to be jumpy about my 4 yr old going on a bus...

[suzi2]

She's going on a nursery trip on the bus. Thing is, she's still tiny and only 13.5kg at best. They have booster seats, and high back booster seats for them but she's technically not heavy enough for them (15kg). They might have group 1 seats with 5 point belts, but I don't know how well these would fit the narrow bus seats (buckle crunch etc).

AIBU being a bit jumpy about this? I've offered to drive her but she wants to go on the bus with her friends, and the staff think it would be a shame for her to miss out on the bus bit.

Sorry but you seem to be a little U.

Kids are allowed on buses without car seats or seat belts. If they have a booster seat for your DD then what is the problem?

So long as she is belted in, I am sure she will be fine.

If you take her on an ordinary bus she doesnt have a belt on, and the odds of the minibus having a crash are low, the odds of her being flung out of the seat in the event of a crash even lower, so even though I can understand you worrying, risk is minimal.

Where are they going?

I'm not sure I'd be happy with this either. Obviously when DS rides on the bus with me he doesn't have a seatbelt, but I do hold on to him as well. Buses in town rarely get above 20mph anyway, so if there was a crash it wouldn't be a serious one

I think it depends on how far they're going, and what kind of roads they would be travelling on.

I like the idea of putting stones in her pocket. Problem solved.

I have lead pants for her ;-) I wouldn't fuss if it was 20/30 or even 40 limits, but it's prob about 20 mins and some of that is dual carrigeway 70mph (though obv not for a coach).

The problem for me is that in the event of an accident, she would not have adequate protection due to her weight and may submarine under the belt. I'm a bit jumpy having rolled my car with 2 kids in it... thankfully in well fitted seats but scary enough at only 40mph max.

???

She probably WOULD be fine, yes.. but DS was- very small until 3.5 and wasn't big enough for a HBB. I wouldn't have let him go in these circumstances, and would have driven him myself.

At first I thought you were being quite PFB, but having seen your latest post I understand why. I'm sure she'll be fine though and think she will benefit greatly from being with her friends.

I would be worried about this too (DD2 is 4 and still very small/light), although remember that the 15kg is with clothes and shoes on, so she might be nearer to it than you think.

Is there any chance they'd agree to use your group 1 seat in the bus?

Can you ask if they would use your carseat? If you explain about your accident they may be happy to allow you to use your car seat.

I feel like I may know you though.....as I remember someone else having an accident like that and having a petite little girl.

As the staff know you are concerned (and understandably if you have been involved in a bad accident already), perhaps ask if a member of staff could be sat next to her on the journey.

groovee... I feel we may know each other. if our usernames are the same lol.

13.5kg is with clothes :-S I could use a group 1 , but I strongly suspect it wouldn't fit the bus seat safely due to the angle of the belt at the back of the seat and the width of the seat/buckle position. That said, i haven't tried it out.

Position for now is to check a group 1 in the bus on that morning, and if not let her go in a HBB seat. Part of my concern is that when my DS went last year he didn't go in any booster (I just thought they would have) and complained to me that the seatbelt was over his face all the way there and back and it was sore. Makes me wonder how much attention the nursery pay to these things in general.

Is it a minibus like a large transit? We used ones in the children's centre's which have stage 1 seats for all the children. We could easily fit 2 stage 1 car seats in each set of seats.

I do believe we definitely know each other.

Last year it was 70 seater coaches where the belt is built into the back of the seat.