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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think car seats until 12 is a bit OTT?

250 replies

ConvenientTruth · 24/01/2016 18:51

I just looked up the actual law on car seats. Here it is: www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

Apparently children have to use car seats until the age of 12.

Am I alone in thinking this is a bit ridiculous? Parents of 11.5 year olds, do you all truly honestly still use a car seat?

OP posts:
Howdoesironmanwee · 24/01/2016 20:23

so Ffs, it's risk management. They might survive, yes. But then they might be much, much more susceptible to life limiting injuries/need weekly physio.

fidel1ne · 24/01/2016 20:23

Fidel - really? Surely you just teach them not to bow to social pressure from anything.

I agree to a large extent.

The danger with that line Art is that you promote it TOO strongly. Then if some teasing or bullying crops up that they can't simply shrug off, they'll be scared to confide in us.

LynetteScavo · 24/01/2016 20:23

And I'm talking about high back ISOFIX seats.

I'm not convinced booster cushion seats are that safe.

BigSandyBalls2015 My DS2 didn't have a problem with it....but then he's pretty cool, and can carry most things off...

witsender · 24/01/2016 20:23

We have Britax 2 way elites for both of ours, that they will prob be in for a few more years yet...until 7ish probably. The 3.5 yr old has similar in grandparents' car, 5 .5 yr old has a big high backed booster. That'll last for years. She's pretty tall too.

Micah · 24/01/2016 20:25

My 11.5 year old is on a booster, so yes. She's not 135cm yet.

My 8 year old is still in a HBB.

None of their peers use car seats, and most are allowed to sit in the front. I have explained that's entirely up to their parents, but I have read the research, and if we did get in a crash, the boosters could be the difference between bumps and bruises, or hospital and serious injury.

It's the law for a reason. Safety. It's not the law to try to embarrass children or set them up for bullying.

DilysPrice · 24/01/2016 20:25

Buses are way way safer for passengers due to basic physics SoThat. Car passenger fatality numbers in the UK are tiny, but bus passenger fatalities are so small as to be negligible. Latest gov stats have them as zero per billion passenger kilometres.

Blowninonabreeze · 24/01/2016 20:26

My DDs are 10 and 8 and tall (dd1 is 147cm) and both are still in high backed boosters.

They are secure and comfortable especially for long journeys.

None of their friends seem to use them.

I periodically wonder if they'd get teased at school for it, but had to laugh when I was giving six year 5 and 6 boys to a hockey match last week and the 2 boys in the high backed boosters kept going on about how comfy they were and how much they loved them.

Notstayingup · 24/01/2016 20:31

My DD is 6 and 4 months and now is now not legally required to use a booster seat as she is 135cm tall - I think I'll leave her in it a bit longer, she still seems too small (well in my head)

Ambroxide · 24/01/2016 20:33

I am 165cm tall and the seatbelt in some cars still rubs my neck occasionally (I have a short torso and long neck). DD will be in her high-backed booster seat until the seatbelt falls in the correct place on her body. I don't really care if she is embarrassed tbh. I'd rather she was alive and embarrassed than dead.

Micah · 24/01/2016 20:34

Do your children ever ride on buses? Not even a seatbelt maybe standing and holding onto a pole? I think a child will survive at that age with a seatbelt in a car

What Dilys said re. safety. Plus, what kind of reasoning is that? Whatever happens on a bus, when you're driving around with your child in the car, they are safer in a seat. So why would you risk a more severe injury when you can prevent it?

5madthings · 24/01/2016 20:34

We have only just stopped using hbb or basic booster with ds2(13) and ds3(11). Ds2 is short, one of the smallest in his yr whilst ds3 is one of the tallest in his yr. We kept them on a booster until seat belt fitted correctly without which was almost 150cm. They have used carseat and hbb since they were little it was just a non issue and they both realised they were more comfy with the hbb than without.

My five yr old has literally just stopped using her five point harness as she reached the 18kg limit for the harness.

When ds1(16) was little it was seen as fine to put them forward facing at nine months, infact ds1 was big and mothercare told us he could gp in a hbb at this age! Thankfully we didn't but he was ff at that age. Dc6 due at easter and already researching extended rear facing carseats, the technology has improved, we now know children are safer rear facing for longer so I follow that advice. Same with hbb the advice is that they are safer and it was obvious the seatbelt fitted with one so we continued to use one.

starry0ne · 24/01/2016 20:44

I took my DS out at 8.. He actually sat safer with his feet on the floor.. long body short legs... which felt so much safer.. He was well over 135 by this time by the way

If the law was to change again the children would all just adapt.. If my Ds was not 135 and 11 he would be in a booster seat.

