OT: Am I the only one who makes my kids sit in the back seat of the car??

[dragonfly08]

It is 8 years OR 80 pounds, big difference!

Even this is incorrect information. You need to check the law for your individual state. Where I live, it is based solely on age. So yes, that 90 lb. 7 year old would legally have to be "crammed" into a booster seat. But a 40 lb. 8 year old can legally ride without one.

That said, my girls are 9 and 6. Both ride in high backed booster seats and will do so for quite some time. My 9 yo, in particular, is a peanut - only 25th% or so in both height and weight. It will be some time before I'm comfortable letting her ride in the back without a booster, never mind the front.

I do admit that my kids can ride from our house to the bus stop up the street without being buckled in. I'm going about 2 mph; it isn't far enough to build up any more speed than that, and there is nobody on the road (we live on a dead end, so no through traffic and I have no neighbors who are heading to work at that time). But if we're leaving our street? They are absolutely buckled and they know that under no circumstances are they to unbuckle themselves until we have come to a complete stop at our destination. They drop something, it stays dropped until I can/will stop safely.

 

[pixxi]

my 10 year old still sits in a booster seat, he's still small for his age. Better safe than sorry!

 

[kalc12345]

I can't believe there are parents who stuff their 7 year olds into car seats with harnesses?? That is beyond ridiculous!

Well, shame on me for being the kind of parent that cares for my child's well being!!! They do make 5 point harness car seats that fit older children. My son is NOT stuffed in his seat, it is made for older children. Plus he is a tiny little thing...barely 50 lbs. I care for him and don't want him injured if heaven forbid we were to have a wreck. He will be MUCH safer in that than he would a booster seat.

 

[Schmeck]

The greatest majority of accidents happen less than two blocks from your house. Parking lots are notorious for accidents. I have been hit twice in parking lots in the last couple years. I also would not drive a car that doesn't safely fit my family. A few seconds is all it takes for a accident (eyes diverted to text for example). My

You wouldn't happen to be posting this while driving would you?

 

[ChitownFamily]

Just a quick link for those getting ready to move out of boosters: make sure your kiddos can pass the 5 step test. I saw someone up thread reference it- here's the link
5 step test: http://www.carseat.org/Boosters/630.htm

 

[nchulka]

I can't believe there are parents who stuff their 7 year olds into car seats with harnesses?? That is beyond ridiculous! Why don't you just lock them in their rooms until they are 30? They'll be safer there. My 7 year old uses a backless booster and will until he's 8. You know, something age appropriate, not something designed for 3 year old. I feel bad for all of these older kids whose parents are trying to keep them babies forever. 8 year olds in strollers, 7 year olds in car seats. Poor kids. They'll probably have Mom as a roommate in college! You know, to keep them safe and all.

I agree, bring back the days of kids piled in the back of a pick-up and laying down across the backseat to sleep on roadtrips!

 

[bigbabyblues]

My DH is a flight paramedic. My kids are 11 and 9, and they ride in the backseat even if only me and one of of them ar in thr car.

 

[bdklein]

There's a big difference between using a booster seat in conjunction with the seat belts vs using a booster seat with a harness. Many people don't realize that it is more dangerous to use the harness vs the seat belt for a larger child. If th

 

[bdklein]

There's a big difference between using a booster seat in conjunction with the seat belts vs using a booster seat with a harness. Many people don't realize that it is more dangerous to use the harness vs the seat belt for a larger child. If the harness is too low for the child significant damage could be caused to the child. So read your manual and check the height of the harness vs your child's shoulders. Many of you will be surprised and switch to the seat belt immediately.

 

[ChitownFamily]

There's a big difference between using a booster seat in conjunction with the seat belts vs using a booster seat with a harness. Many people don't realize that it is more dangerous to use the harness vs the seat belt for a larger child. If th

Yes & no. There have been no official studies on extended harnessing. My understanding is in Sweden (where they rear face to 3-4 years old), they believe extended harnessing restricts the neck from moving with the force of the accident- causing more injuries vs a properly fitted booster (with a age who sits properly - not moving moving the belt, doesn't fall asleep half in & out of the seat- doesn't retrieve objects etc,)
But you are correct that many people think its logically safer...

Okay added one more thought- regarding your last comment on shoulder harness height- most of these extended harnessers have combo harness / booster seats designed to harness to height heights & weights.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

I agree, bring back the days of kids piled in the back of a pick-up and laying down across the backseat to sleep on roadtrips!

