Are your 9 year olds still in high back boosters?

[ADJ1151]

As above ^^ DS is nearly 9 and still in a high back booster. He’s happy in it, still fits in and it’s safe so planning to carry on.

I’ve realised a lot of his friends are now just in booster cushions or nothing at all.

Aibu for keeping him in the seat for as long as possible?

My 8.5 year old is. She is tiny and only about an inch taller than her 6 year old brother, so I think she will be in it for a long time yet. Most of her friends the same age use normal booster seats or nothing at all.

I win. DD was 12 in December. She came out of the hbb in September, as she was starting secondary school. She is a short arse and was JUST 135cm at that point. Most disgruntled when I made her use it for a long journey in the October half term. Law says 135cm or age 12, and that is for a reason. Tbh I would like her still in it as it fits. However she is at secondary school 😱

150cm, is 5' there are quite a few women who drive at that height even under that height, about 3% of all adult women share 160cm or less,

DD stopped using HBB age 9 when she was 140cm

My 9 year old hasn't for ages. He is tall though.

I'm 5'2/ 157cm. The percentage of women under 160cm/ 5'3 is far, far more than 3%. That was bordering on for the average height of older generations of women (many of whom will have lost a few inches with age). It's not unusually short for younger women either. As it is, I use a seatbelt cover because I frequently encounter seatbelts not designed for the normal range of adult women's height and they often tend to rub the moles on my neck because I can't bring them down to shoulder height.

Back to the main point. My 9yo is about 130cm (averagely short in his class with a few others of similar height), has a lean, light build with a long torso. Car seat criteria have been a PITA when he's found himself an illegal size, too long to contort into the fully extended harness, screwing his shoulders in and exceeding the head rest, yet apparently too light to move up to the next stage
He is still just about fitting into the HBB. At least this time it will be legal to make do with just the booster if necessary before he reaches 135cm. I would prefer to keep him in the HBB as long as is practical.

Hypothetically he could still be in ERF as he's not 25kg Even with hypermobile hips I think I'd have to saw his legs in half to contort him in!

I've found car seats to be about best fit not hypothetical best practice because some children just don't fit the presumed averages that they're based on.

Mine stopped using any kind of car seat (was in an HBB until then) aged 8 and 145cm. His shoulders were hitting the bottom of the head rest on its highest setting. I do insist that he sits in the back rather than the front passenger seat much to his annoyance.

No, he would look ridiculous. He’s over the height limit anyway so doesn’t need one.

the difference between a 10 year old being 150cm or less and an adult being 150cm or less is huge in terms of muscle strength.

Re tips of ears etc, it totally depends on the seat and you must check the manual for guidance about when to change mode or stop using a seat altogether. For most high backed boosters if the child's shoulders touch the bottom of the headrest in the highest extension it is outgrown. The seatbelt must not come up and over the shoulder, but down from slightly above.

we use a booster seat for a 10 year old who's a couple of cms off the 140cm mark...

Both of mine were in high back boosters even in year 6.

They were above the minimum height but they still fitted into their seats and so I used them. Their safety is the most important thing to me.

Any school friends of the children who travelled in my car also went into a high back booster, some just made a comment about how they didn't have these "baby" seats anymore, I just replied well we do, in you pop! And they did

My 9.5yo DS still uses a HBB in DH’s car & is likely to for a while yet.
In my car he has a booster cushion, but only because the head rest on the HBB wouldn’t go up any higher due to the slope of the roofline.

He’s tall enough now to legally go without a car seat but doesn’t exceed the weight limit of the seat & without it, the seatbelt rubs on his neck so we’re happy to continue for now!

My DD (five foot 1 at 10 years old) is very tall so stopped using a booster before she turned 8. she just didn't fit, her head was on the ceiling

@shinygiratina the 3% is under 5' ( not 5'3) as the average height for women is 5'4 that would sort of imply the 47% of women are between 5' and 5'4"

my point was that adult women at 150cm or just under don't sit on boosters and can still drive without a problem my sister is 4'11" and yes she has to adjust drivers seat everytime as her DH is nearly 6' but she manages fine

We moved dd to just a booster cushion at 8 because she has some fine motor issues and had trouble getting the belt through the guides on the high backed booster. There were no social issues with her still using a booster, but having mommy or daddy buckle her in needed to stop.

She is nearly 11 and Based on her small stature, she has at least 2-3 more years before she passes all the tests to no longer need a booster at all.

My 9 year old is out of his HBB but is 146cm ... we took it out the car recently as it was tight round his shoulders .

His older brother was a a good year older and taller but slimmer !

I can remember where I got the information ...but at the time found out the safe height to use an adult seat belt was 150cm ... so we kept our kids in the HBBs as long as we could .

Yes 9 year old, around 137 cm. She doesn't want to give up her HBB!

teacup Ithink the numbers jumped in my head when I read them

It can be awkward arranging the seat and controls properly though.DH's car is not ergonomic for me as the angles to sit high and close enough to see and reach the pedals leave me very squashed up, and my legs cramp up within 40 minutes.

I'm not going to upgrade the HBBs to see the DCs through until they're 2 inches shorter than me. There should be more headline information about the longevity of seats at the point of purchase. Ours would have been purchased before the tightening of rules on boosters, and since having DS1 there has been a shift in car seats through the age groups.

my point is that adult women at 150cm or just under don’t sit on boosters

But they ought to, otherwise they risk the seatbelt cutting into their necks and causing injuries.

and can still drive without a problem but the driver’s seat is height adjustable, which the passenger seats are not.

Very surprised reading this thread.
My just over 150cm 11 yr old is still in HBB - (Kiddy designed for up to 12 yrs old)

I can’t imagine taking my 9 yr old out - it’s not just about height it’s about body composition child v.s adult.

(I am however aware that I am very very car safety minded due to losing family in an RTC)

lots of cars have both front seat belts adjustable for height so they don't cut at neck height

because I'm 5'2 and DH is 5'6 we don't need to adjust much as our legs are about the same length but DH has longer body

The best position by far is rear facing but I imagine there would be consumer and manufacturer resistance to changing all seats to rear facing. Maybe when driverless cars become the norm...

There have been studies done which show women are proportionally more often injured by the seatbelt because seatbelts are designed for average height men, who are taller than women.

If you read the seatbelt standards (pffft who would be sad enough to do that ) they are actually designed for adults over 150cm. So 135cm will be too short in the majority of cars to get a good fit with a seatbelt. You occasionally find it is OK but most children at 135cm will still be better on some kind of booster seat, even just a backless one.

And yes rear facing is safer but there is resistance. Even for the new i-size regulations, apparently safety experts lobbied for the rear facing age to be increased to age 4 but this was pushed back against by car and car seat manufacturers. 15 months was agreed as the compromise as this covers the age period where forward facing leads to the most deaths/serious injuries.

I think once a child has got to the age where they don't need a booster, they are safer in the car without one. Whether it is backed or just a booster I don't think matters, but you shouldn't keep a child on a booster of any sort once they are above the height.