To think car seats until 12 is a bit OTT?

[ConvenientTruth]

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?

DS1 is over the height and he's and average 9 YO

Dd will stay in her evolva until she is too tall. Probably next flaming week, the rate she is growing!

I am going to ask ds to sit in it, to see if he physically fits. He is 12.

He was in HBB until ne was about 10, I think. Then a bit longer on just the booster, but it depended which car we were in.

Dd is nearly 3, the evolva is on its penultimate height slot. I can't see her fitting in it past 5.

Maybe I will,have to go for the suggestion from the useless nice man in halfords. Go to demon tweeks and get a rally harness.

Just take a look where the seat belt ends up if your child isn't tall enough, then think about a booster. There is a very good reason and god forbid a child suffers a serious injury for the cheap cost of a basic booster.

DS doesn't sit on a booster as he is over 135 and is 8. DD does as she is under and she is 6. It seems right to me. Not many 12 year olds will be under that height but if they are then they need a booster seat.

On another note (and I've not RTFT so apologies if it's been mentioned but the average height link says the average height for a 21 year old girl is 5'7.5" that can't be right )

When I grew up in the 80s we had a Volvo with rear seatbelts when they were still unusual in most brands. I liked using them as they seemed grown up like the seats in the front. They did chaff on my neck though, particularly on one side where I have a raised mole. A booster would be more comfortable.

I find that most of our brownies reach the height guide at about 8-9 years old. We have to plan who's sitting where on trips out around boosters, and squeezing in the longer, lankier girls in between to fit.

WhyCantI The harnesses which only go to 18kg are so frustrating because of the height issue. You'd think that they would address it. If you're looking for a higher harnessing seat you can normally find them on extended rear facing seats. Many of them do forward facing with harness until 25kg with the corresponding height being around 6-7 years. But alternatively if she's heavy enough for a HBB and the seatbelt fits her properly with the booster, then it should be safe.

onehellofaride Why isn't 5'7" right? Or was that a typo and you meant 12?

Agree that 5ft 7 sounds very tall for an average - that is coming from my viewpoint of boring 3 inches shorter though, and never feeling particularly "small" around other women.

Ds is 9 and more than 135cm tall but he still has a hbb He feels more secure and it gives him more support because he has low muscle tone. He also has a 5 point harness but this is to stop him getting out of seat ( he has sld) and is classed as a restraint not a harness.

My six year old is already 135cm....I took him to the shops (5min drive) without a seat yesterday and he was flying all over the place.....it's also.about weight...he's very thin. And he's going back in the car seat today.

I was 5'4" by 12 but used to love my booster seat even as a teenager as it made the car/seatbelt so much more comfortable and I could see more.
DD is in Y1 and in a HBB with side impact cushions; DS is 3.8 and in a 5 point harness. I can't fit a third car seat in the back and refuse to have children in the front, which flabbergasted a mum of another Y1 child when she asked me to give her daughter a lift. Another mum I know from school just has loads of pillows. Her Y1 child sits on one as she finds it comfortable. Her pre-schooler sits on 2 or 3 so he can see out of the windows. If she is giving another child a lift, she offers them a pillow or two until they are comfortable. I only found this out after DD had a lift with her. Even though the journey was only 2 miles and the speed limit in the area varies between 20 and 30 mph, DD is never travelling with them again!

My 10 yr old isn't on a booster anymore but my ds and ds5 are on normal boosters mainly because high backs barely fit in the back of our fiat punto. It was a nightmare when they where in rear facing as they barely fit.

I am 5' 0" and a driver - so no booster seat but most cars now have raisable seats, seat belts are adjustable for comfort (I can well remember seat belts chafing my neck in older cars when I was the same height.)
135 cms should be the criteria rather than age as the age of the child is not relevant for comfort and safety but the height is.

Only up to p1 so soeoe else may have slready mentioned this. I looked up the requirements for an EU country we visited last year and a booster was required until the child was 150cm tall - if it is safety based, why would it differ between countries in the EU where we have a lot of common legislation?