Why are you so obsessed with not utilizing common sense and entirely reasonable precautions to keep your children safe? First you also oppose bike helmets? Then you plan to send your son off to the military? And now you don't want them to even ride inside the car or ride safely in the back seat? When your daughter's face is smashed or her neck is snapped by an airbag, will you feel guilty? Seriously, I find your positions so bizarre as to border on the surreal. Yes, people did things back in the day that we now know were not wise. And the children who didn't survive are not here to tell you how foolish your actions are on behalf of your children. Why do you want to actively put your children in harm's way?

On the other hand, as we say it in my family, a little chlorine in your gene pool may not be a bad thing, so carry on...

 

[ctl]

Don't worry about what other people think, do what you think is right. As long as you can look yourself in the mirror and you feel good about what you see, why do you care what anyone else thinks?

 

[lynypixie]

My kids are wayyyy to young for this yet, it didn't even occur to me. Eldest is only 5 1/2 and still in a booster!

 

[mummabear]

It is law in NZ that kids under 8 have a carseat and they are in the process of making this 12 years old. I would always put kids in the back seat where there is one avalible and would never put a preschooler on the front seat.

 

[Leajess99]

One of our cars is a two seater. Since I can't put them in the trunk, the front seat is it.

That said, I was more vigient with the first two than with the last (my kids are 7, 9, 11 and 12). And I am someone who you might see start to drive from the parking lot with one of my kids still crawling around the car. That doesn't mean we drive all the way home like that. They are usually in place and buckled in well before we have even gone a mile. My kids may also unbuckle for a few seconds while we are driving to retrieve something they can't reach while buckled. They also may unbuckle prematurely while we are pulling into a parking lot. You may not want to be so quick to assume that a child you see unbuckled for a few seconds is a child of a negligent parent.

You do realize how quickly an accident can happen right?? We were at stop light and I turned to tell my son to turn straight in his seat as you never know when an accident may happen and bamm, hit in the rear end by a drunk driver. We were stopped and drunk was not even slowing. Imagine a kid with whiplash and concussion symptons. Not at all fun as an adult. The damamge would've been worse had she been unbuckled even for a second.

The rule in my car is that if you drop it and can't reach it, you DON'T get it!! There is no unbuckling for even a second in my car.

 

[Leajess99]

You can call BS all you want, but we NEVER allow our children to unbuckle to retrieve something. They either live without it, or if it's absolutely necessary, we pull over to get it. Never assume that your way is the way everyone does things. You may think it's perfectly safe to do that, but there are plenty of people who do not.

Same here. There is NOT a single thing that is so important that they have to get it that very minute. If my youngest were to drop her inhaler than we would immediately pull over in a safe place to get it if she needed it. No one unbuckles before the car is stopped and parked.

The rules are the same for any kid I transport.

 

[Leajess99]

I can't believe there are parents who stuff their 7 year olds into car seats with harnesses?? That is beyond ridiculous! Why don't you just lock them in their rooms until they are 30? They'll be safer there. My 7 year old uses a backless booster and will until he's 8. You know, something age appropriate, not something designed for 3 year old. I feel bad for all of these older kids whose parents are trying to keep them babies forever. 8 year olds in strollers, 7 year olds in car seats. Poor kids. They'll probably have Mom as a roommate in college! You know, to keep them safe and all.

Do you know there are size differences as well as harnessed boosters that are made fo bigger kids?? No, my youngest was not in a harnessed booster at 7 but there is NOTHING wrong with the best protction for one's child.

BTW, you do realize that Nascar drivers are in 5 point harnesses as well as they are the safest right??

I sure hope your 7 year old always sits perfectly in his booster as kids have been flung out of the seatbelts in backless boosters in accidents. It would be very sad to have to live with that.

Oh and the American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that children up to age 8 be in harnessed seats. I guess those professional pediatricians know nothing right??

 

[KristiKat]

My DD6 is still in a carseat in the back seat. They just recently changed this law where we are, the age went up. Georgia’s law requires children ages 7 & under who are 4’9” or less in height to be restrained in a child passenger restraint system in a rear seat. I see other parents at the school not following this law but I do and will continue to do so no matter what they might say about it. I would hate for something to happen to my child that could have been prevented if I had been following state law. Also, they can press charges against you if anything does happen and you were found not to be following them.

