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Original poster

A quick poll on heights of older children please

35 replies

Posey · 06/09/2006 21:57

Do the new car seat law makers really think that kids only reach 135cm at age 12 or thereabouts? My dd was that height before she was 8 and at 9.3 is about 142cm. I know she's quite tall but doesn't seem that odd!
So how tall are your 12 year olds or how old were they at 135cm if you know.
Just interested.

OP posts:
hulababy · 06/09/2006 21:59

Think the height given is more the height they have decided is that required to be safe in an adult car seat belt.

And that the alternative 11 years old is when the body is ready to deal with the seat belt.

Don't think the height and the age are necessarily meant to match IYSWIM.

albosmum · 06/09/2006 22:00

ds1 was about 135cm at ten and is now nearly 11 and is 138cm but he is one of the shortest in his class

Original poster
Posey · 06/09/2006 22:02

Not quite sure I follow hula!
Surely height is height regardless of age. Could they not just have stated a height?

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeaWitch · 06/09/2006 22:07

Ds2 is 13.5 and currently is c165 cm.

I have a height chart in the kitchen - a lot of the ink has rubbed off but approximately:

DD1 (10th centile) 135 cm: age 11.0; 150 cm: age 13
DD2 (75th centile) 135 cm: age 9.0; 150cm: age 11
DS1 (50th centile) 135 cm: age 9.3; 150cm: age 12
DS2 (90th centile?) 135 cm: age 8.4; 150cm: age 11??

Ladymuck · 06/09/2006 22:07

Insane law IMO. I see the penalties are meant to be fixed penalty fines (no points). Can't wait to see how this gets enforced. Are police relly goign to stop you to see what the height and age of all your passenegers are? Or whether you are giving Johnny a lift home as a one-off, or as a regular passenger he needed a seat.

They haven't yet policed mobile phones whilst driving very well, and that tends to be more straightforward.

UrsulatheSeaWitch · 06/09/2006 22:08

I think age is relevant too because the head size/neck strength is more relative to age than height.

MrsApronstrings · 06/09/2006 22:09

just measured dd1 - she is 10 and 131cm. she is on btwn the 9th and 25th centiles for her age - generally wears age 8 clothes - so I can't imagine there will be many 12 year olds who aren't tall enough. I am glad about the new laws - I always make her ride in a booster (which a lot or her friends don't now) I think it will make it easier to be firm with them. not that I was wavering. We had a bad side impact car crash last yr and because they were in the correct seats all my children were entirely unhurt - I was black and blue all over and burnt from the air bag

UrsulatheSeaWitch · 06/09/2006 22:11

I agree, Mrs as - this law may be hard to police but at least it will (or should anyway) make people think about how to carry kids safely in cars.

Original poster
Posey · 06/09/2006 22:13

Good point UrsulatSW.
Not sure how easy it will be to enforce. You're right about the mobile phones still being used and you can clearly see that from outside the car.

OP posts:
Loshad · 06/09/2006 22:15

my Ds3 is 140cm and he's not 9 yet. The new laws are making it harder for me to keep him i his booster seat as he's seen all the stuff and pointed out to me that he's over the limit
agree about policing mobile phones, whenever someone is driving oddly round a roundabout or similar round here you can bet they have their phone clamped to their ear.

alexsmum · 06/09/2006 22:20

my ds is 6 and about 134 cm. he will be satying in car saet regardless of being over the limit iyswim.

nappyaddict · 06/09/2006 22:23

i was tiny - only about 134cm when i was 12 i think. otoh a friends daughter is 9 next week and is that now.

Stargazer · 06/09/2006 22:30

My DS is 10½ and he is 150cm!! Hasn't needed a booster seat for some while.

snorkle · 07/09/2006 12:02

Message withdrawn

Piffle · 07/09/2006 12:20

my ds is 12
He is 160 cms
He is bloody tall he comes up to my nose Which is not great as being a 12 yr odl boy he has that adolescent whiff about him

Original poster
Posey · 07/09/2006 14:53

Snorkle - you made it all crystal clear. I never realised all that. Thank you

OP posts:
Tawny75 · 07/09/2006 15:30

My DD is 7 and is 4ft 4" Which I believe is about 134 cm

She has grown an inch in 6weeks!

She uses a booster seat in some cars but not in mine, its a P reg Clio and the seatbelts are set really low.

mumfor1standfinaltime · 07/09/2006 15:43

This is interesting. The new law is puzzling me too. I have ds in a car seat which is meant for 'upto 3 yrs' and he is already getting too big for it. He is 20 months and 102cm tall on last visit to hv. I am looking for new seat at the moment.
I was chatting to a neighbour who said 'do you measure them with shoes on as x is over 135cm with shoes on?!!'

Bozza · 07/09/2006 15:54

Was she joking? Shoes aren't really going to make much of a difference in a sitting position are they?

Bozza · 07/09/2006 15:55

Your DS sounds tall. My DD is 87cm and she is 2.3

mumfor1standfinaltime · 07/09/2006 16:07

No I'm sorry to say she wants joking. I didn't know what to say! lol.
Ds is tall and I find it difficult with clothes too as he is so skinny. It bugs me how things are always measured as weights (ds is average weight, whatever that is) and ages but ds is tall for his age! Grr!
When you read car seat info in a shop it says age 9m to 3yr but ds already seems like he needs a new seat as he is so long his feet can't 'hang over' the 'baby car seat'. He seems to need a booster style seat, I think??!

3andnomore · 07/09/2006 16:09

Ladymuck...what I find insane is, that such law is actually needed to make people realsie that they may put their childrens life in danger!
That is truely somehting I do not understand at all....!

mumfor1standfinaltime · 07/09/2006 16:09

Dh says he will be the new Peter Crouch!

mumfor1standfinaltime · 07/09/2006 16:09

3andnomore, totally agree.

Bozza · 07/09/2006 16:13

You can get booster seats that have integral straps (ie 5 point harness) but are booster seat shaped and then as the child gets older you can remove the straps. Would that kind of thing be an idea? The main problem with booster seats is that they are not so good when the child (especially a young one) is sleeping.