Is your 8 yr old in a booster car seat?

[Dancemom03]

My oldest, DS 32 was born in 1978. The only kind of seats available back then were those little plastic shells with two metal support rods that adjusted on the back and a plastic strap around the waist with a slip-loop buckle that wouldn't hold up a pair of pants, much less a baby in a carsh. I remember taking him to the drive-in movies in a carbed hooked (not strapped) over the back of the front seat. That was the only car seat thing on the market and it didn't have straps.

The plastic shell seat I described above was the equivalent of today's bounce-seat for infants to use in the house but often also put in the car even though there was no way to belt it in. It was that or carry baby on your lap. It never did seem safe to me but there weren't any options at the time.

By the time DD20 was born in 1989, you had to have a car seat to leave the hospital with the baby. What a difference eleven years can make...

 

[taximomfor4]

My oldest, DS 32 was born in 1978. The only kind of seats available back then were those little plastic shells with two metal support rods that adjusted on the back and a plastic strap around the waist with a slip-loop buckle that wouldn't hold up a pair of pants, much less a baby in a carsh. I remember taking him to the drive-in movies in a carbed hooked (not strapped) over the back of the front seat. That was the only car seat thing on the market and it didn't have straps.

..

This is super cool, it is a magazine report, from crash testing car seats, in 1972. There are toddler ones, infant ones, and some really FUNNY looking ones, lol. Some passed the test, many failed. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/resources/streaming/PDFs/CR_Aug1972_Child_Car_Restraints.pdf

 

[marcyinPA]

My DS is 10 1/2, but not even close to the 4'9" recommendation here in PA. We gave up the booster seat last year, in fourth grade. Honestly, I know he should still be in it, and I know that my argument will be met with more arguments from booster "boosters"...but I just can't do it to him. Where do you draw the line? He won't make the height in middle school either (he's very small)...do I make him sit in booster seat in 6th grade??

He still sits in the back seat and will not move front for a long time...

 

[mjkacmom]

Umm, dh was born in 1970 as was my dsis. They both rode in carseats. The laws, however, became strict and guidelines better advertised much later than that. I do believe that carseats used for increased safety in vehicles were invented in the early '60's.

Really? I was born in 1967, and my sister in 1970, and not once did I ever even see a carseat. We had an old car without working seatbelts, but even when we got different cars, not once did we wear them, or know anyone who did (and my parents were college graduates in an upper middle class community). Maybe other areas of the country used them more.

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

My oldest daughter will be ten next Thursday. She is 48" tall and weighs 43 pounds. She is still in a booster seat. I know that she doesn't have to, but I feel that it is safer. If she put up an argument about it, then maybe i would change my mind, but she really hasn't asked not to. When she goes in someone else's car, she is not in one.

 

[marcyinPA]

Really? I was born in 1967, and my sister in 1970, and not once did I ever even see a carseat. We had an old car without working seatbelts, but even when we got different cars, not once did we wear them, or know anyone who did (and my parents were college graduates in an upper middle class community). Maybe other areas of the country used them more.

I was born in 1968...I've seen pictures of the car seat my parents had for me. it was black vinyl, and had metal "hangers" that hung over the back seat of the car. Other than that, it had nothing that secured it to the car. I think they used it when I was old enough to sit up, and then once I could stand/walk on my own, they stopped using it. After that, I can remember STANDING UP in the backseat of the car while my parents drove. We never wore seatbelts.
My DH was born in 1965...he often talks about the family trips they took...three kids in the car....one slept in the wheel well, one on the back seat, and one on the back deck above the seat!

 

[freckles and boo]

No sarcasm intended. As you can see from my above post, I never intended my original post to be visible....but didn't delete it before someone responded to it, leaving my bad wording to live in infamy.

Sorry about that.

 

[KirstenB]

I can remember my baby sister and brother riding in carseats. They were born in the mid 70's. The seats were made out of some type of metal tubular frame wrapped in a quilted vinyl. I can remember the baby always got to sleep in a car bed (really didn't have any protection, I think it was just a way to let a baby stretch out on long trips).

 

[mtemm]

another born in 1967! never had a carseat, never even wore a seatbelt until ca passed the law when I was around 18 requiring it. I remember feeling sooo weird with it on, completely constricted. now I can't imagine driving w/o it, and I am fanatical about my kids being in seats. funny how things change!

when my sisters and I were kids we used to play jello (rolling over each other) while my parents were driving, we laid down, goofed on, and generally were a nuisance (realize that now that I look back on it). I envied those who had stationwagons and got to ride in the way back!

