To be shocked people are actually rear-facing their primary age kids

My eldest is 5.5 and about to go into Y1. He is RF in my car and in a HBB in the childminders car. He's tall as well and absolutely fine. Will prob get him a HBB in my car early next year.

For those saying ERF seats are too bulky, if you are FF your kids, you need 50/55cm (I can't remember which!) between childs forehead and the seat in front, so with small spaces ERF seats can work better because you don't need that space.

Once it's securely tethered as if not it's too dangerous in a crash

My DD had just finished reception when we swapped her to forward facing. I was much more shocked that there were so many kids in her class who got into cars at school pick up and had no seat at all - not even a booster.
Rear-facing is much much safer and as I bought an expensive rear facing seat, I was going to get as much use out of it as possible!

Rear-facing is safer for as long as possible.

We turned DD around when she hit 18kg earlier this year- she's 5.

We went on a long trip this weekend and she spent the whole time crossing and uncrossing her legs, putting them up against the seat in front of her and sticking them down the sides.

It's way more uncomfortable to have legs dangling than crossed or folded in front.

Mine vomited for the first time in the car when they turned forward facing.......... they also complained they had nowhere to rest their legs and they just dangled. I've had 2 family members killed in RTCs .
Both DC ERF until 6. Every family is different, every child is different.
Save your shock for parents who are actively harming their children rather than the ones who have assessed risk and made a choice based on that assessment.

A couple of my close friends and my sister have ERF seats for their little ones (3 primary age now) and I’ll be doing the same. It’s a no brainer. Seats aren’t always any more expensive than forward facing ones and you only need one to get them to high backed booster age. Safest option, I’ve no idea why people see it as a developmental milestone that the child has achieved. Now THAT is weird.

Minimum age changed to 15months in 2017, so in childcare terms very recent.

You don’t need a huge car to fit the ERF seats.

Car sickness I think is a bit of a red herring. All babies have to rear face and I don’t think there are massive numbers of parents crashing their cars because their babies are crying. My kids screamed their heads off in the car as babies, but we coped with it because it was essential for their safety.

I understand the annoyance of those who don't rear face - but it is an impossible argument to voice (or win).

You can't argue against someone whose position is "This is safer for my child".

That being said, I do still understand their feelings. We all have different tolerances to risk, and different blind-spots when it comes to risk. I guarantee 100% that every parent who rear-faces also does something else that is risky/dangerous but feels fine about it. Hence where the frustration/negative feelings come from. There is a degree of hypocrisy to every risk-based decision, but that doesn't mean the decision isn't right. Things can be both hypocritical and right. (e.g. making a right decision, after you have made an equivalent wrong one, might make you a hypocrite, but the right decision is still right).

A toddler screaming and crying and throwing up may distract the driver. A quiet happy child who isn’t miserable and sick means that the driver is less likely to crash the car. Also, not everyone has a huge car to fit the bulky rear facing car seat.

Same!

Mine is nearly 30 actually, but when she was small I followed all latest advice on everything in order to keep my PFB safe. However, it was thought OK then to be just rear facing in the carrier and after that forward facing in a 5 point harness, so probably around 1 yo.

By the time she started school I think it was just a booster.

However, I am sure if the advice had been whatever it is now I would have tried to follow it. Although mine also was prone to car sickness on long journeys.

Why are you “shocked”? It is safer, you know it yourself- just because people don’t do the safest thing it doesn’t make it shocking.
we rear faced till over 5 and swapped only because my daughter was getting car sick

This is now illegal.

I absolutely do judge any parent who turns their child forward facing before the age of 4. The information is out there and widely available but parents choose to ignore it. You could be the safest driver in the world but still get hit by someone else, why take the risk with your child's life? My eldest was rear facing until their seat was outgrown at 6 years, my second is now 4.5 but small for their age and will be kept rear facing until their seat is outgrown around age 7 or 8. They have plenty of space for their legs, have never once complained it is uncomfortable, and can see perfectly fine out of the side and rear windows. I only know of one other parent at school who still rear faces their school age children so I'm well aware we are in the minority, but keeping my children safe is of far higher importance than following the crowd.

And for those of you with "survivorship bias" saying you turned your children at 6 months old and they were fine as you never had a crash, there are plenty of stories out there from families who were not so lucky. Here's one example from Australia: https://www.kidspot.com.au/lifestyle/family-health/my-world-was-shattered-i-woke-up-to-a-nightmare/

You sound easily shocked… if they still fit the seat then what is the problem?

When my children were born, in the early 1980s, the vast majority of cars only had seat belts in the front seats.

As babies they would usually be put in a carrycot on the back seat, or be held in someone's arms in the back seat. Once they were able to hold their head up, they were put into a Britax baby's car seat, which in those days was a very basic thing, usually a simple bucket-shaped seat with little or no padding and certainly no side protection. All such seats were forward-facing, as I recall. Ours certainly were anyway.

When they were toddlers they regularly spent time with their grandparents and were transported in the back of their car with no restraints or seat belts.

I shudder to think of all this now that I realise just how unprotected my children were in cars throughout their early years. Thank god we were never involved in an accident.

I have a seven year old and a four year old. We have an axkid "one" and a besafe stretch. The axkid has more leg room but the besafe goes to a higher weight.

I paid about £350 for the besafe and £450 for the axkid (prices have come down). I pulled together all ebay, vinted and fb sales as well as gifts from parents and grandparents to buy them as we are low income, but I wanted them as I have researched it and know that the UK crash safety testing for child seats is much less rigorous than in Scandinavia, i.e. we test the seats in crashes at a lower speed. That was the case when I bought them, I don't know if they have changed things since then.

I'm aware that this post will get lost as it's coming at page 6 but please do your own up to date research on that point.

Two years ago we crashed on a european motorway at 75mph. We went into the central reservation, not a complete head-on, but a big jolt all the same. I'm shaking as I sit here recalling it. DH and I were really shaken up and frightened, but when we looked at the children, they just slept peacefully through it, totally unharmed.

Most people wouldn’t have any issues as most people wouldn’t be involved in a serious car accident.

I would be surprised mainly because at our school many kids are sat in the front passenger seat on a basic booster seat from age 5. Where we live no-one seems interested in car seats for some reason.

I've heard a lot about modern day parenting and what's best but really 🤷‍♀️

My 3 all came out of rear facing when they came out of baby carriers, around 9 - 12 months with no issues at all and they could see where they were.

Why would you be shocked that people follow the best practice guidance on car seat safety. Bizarre.

I'm pretty sure I was forward facing at school age...but the first car I remember my parents having didn't even have seatbelts in the back seats. Didn't mean it was safe or right.
My daughter (4 in November) is in an extended rear facing seat and will stay there until she reaches the weight/height limit. She's comfy enough and will fall asleep on car journeys at times.

Watch this video for evidence of safety of rear facing car seats:

Forward facing a 1 year old under legal age to FF for no other reason other than you want them to “be able to see mum whilst driving” - absolutely shocking, bad parenting.

Rear facing a 4 year old for safety - not shocking

I wouldn't be shocked to see children from around 3.5 to 6.5 facing either direction. It depends on the child and the car and the family size (how many seats in the car). People make many of their own personal family decisions and I don't think haranguing them about this either way is reasonable.