Airbags are very dangerous for children sitting in the front seats. I had to check this info recently due to my stepson. He is almost 12 but very short for his age, my 6 year old will bypass his height in a couple years. His mother is less than 5ft tall. I got the following from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) website...
All children are safest in the rear of a vehicle, regardless of their age or size. In recommending that children 12 and under never sit in the front seat of a vehicle which is equipped with a passenger air bag, the agency reviewed all crashes in which children were killed due to impacts from the air bag. In no instance, has a child above the age of nine been killed by the air bag. While height and weight could be useful determinants of a child's safety in air bag-equipped vehicles, there are no known precise measurements that can be used that will guarantee that no injuries or fatalities will occur. Each vehicle is equipped with a unique air bag which will deploy with a different force. Thus, generalizations as to height and weight cannot be made. We do, however, know that children are safest in the rear of vehicles. If no option exists other than seating them in the front seat, several steps need to be taken. First, the child needs to be properly restrained. This means, depending on the size of the child, a booster seat plus a lap/shoulder belt, or a lap/shoulder belt alone (for larger children). Second, the vehicle seat needs to be pushed all the way back, to maximize the distance between the chid and the air bag. Third, the child needs to be sitting with his/her back against the seat back, not wiggling around or leaning forward, with as little slack as possible in the belt in order to minimize forward movement in a crash.

 

[lucifie]

I haven't read all the responses yet, but I'm big on car seat safety. Riding in a car is likely the most dangerous thing our kids will do. My 9 year old is still in a booster seat and i've never even considered letting her ride in the front seat. My 7 year old is in a high back booster and if her old car seat hadn't expired, she'd probably still be in a harness. My DS is 4, but almost as big as my 7 year old and he's in a Nautilus and has some room to grow in it. I do occasionally let him ride in a booster, but never the front seat. My youngest was rear-acing until she was a little over 2. I only turned her around because it was a major battle to get her in her carseat every. single. time. I decided to try turning her around to see if it stopped the fighting. I was fully prepared to turn her back to rear-facing if she still fought me, but the drama decreased dramatically so I let her stay forward facing.

When DD7 was in preschool, she was practically the only one still in a harness and she was only 4. She was in a harness until she was almost 7. By that time most of her peers were in backless boosters.

We're in MD and the law just changed so that any child under 8 has to be in a car seat or booster. Legally DD9 could ride without a car seat, but she's just not tall enough to sit in a seat properly.

 

[pacrosby]

You do realize how quickly an accident can happen right?? We were at stop light and I turned to tell my son to turn straight in his seat as you never know when an accident may happen and bamm, hit in the rear end by a drunk driver. We were stopped and drunk was not even slowing. Imagine a kid with whiplash and concussion symptons. Not at all fun as an adult. The damamge would've been worse had she been unbuckled even for a second.

The rule in my car is that if you drop it and can't reach it, you DON'T get it!! There is no unbuckling for even a second in my car.

Yes, of course I do, and as hard as it may be for many here to believe (although probably not hard for the majority of the public) I'm okay with it.

I'm actually not so sure that the risk of something happening in that 3 seconds is any greater than the risk that I will careen off the roadway into a riverway and my kids will drown because they can't undo their seatbelts fast enough....or the risk that the car catches fire and they panic and can't get out. Hey, everything's possible.

Or the chance that I will suffer severe cervical spinal injuries as a direct result of wearing a seatbelt during a minor fender bender (my chiropractor used to love to cite the statistics on that). Actually according to him the risk of that isn't all that slight.

But I was actually thinking back to the poster who called me out initially for not making sure my kids are securely buckled in before pulling out of a parking spot because of the possiblity that an accident "might" happen in the parking lot where I'm traveling less than 5 miles an hour. Really? How exactly do you get from the store to the car? Do you fly? Do you go yourself and then pull up to the curb to gather up your children lest someone come flying through the parking lot and run them over? Maybe you all wear a suitful of armor....you know, just in case. Do I sound ridiculous? No more ridiculous than some of this sounds to me.

Do people who are so afraid of these miniscule risks take walks along roadways? Or bike ride along a roadway? Because you do know of course that you could get hit by a wayward car?

Do your kids wear helmets in the house or at the playground? Because they could suffer life threatening head injuries from falling down the stairs or off the jungle gym (I know, I used to work in a head injury facility and the freak accidents that ended up in severe head trauma were not few and far between).

I can think of things we all engage in every single day that hold greater risk than undoing a seatbelt for 3 seconds. Personally I think people have lost all sense of perspective.

I use my head and I wear my seatbelt, and so do my kids. But I also am not so freakishly worried that I will not leave the parking spot until the seatback is forward, tray tables up, and the seatbelt locked in tight. I also don't worry about 3 seconds to retrieve an object. That is freakishly obsessive to me and I simply don't choose to live my life that way.