10 yr old and car boosters.

[BegoniaBampot]

more to pick your thoughts. I still want to use the booster seat for our average sized 10 yr old. Husband says it's not needed.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

My 13 yo and 10 yo stopped last year when the younger one could wear a seat belt without it catching across her neck.
Both of them over 135 cm.

I'm a bit PFB with both of them.

One thing that boils my piss is people putting their small DC (not babies in mahoosive seats) in the front when they have an empty back seat.
I've only just started letting my DS in the front. (And he's driven a car at Young Drivers so he's been in the drivers seat himself)

[f1nut]

Both my boys, 10 & 8 still sit in high back boosters, there aversge sized for there age. Guidlines do say 135cm, iv done a few britax and maxi cosie car seat fitting training courses and seen many mock crash dvds to feel i will keep them as safe as poss in a high back booster so the they hav maximum protection as long as i can, my 10 year old moans sumtimes but he sure appriciates it wen we do a long journey and he got the head surround to fall asleep against, lol.

[foreverondiet]

Don't need one in middle of 2 car seats.

My 9 year old is quite short (def under 135cm) and still uses, but when I give her friends lifts they all refuse to sit on them and say their parents don't make them. I have 6 of them in the car so one for everyone!

Also despite being the law I am not totally convinced that booster cushions actually make it much safer (see freakomonics confirms this).

[elah11]

I am in Ireland and the law here is 150cms . Ds 2 is 11 and 143cm so still on a booster seat and will be for a good while yet by the looks of it :) We went to Alton Towers last year (rented a car) and were very surprised to see the law only covers children up to 135cm? I personally think thats too low, if ds2 was to sit in the seat without the booster even now, the belt would be across his neck. Does it really sit in the correct position for a child of only 135cms? Btw he brought his booster and used it in the rental car :)

[ImaginateMum]

Have always had the rule that any child in my car goes in a booster. Am having to relax slightly now as some of DS's friends literally hit the ceiling when they try and climb into one. DS is 134 cm so is in one when I have control, but I don't panic where there is not one.

[PinkyCheesy]

My sons are 9 and 11 and still using high-back seats (maxi Cosi Rodi), despite both being over 135cm. They see no sense in not using them: comfy for sleeping in, can see out of window, and seatbelt won't decapitate them in an accident (I wrote the car off a couple yrs ago and both were very very grateful for their carseats). Children we give lifts to sometimes comment, never teasingly though, and my kids just say they prefer to be in them as its more comfy. I guess DS1 will want to stop using it when he starts secondary next September....

The law in some European countries (eg Ireland) is minimum 150cm/ 12 years old. Seems like a sensible law to me.

A woman I know fractured her sternum through airbag impact in the front seat (leading to heart bruising and increased blood pressure). This is enough for me to say my kids don't travel in the front seat other than when the car is full of children (and only through the village, max 30mph). Am I over-protective mum? I don't think so

[pointythings]

My DDs are 9 and 11 - DD1 is 155 cm, DD2 is 145 cm. They are both still in boosters - it helps reduce car sickness because they get a better view out of the windows, their seat belts fit better and it's safer. If tall enough high backs had been available when they were younger, I'd have kept them in those for longer, but when the top of the high back was at base of skull height, they became risk so I switched to boosters.

I suspect DD1 will come out of boosters when she hits 160cm as she will then hit the ceiling with her head, but not before then.

[Woozley]

dd1 is 7 years old - 113cms tall, weighs 16kg

Aw, DD2 is 3 and 9 months and 110cm and 17.6kgs :)

[AdoraBell]

Polter my OH took great delight in informing my sister of that fact. I'm 44, and she's older than me. I can't add anything useful as it's all been said.

[sarahtigh]

THE LAW IS 135CM so if 135cm when aged 8 legally do not need a booster if 12 and still only 128 they do not legally need a booster any longer

also in an emergency a child can use ordinary seat belt

ideally in this case it should be three point and prefarably middle seat in back

[Takver]

DD is 10 and well over 135 cm, but still uses one most of the time out of choice because she can see better out of the window.

[whizzbanghellokitty]

my 2 dds r tiny

dd1 is 7 years old - 113cms tall
weighs 16kg

[StarsGhostTail]

Border line legally as I do the same 30 minute trip most weeks.
Not like stopping and saying jump in because it's pouring with rain.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Stars - you're right to have the seat for smaller friends, but IIRC the law does allow for odd lifts to be boosterless.

My DD - and some of her friends - were still using boosters in year 6.

[StarsGhostTail]

Thanks for reminding me, I ought to stick the boaster seat in the car for giving lifts tonight.

Feel rotten insisting it's used as the DC in question must be very fed up of being known as the little one.

She is a year younger than than DD, but I doubt any one else in Y6 has used a boaster for over a year.

[shrimponastick]

My DS was out of booster seats long before he was 12. Probably at about 5 in fact. He was v tall for his age, and this was before the new rules were brought in. In fact I had to go out and buy a booster seat for transporting DS's friend who was much shorter.

DSS however continued to use his booster until way past the height of 135cm. But that is because he is afraid of change - and also knew that he wouldn't have to sit in the middle seat of the car (as his booster rocked from side to side) so the older boys had to sit there. Ulterior motive for everything.

[Groovee]

• only one of his friends still in a booster. Pleurisy is getting the better of me today

[VirginiaDare]

just follow the law for fucks sake.

[EdithWeston]

The law came into force in 2006, GhostShip, unless you are under 16 your parents would have had no reason to put you back into a seat!

And the expectation now is that children will be in seats, and so they all treat it as normal throughout primary.

[Groovee]

My ds is 10 and only 123cm and is the only one not in a booster but he happily still gets in the seat. He'll be in it until he gets to 135cm.

I'm 150cm but my bum's too big for a booster.

[GhostShip]

I didn't say anything to the contrary, I'm just saying I wouldn't liked to have sat in one at the age of ten.

[GrimmaTheNome]

At ten years of age I'd have died if my mum would have put me in a booster seat

At the age of 10, a short child may be more likely to actually die if they aren't using a booster.

My DD is short, she carried on using booster until she was over 135cm. She stopped using it regularly when she started secondary. It wasn't a case of 'mum putting her in a booster seat' - she's a sensible child who understood it was for her safety.

[NotWilliamBoyd]

We're not talking about suddenly returning a 10 year old to a booster, though,??? My DC (actually both now over 135cm) understand that we as their parents feel that they are safer in their car seats, so that's what happens in our cars. It's really not an issue.

[GhostShip]

At ten years of age I'd have died if my mum would have put me in a booster seat.