booster until 80 lbs NOT EIGHT!

Good Luck with your hubby! You know, why throw away all these great years where you have kept your son safe and been successful, just for ONE accident?

You've been working too hard this far, don't stop now!
post #3 of 41
1/21/04 at 4:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by lab
Anyway, keep him safe! That means booster until 80 lbs NOT EIGHT!
trust me; he is not quite five & weighs fifty pounds~ i think he'll hit 80 before eight! :LOL

thanks for the advice, you are right!
post #4 of 41
1/21/04 at 4:50pm
Our state law is 6yrs/60 lbs.

My kids are 6 & 4 and are both in booster seats. I don't see any 5/6 year olds at school or lessons that are not still in boosters.
post #5 of 41
1/21/04 at 4:55pm
If the laws would have been around when I was a kid there would have been a teenager over the 5 foot mark sitting in a booster seat :LOL
I was 80 pounds till I was about 15.
post #6 of 41
1/21/04 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
i almost would have had to ride in a booster on my wedding day! i was 80 lbs at fifteen too!

just looked online & state regs. for MD are actually SIX years & 40 (?) pounds. so i have another year.

PA is LAW until 8 and 80.
post #7 of 41
1/21/04 at 5:32pm
I don't think 80lbs is extreme. I recently read an article in Family Circle (a few months back) about a woman who lost her 5yo in a car accident because he wasn't in a safety seat; he was just buckled in a regular buckle. Car seat belts are designed for adults, not children.


Kristi
post #8 of 41
1/21/04 at 5:50pm
I agree w/Kristi. Booster seats are used to bring the kid up to the proper height so the seat belts restrain without causing injury.

I think all states require carseat use until age 4. After that, some states use weight requirements instead of height -- I'm not exactly sure why. Others use age. But height is the key, at least from what I have read. THe "magic height" is something like 4 foot 9, I think.


Nancy
post #9 of 41
1/21/04 at 6:01pm
My 6 year old weighs 60 pounds and is still in a booster. He has one obnoxious friend (who is the same age but much smaller than ds) who teases him about being in a "baby seat" every time this kid is in our van. Last week we were carpooling to basketball practice and this kid started in with the teasing and ds looked him straight in the eye and said "My mom wants to keep me safe. How come your mom doesn't know how to keep you safe? I'll have my mom talk to her!" That shut him up, at least temporarily. I was glad to know that my explanations to ds were sinking in. I hope the other kid went home and said "How come you don't keep me safe like ******'s mom does?"
post #10 of 41
1/21/04 at 8:13pm
My DD was teased in PRESCHOOL for being in a carseat/booster seat! I do not know many people who use a car seat past age 2 or so-and the law here in NJ is 8 or 80. MY extended family has many kids-I have seen almost none in carseats or even seat belts-ever! They are white middle class family (I have many incomes, ethnicities, etc. in my family) and this is the audience the ySWARE follows these precautions. But I ignore them anyway. A carseat save \d my DS (age 2) in September when my van got him by a big rig and flipped all over the highway. Not a BRUISE! DD will be 7 and we always use a booster, her one close lil friend does too-so she hasn't had to deal with any comments lately.
post #11 of 41
1/21/04 at 8:40pm
My dd outgrew her carseat height wise when she was about 50# (she was about 4 1/2 by the way) She has a long torso and fits really well with our seatbelts we used a seat belt adjuster for a while and then got a car with lowering seat belts and it hits her where it ought. I figure that is good enough. My dd carseat goes to 80 pounds and she will use it until she outgrows it. We will probably get the same one for my baby.
post #12 of 41
1/21/04 at 8:48pm
My 6 yr old is 50 lbs and still in a britax booster and she can see better with it. Im going to use it as long as possible. She really doesnt care about what other people do at this point. It safer and that is more important that anything else.

Allison
post #13 of 41
1/21/04 at 9:22pm
Here is the 5 step test to see if your child is ready for a regular seat belt or not:

http://www.carseat.org/Boosters/630.htm

You child must pass all 5 steps to be truly ready to sit with just a seat belt.
post #14 of 41
1/21/04 at 9:43pm
You really need to keep him in a booster until his body is large enough to be properly protected by the seat belt alone. I think the guidelines are 4' 9" and 80 pounds.

All the seat does at this age is raise his body up so that the belt falls across his body in the right spot. We use a small, no-fuss, bottom only booster that barely qualifies as a car seat yet does the job as it should:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A91365%3A91369
post #15 of 41
1/21/04 at 10:09pm
Lunamom, we have that same base for my 5 1/2 yo, 45 pound ds. He loves it!!! The whole point of keeping them in a booster or platform booster like we have is so that it raises them up so that the lap portion of the belt fits across the abdomen the way it is supposed to, and that the shoulder portion doesn't cut across their neck. It's also a great seat for older kids because it isn't a "carseat" so to speak.

Seatbelts aren't designed or safety tested for children, they are designed and tested for 160 pound men.
post #16 of 41
1/21/04 at 11:01pm
Quote:
Seatbelts aren't designed or safety tested for children, they are designed and tested for 160 pound men
I saw a show where they demonstrated what happens to kids that are in car seats too early based on body size, height & weight.

IT SCARED ME!!!!

After watching that, my kids will be in their seats until they meet all the requirements to be safe without them!
post #17 of 41
1/21/04 at 11:07pm
Illinois just changed the car seat law here starting January 1. Kids have to be in a safety seat until the are 8 years old or 4'9.
post #18 of 41
1/22/04 at 12:58am
My dd is 5.5 and 39lbs,and still in her booster seat.She loves it.The 2 times she had to ride in a car without a booster,she said the seat belt was uncomfortable.She'll be in it until she either weighs 80lbs,or is over the height limit. Same for ds.This is actually reminding me it's time to buy him a new car seat,he's in one of those infant/toddler seats,and is really growing out of it.

My hubby works for a very busy Jiffy Lube.Everyday,he sees parents come driving in with their little ones riding on their lap!! WHILE DRIVING!!! It makes him so upset. He was happy one day,while working at the local JL instead of the one he's at now,a family with about 4 small kids,and 4 adults all riding with no seat belts was pulled over right after having their oil changed.The cop was at the Dunkin Donuts next door and saw them.He made them walk home,and we believe fined the driver. Dh wishes he could call on all of them that do it, but he's been told by upper management he can't,bad for business. I guess a $30 oil change is worth more than a child's life. I wonder if they would allow some info on car seat safety to be posted inside the lounge(along with the state laws)?I think I'm going to have dh find out.Worth a try at least, even if it only wakes up one parent it will be worth it.
post #19 of 41
1/22/04 at 3:13am
Keep them in that car seat as long as possible.

If I was kept in it till 80lbs I would of been 14-15 years old. LOL

Honestly my son is 9 and his head would be over the back of the booster seat. He is just too tall/long for one. Plus there is no way we could buckle it in our small car. The girls on the other hand are still in it until they get to tall.
Read the instruction manaul for how tall is to tall. It is not only weight or age.
post #20 of 41
1/22/04 at 3:44am
Well, I *thought* that many states changed the law to 6 and 60....but I could be wrong...

I dunno if this is ok to say this but I just love the carseat board over at parentsplace. The ladies there have ALWAYS had answers I was looking for. They have tons of other links for safety ratings and laws for different states too I think.

If I were you, I'd check into the law for your state first. You may have to wait until 6 and 60 anyways.
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