Do other parents see car seats just as cosmetic / a polite courtesy?

I mean for short journeys at 7 yo I don’t see it as that much of a big deal. There’s a reason it’s not illegal. I’ve given other kids lifts and offered my them my 5 yo’s car seat while he’s sat in the back on the normal seat with the seat belt under his arm rather than over his shoulder. Mind you if I wasn’t actually driving or with him I’d probably be a little more worried about it. I survived my childhood in the 80s/90s without a car seat after the age of about 4! As did everyone else I know. My parents car didn’t even have seatbelts in the back when I was little!

It's strange how some parents fuss over some things and couldn't care less about others, but that's just how it is.

When I invite kids to come in my car I always specify that I have a spare seat, one of DD's friend's DM is an A&E dr so checked what sort/would she be in the back etc, obvs she has seen enough outcomes in A&E to be hot on it.

My kids are very skinny and short so will probably be in their seats forever, some of the boys in DS' Y3 class do look like they could be 135cm. I had a 5yo in my car the other day who doesnt normally have a seat and she said it felt a lot more comfy/easier to see out having a booster seat.

It wouldn't worry me tbh. You know that they go on school trips in coaches with no boosters and only two point seatbelts? I'm more uncomfortable with that, the odd trip with another parent is likely to be short.

“Very out of touch!

The laws changed when I was 9 and I remember my mum had to go and buy one because I’m short. I am nearly 29 years old now so this has been the case for the past 20 years!”

Sorry- meant to quote @LiloLido

Very out of touch!

The laws changed when I was 9 and I remember my mum had to go and buy one because I’m short. I am nearly 29 years old now so this has been the case for the past 20 years!

I'm with you OP. My daughter is 8 and I'm very anxious about car seat safety. However, we just bought a Trunki boosterpak seat for this kind of scenario.

When mine were young it was the norm to provide a seat for the parent driving.
Some people aren't bothered though. I was driving on a dual carriageway the other day and when I stopped at lights the child in the back of the car next to me wasn't even strapped in & was stood between the two front seats. Parents were completely unbothered.

My year 5&6 kiddies are still in a high back booster and both under 135cm.
Feels like we are in the minority using a car seat.

So you had tall children. Not everyone does.

Still in primary. He will be getting the bus to school when he starts secondary so won't be using a car seat then.
His sister on the other hand could potentially be in a car seat when she starts secondary as she is a long way off 135cm.

A secondary school age child gets in a car seat?

Eldest is 10, half his friends still bring backless boosters when anyone gives them a lift. We have some trunki boostapacks for when we have friends in the car. You are not weird!

135cm which I think is about 8-11.

Not for the last 15 years.

By their 8th birthday, 9% of children are over 135cm. It's the same for girls and boys. At the 7th birthday it's about 1% for boys and less than 1% for girls.

I think people actually just don't know the law, and assume. The change for backless boosters to be over 125cm has also confused some people - 125cm is 50th centile for 7.5 years.

The other thng I think is we are in a slight blind spot at the moment where the rule about booster seats/car seats being needed for 3-12 years came in in 2003, so most parents of primary school aged children were too old to have been aware of the change when it became law as they were already well over 12, but they didn't have DC yet so it didn't affect them from that side either.

Most of our generation know car seats for young children and babies as the norm, but not for children over about 5/6 years old.

Gen Z will know differently, as they will have been under 12 when the law changed and will probably remember using booster seats up to the 135cm limit because there was a lot of publicity/news coverage about it at the time (many people thought it was madness, especially for children who had already stopped using a booster).

I don't know for sure, but I highly suspect if you mapped booster usage by age on a chart by year, you'd see usage for 6-12 year olds spike suddenly in 2003, then stay high for about 10 years and start to slowly tail off again as it stopped being discussed.

In industry a change which occurred 10-15 years earlier is ancient history so it's assumed "everyone" knows, but that doesn't take into account the generational nature of this kind of rule change.

We have a spare booster seat for if there is an extrs kid riding along. Can you buy a chesp booster and give it to the other mum for you daughter to use for the party. Just say you have a spare. I think you can buy inflatable ones for travel.

Your experience doesn't mean Jafferz is wrong.

It's quite unusual I think. I was thinking 135cm is around 10 years old, but mine are older now, so I just looked it up.

Average 7 yo is 121cm.
Children reach 135cm on average 9 or 10

I didn't consider giving her our car seat oddly enough!

There you go OP, hopefully all sorted.

No way should you at any time, compromise the safety of your child, not for, or with, anyone.

Yes see this a lot! I would say around 50% of people I see from school have their kids out of a car seat reception age which baffles me. But then I worked in a trauma centre for many years so have first hand experience of the consequences of not using one. I have taken 4 kids out for a party all age 7 and used booster seats. I had 2 and 2 mums bought 2.

Can your DD use a booster? The law is above 125cm and over 22kg they can, is so that’s an option and what I have done when my son has had ride, I just take that with him.

Im feeling envious of all the 7 year olds who are too tall for a car seat and nearly the same height as me it's was sure I was about 10 year old height! 🤣

My over 135cm 7 year old is still in a car seat. When we give her smaller friends a lift, they use her seat and she uses a spare. We have 3 car seats and 2 boosters in storage for such scenarios. It's only recently that dc1 (11 and over 150 cm) moved away from using a booster.

We have put her seat in other people's cars when needed. I've always been happy to accommodate other parents wishes.

You obviously haven’t been in London buses then! I’ve been in one accident on a bus and had bus drivers break hard (so people holding on fell) on several occasions.

My nephew (he’s size of a 10 year old so tall but is 7) has been without a car seat for the past year or so both in his parents car and anyone else’s.