To be shocked people are actually rear-facing their primary age kids

[EmsandPens]

My DD is 4, 5 in December and we swapped her from rear facing to forward facing in January this year. She started primary school recently and I noticed one of her classmates is still rear facing. I know the family from around town but had never seen them putting their kids in the car before and I know this child is already 5 and has pretty long legs for her age.

I know on Mumsnet it’s quite common to hear people saying rear facing until 6/7 is best but I had never actually seen anyone around here doing it.

AIBU to be shocked people actually rear face their primary age children?
Did you rear face your child past 4?

If rear facing is so much safer - perhaps we should get car manufacturers to make all seats rear facing lol

all my kids switched to front facing after 18ths due to car sickness in rear facing seats.

Great, thanks ☺️

Wow mine are now in their 20s but they were facing forward much earlier, I’d say around 1. When did that all change?

Also all of my car seats were fitted and checked by mothercare staff- not once was I told that rear facing is safer

This ? Poor kids facing a seat

Where do their legs go?

How does this work? Is the size of the car a factor here? I can see it would work in a 4x4 but would BF a tall 5 year old in a small car like a Ayo work? Is this why there are so many 4x4 on the school run?

Disclaimer - mine are grown up and it definitely wasn’t the done thing then but I am intrigued how it works.

My son starts school tomorrow, he still rear-faces. Evidence suggests it’s safer and why am I going to pay ££ on a new car seat before I actually need to. He doesn’t care that he’s rear facing and he’s comfortable. He will likely change to forward facing at the beginning of next year as his younger brother will grow out of his car seat so we’ll move him to 4 year olds car seat and get 4 year old a new car seat.

i’m more concerned by parents forward facing their 1 year olds or putting 2 year olds in a high back booster with a seat belt to be honest rather than people still rear-facing their 4 year olds. At least I know my child is as safe as he can be if we had an accident.

It's not exactly shocking, is it. Just a (sensible) choice parents make. My son's forward facing now as he's 6, but he was definitely more comfortable rear-facing and since we got the new seat he often complains about pins and needles in his feet when we're on long drives.

I was shocked to see friends forward-facing tiny toddlers, but I guess not everyone is aware of how much safer rear-facing is.

I'd get this comment from someone who hasn't rear faced OP but the fact you've done it until now means you know the benefits.

At 4yr old, my child wasn't heavy enough to move to the next stage carseat. Why would I buy a carsest to use for a year for the sole reason of having them forward facing?

What do you think forward facing children are facing 😆 (unless you're putting them in the passenger seat and then you're definitely an unfit parent!)

You can buy crash tested foot rest but they are not super cheap.

Adults have different proportions to a child.

My son is almost 4 and still rearward facing. We are the only ones at his preschool still doing it

I’m shocked you’re shocked, do you actually understand why kids should be rear facing for as long as possible? Ask any person that’s been involved with traffic collisions and young children in car seats and you’ll want your kids rear facing until their 20!!

Look at Axkid,BeSafe or britax they are 3 of the extended rear facing brands. There’s a few others but I can’t remember.

Over the years we have thankfully learnt more about road safely and how to ensure children are safe travelling.

DS is 15, when he was little I was thought mad for keeping him rear facing until 18 months. Now that would be deemed the very minimum for many and we know that ERF is shown to be significantly safer.

Same with my DC, and me on trains.

Maybe it’s because everyone at my kids’ school (in London) walks to school, but I have no idea what people’s car seat set ups are. I don’t tend to look in the windows of random cars I see out and about either so I find it odd that so many can confidently say that no one in their local area does it.

My 90th centile 7yo was rear facing until he was 6.5 in an Axkid Minikid and very comfortable. My almost 5yo is in it now and will be until she outgrows it.

Like a pp my in laws have been weird about it - constantly asking if their legs are squished/uncomfortable. I think some people take these kind of things as criticisms of their parenting and get very defensive about it.

The Axkid movekid or minikid both go up quite high. I can't remember the minikid weight, but the movekid goes upto 36kg RF. My son has it, and its pretty roomy!

I’ve never seen a rear facing seat for an older dc. How do they get in? I’m struggling to visualise it.
I can see how the view might be better, less need to stretch and turn to see out.

Everyone is safer rear facing but children under age 6 still have a head that's proportionally bigger so are still particularly vulnerable faced forward. Ideally kids should be rf until 6 as before that they are more vulnerable to severe neck injury.

I don't know why you're so shocked when yours rear faced almost as long.
My middle rear faced until gone 5, when he started to complain his legs hurt and was getting travel sick. Will do the same with littlest. We have an axkid Move.
I don't know anyone else who rear faces beyond about 2 though.
I'm honestly not sure how anyone uses them until 6 or 7 though, even if the kid would fit, the seat wouldn't fit in the car on those settings. And we don't have a small car.

Fab thank you! Will have a look at it. 😊 xx