WonderingAspie · 24/01/2016 20:51

My DS is almost 8 and I suspect he is now over 135. I don't feel comfortable taking him out of a high backed booster though. I'm not sure when I will.

I got sneered at by my friend (who is generally pretty sneery about many things) for using a high backed booster, I brought it out of my house and she said "you still use that car seat?!" I just looked at her nonplussed. She is very much one of those 'that's too young for my child/my child is too old for that'. I'm happy in the knowledge that I am using the safer option. I am on of the very few out of my friends to do so tbh. They all have booster cushions or nothing.

Incidentally, that link to that belt thing on ebay looked bloody horrendous! It's quite obvious that the lap bit is pulled up way too high! I have seen a small slip type product that keeps the belt away from yur neck, I don't know how safe that is though? My nan is short and she finds it a pain with the belt digging in and will be in a car with the diagonal belt under her arm!

sellisx · 24/01/2016 20:54

My friend has three kids under the age of 6, only the youngest (18 month) uses a car seat, my nephew hasn't been in a car seat since he was about that age too

Schwabischeweihnachtskanne · 24/01/2016 20:56

That's wierd Bertie - sometimes I think "my" Germany is different to most other people's...

Not one of DS1's 8 year old friends would ever be allowed to travel without a booster seat, and DD has several 11 year old friends still using the massive arm chair hbbs, it was a bit of a phenomenon the first time we gave a lift to one of her friends who didn't need a booster due to being over 150cm... some of DD's friends are as tall as me now (5 ft 6) and obviously don't use a booster, but the ones who haven't hit puberty and are between 140-150cm are still using boosters/ hbbs.

SecretNutellaFix · 24/01/2016 20:56

The age 12 part of the recommendations is not generally to do with height. It's to do with puberty, which is when there are changes to an adolescents body around the hips which allow the seat belt to sit in a safer position. Most children will have at least started pubertal changes by this age.

Groovee · 24/01/2016 20:57

My 13 year old has only just come out of a car seat as he is tall enough now.

NewLife4Me · 24/01/2016 21:00

It's either 12 years old or the height given by law.
If you break the law you pay the consequences either by hoping you aren't in an accident and lack of seat harms your child, or if you are prosecuted by being caught.

megletthesecond · 24/01/2016 21:01

9yo DS is 140cm and for the time being still in a high back booster (he's not quite at the weight limit). He's probably the last of his mates to do so, they go in the front and don't use boosters. He hates it, is embarrassed and whines about using it. He will probably be out by 10.

ouryve · 24/01/2016 21:08

The problem with HBB for older kids is that they often don't fit. We found a generous one that managed to fit DS1's shoulders until he was all of 136cm, before he could no longer sit back, but by that point his legs started to go numb a lot of the time because, like the kid mentioned upthread, his legs were too long. He got a few more months out of a backless booster, but had to give up on that for a combination of the same reason and the fact that when he stood up, his arse was firmly wedged in it!

He's not even fat - just very broad shouldered with that leggy, angular build that supermodels have. He was actually bordering on underweight, at the time, or else he'd have had to give up even sooner.

MsMermaid · 24/01/2016 21:09

DD1 was nearly 7 when that law came in, 12 years or 135cm. She was already 135 cm so she didn't need a booster seat. She did have one for another year or so actually, just til the seat belt was on her shoulder rather than her neck.

Iggi999 · 24/01/2016 21:12

I wish I knew more people in rl who thought like this.
My 8 year old is in a hbb, he is tall but still a lot of room in the seat. He looks at cars we pass on the school run, younger children getting into the front seat without a belt etc, and asks me why. He goes on scout trips with a backless booster cushion and says he is the only one to bring a seat.

trixymalixy · 24/01/2016 21:16

DS is 9 today and probably over 135cm, but he'll be staying in the high backed booster until it's too small for him.

ZanyMobster · 24/01/2016 21:17

Yes my parents have booster seats for my 2 DCs and a proper harness seat for my nephew who is 3, it is the law and it is not safe without, why would you not bother. If friends are collecting the DCs then they would use one of our spare seats as I have a couple of extras still as I always used to give regular lifts to friends DCs.

In an emergency then obviously they would have to go without but no reason not to if it's not.

CakeNinja · 24/01/2016 21:17

My ds is 4 and 127cm (he seems to be a lot taller than his peers), I think he'll remain in his booster for quite a while yet!
My dds are 10 and 11 and have not needed them for a few years now.