My DC are 136cm at 8 and 114cm at 5.

Both sit in this seat. Isofix still - firmly attached to the frame of the car.

www.capitalseating.co.uk/productdetail.asp?pid=969&type=s&appgrpid=&appid=&rid=67

Not only are they safe, protected as much as I possibly can bar leaving them at home every day, they are comfortable.

They fit in their seats. They can rest their heads, their legs aren't sticking over the edge of the seat like sticks becAuse their knee joints don't reach the edge of the seat.

I am a Lone Ranger that my 8 year old is in a seat, let alone a booster. They will be staying in these till they grow out which I think is about 148cm.

I realise they are expensive. My children were given them by their grandparent when they were 3 for Christmas.

Neither of them remember that fact.

I can see that an overweight child would not fit in my DC's type of seat. They are snug but they are supposed to be.

Oh and mine are black.
The array of colours is a new thing for this manufacturer.

I can see a 10 year old no longer wanting their 'pink' seat.

I'm 46 and had a mothercare car seatbelt thing attached to frame of car as a child and my Brother (41) had a red hard shelled baby seat that also attached to the chassis somehow.

DD is 17 but tiny with low muscle tone and hypermobility joints so was in a high backed booster until about 12. She liked her booster as it felt comfortable and anyone who mentioned it simply got told she was still in it as was required to by law which happened once or twice. They were all taller so just accepted it. She was bullied at school at that age but not about her car seat.

DS on the other hand was 12 during last Autumn term, has a long body and is currently 171cm and taller than me so has been out of a booster for a considerable amount of time.

It didn't occur to me not to follow the safety recommendations so that's how it was.

Bertie, you have to check. Some of the seats that are suitable up to 25 kg that include the harness option still only have the harness suitable up to 18kgs.

Dd is 9 and 140cm but still in booster as she likes it and the extra height it gives her to look out of the window.

We have airbags so she's always in the back. I'm often amazed by those who sit little kids in the front of cars with airbags. It's not worth the risk.

DS is 14 and still uses a booster seat because it gives him a better view out of the window (he's 145cm tall).
He didn't reach 135cm until he was just 13, but he has never been one for peer pressure and never had an image issue with friends knowing he uses a booster.
DD is almost 12 and ditched the booster as soon as she reached 135cm last year.
I'm interested to read the range of heights of young children these days. Are we raising a generation of Giants?

I know InMySpareTime! DS is about average height amongst his friends outside school but he's one of the smallest in his class. Quite a few of them are overweight as well though so I can see that they probably wouldn't fit in hbb anymore.

I don't think we're raising giants, I just think with the diet and sedentary lifestyle we live now most children are hitting puberty earlier. Back in my day when I was a new 6th former I remember all the new first years starting (year 7 in modern terms!) and they seemed such tiny little children. I look at my DC's Year 7 peers and the majority are near adult height.

DD is 8 and only has about 3cms to go until she doesnt need the booster.

The oldest is in a highbacked booster until she either hits 36kg or physically outgrows it. Regardless of age.

The toddler is in a rf to 25kg seat and will be in that until it gets outgrown. Regardless of age (I'm not looking for a erf vs ff debate tho')

If any of dd's friends are in the car, they get her seat, and she sits in her brothers seat, turned forwards and the straps taken out of it so it is in hbb mode. Seeing as my DD is the tallest in her year I don't need to worry about any of her friends being taller than her.

I also don't have any children still using any form of car seat or booster in the front of my car, despite me being able to turn the airbag off.

My car, my rules. And if anyone doesn't like it then they don't have to travel in my car.

I don't understand why there is an age recommendation. Surely if someone is too small, they are still to small at 13 or as adults? Maybe we need adult booster seats.

I suppose at some stage in the next 20 years this will become a non-issue. When self-driving cars come in, or maybe a little later when non-self-driving cars are banned, it would make sense to abandon seat belt requirements for both adults and children, as the risk of crashing will be so low. Lower than it is now for buses, presumably.