 

[freckles and boo]

I was also born in 1967. My dad was a firefighter and went on too many crash calls. After a particularly gruesome call when I was about eight or nine he became very serious about requiring us to wear our seat belts. He never spared us the details about the things he saw and the things he had to do. It made a very deep impression on me, especially when I was old enough to start driving.

 

[kinntj]

My DD will be 8 in May and she'll still be in a booster, but we'll remove the back then. She loves the back on now because it helps her head when she naps.

The only reason she'll take the back off is so her friends or other parents won't see it.

 

[mjkacmom]

another born in 1967! never had a carseat, never even wore a seatbelt until ca passed the law when I was around 18 requiring it. I remember feeling sooo weird with it on, completely constricted. now I can't imagine driving w/o it, and I am fanatical about my kids being in seats. funny how things change!

when my sisters and I were kids we used to play jello (rolling over each other) while my parents were driving, we laid down, goofed on, and generally were a nuisance (realize that now that I look back on it). I envied those who had stationwagons and got to ride in the way back!

We used to drive from NJ to FL every February, my sister and I got to stretch out in our sleeping bags in the back of the station wagon!

 

[Dancemom03]

We used to drive from NJ to FL every February, my sister and I got to stretch out in our sleeping bags in the back of the station wagon!

I can top that... in the early seventies, as young teens, we were allowed to ride from MD to FL in the back of my dad's pickup truck. I wouldn't let my dog do that today... No seats and only a tarp to keep us from flying out in a crash, I realize now. Also a huge carbon monoxide hazard I'd guess, but that never occurred to him then I suppose.

In the beginning, before dad bought the cap, he covered the bed with a tarp and we laid our sleeping bags out underneath it for the 16 hr drive. After he bought the cap, we could sit upright. That was a big deal...

 

[jmskinner]

My DS is 11 and still uses a booster. Only weighs 50 pounds. He likes it because he can see of the truck better. His legs dangling have started to bother him though.

He is mostly upset that I don't let him up front like a lot of the other parents do. Have that argument at least one a week.

 

[labdogs42]

I wish they could make more of those integrated boosters in cars. I bet kids wouldn't be as "embarrassed" to use those. Or, if they could just make the back seatbelts adjustable up and down like many fron seat seatrbelts are (KWIM?). My son is 5 and still riding in a 5 point harness (not because of his size, because I choose to have him ride harnessed as long as possible). He'll ride in a booster until he can pass that five point test. He's a big kid, so I'm guessin ghe might be in the "real " seatbelt by 8, but we'll see. He and I had a few discussions already abou t how other kids are allowed to ride in boosters and I just explained that in our family, we don't do it that way. And racecar drivers wear harnesses, so that must be good. He liked the race car driver thing!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

No sarcasm intended. As you can see from my above post, I never intended my original post to be visible....but didn't delete it before someone responded to it, leaving my bad wording to live in infamy.

BTDT, no hard feelings.

 

[LaraK]

I remember riding in the "way back" of a Volkswagon Beetle from DC to Chicago back in the 70's. Hey, at least the engine was "protecting" me.

My seven year old is still in a booster and hasn't mentioned getting out of it. It's a moot point as she isn't 8 yet, but a lot of her friends already ride without a seat so I anticipate a fight in the near future.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

My DS is 10 1/2, but not even close to the 4'9" recommendation here in PA. We gave up the booster seat last year, in fourth grade. Honestly, I know he should still be in it, and I know that my argument will be met with more arguments from booster "boosters"...but I just can't do it to him. Where do you draw the line? He won't make the height in middle school either (he's very small)...do I make him sit in booster seat in 6th grade??

He still sits in the back seat and will not move front for a long time...

Mine does! And if it ever starts bothering him enough, maybe he will eat so he can grow out of it!

 

[nmmom95]

My DS11 was out of a booster by 8, but he has always been on the tall side. DS6 may be in one until high school!

 

[Beavers5]

DS will be 11 in April, he is still in a booster in my van. He doesn't use one in DH's car. We go by whether the seatbelt fits right in the vehicle he is riding in.