Booster seat on coach for reception school trip?

[Maybeitsok]

My just turned 5 year old is going on a school trip soon via busy dual carriageway to another city, journey time approx 45 min each way. They are still in a rear facing car seat with me, which is all they know, and how they will continue until they outgrow it at 36kg or 125cm tall. They’re currently only 16kg and 107cm!

Anyway, I was reluctant to let them go on the coach but have decided to do so but with a booster seat, so I’ve bought a carry on portable one that’ll be easy enough to use.

Thing is, they’ve asked if it’s just them that’ll have this kind of seat, and it probably will be, since people aren’t that clued up on car seat safety it seems.

Has anyone else sent their 4/5 year old with a booster before? I’m fearful they’ll be ridiculed but then again not sure considering their age. Safety first in my opinion, but want them
happy too.

OP’s notion that not using an oven for fear of a fire is irrational just shows that she isn’t looking at the whole picture.

Nothing is 100% safe. My gran doesn’t use an oven anymore because she’s at risk of falling and doesn’t want that to happen when she’s left the oven on, so she cooks using the microwave only and we do oven meals for her when we visit. So sometimes that is a logical and rational fear. You have to look at the whole picture.

If we wanted to be as safe as possible all the time when driving we’d all be driving about backwards like in Captain Scarlet!

If you’re that concerned with safety she’s far safer in that coach without a car seat than she is driving about in a car with you in a car seat. The one off trip in a coach is a much lower percentage risk than driving her anywhere regularly.

I think if you make your 5 year old stand out like this it will inevitably invite negative comments from the least kind of the others. They’ll be called ‘a baby’ and it may even lead to ongoing teasing. It will ultimately do more damage than good. Please don’t do it.

It’s been constant on this post which is why I said on this post. I didn’t say for every other point in your life. But on this specific point I stand by what I said.

Your eye roll while childish unfortunately just shows you are unwilling to think anyone that doesn’t agree with you should be lashed out at.

Let your kid get on a bus and take the trip with their classmates. Otherwise keep your kid home.

How do you know they'll have space to give her a double seat to herself?

Part of the fun of going on a school trip is sitting with friends.

Just a thought for your DGran an airfryer might also be a good option for her. I have a friend with a bad back who mentioned loving hers because of taste and easier on her back.

That's also a good point.

Yeah. I mean it's a coach, not a car. I actually do get where you are coming from, but I think you will look slightly OTT insisting on the booster. If you are that worried why not drive him yourself or ask to be a parent helper and carry the booster seat with you. The teachers don't need the extra hassle.

Years ago, but a child who had moved from our primary school was in a school minibus accident and was killed.

"but honestly made me understand why there are so few fatalities of bus/ coach passengers as the vehicle is heavy and the passengers raised"

That's part of the reason. The other part is that bus drivers are trained to a far higher standard than the majority of road users (the test is harder and demands a degree of awareness and planning that is not required to pass a car test) and also in terms of experience - bus/coach drivers are on the road all the time, it's what they do. Sure, accidents still happen, and sure some of them are more skilled/experienced than others, but most car drivers are not even close (although most of them think they are !!)

This is why it is much safer to use buses rather than drive your children everywhere in private cars thinking they are safer just because they are with you.

And for the sake of our cherished childrens' futures, yes we do need to get them used to using public transport - all of us driving everywhere in private cars is not wise or sustainable.

It is unusual not to find three point harnesses with adjustable straps on coaches these days. Transfer of children is a huge part of any coach company's livelihood so yes, the straps tend to be adjustable for children.

Send a booster seat if you want to. You are the parent, that is your call. It will be nice for your child to see out of the window - probably the other children will be envious rather than mean about it! And even if the vehicle has to do another job before picking them up, there is plenty of space in the luggage lockers underneath to store the seat - just make sure the driver knows, in case it isn't the same vehicle for the return journey.

I’d love that but she’d look at it like it was a UFO landed in her kitchen. She can manage the microwave but she won’t entertain any new technology

Having worked in a school for many years and organised trips on coaches/buses/trains, I would hazard a guess that the staff prefer to fit the seat themselves. The last thing they need is an anxious parent fussing when they are trying to settle a group of excited 4&5 year olds.

I am rather confused as to why you started this thread. You have the agreement from the school, you are insistent that a booster is essential for your child’s survival and do not accept that it would cause your child any stress/embarrassment/anxiety. You have been rather aggressive with your replies to people who have tried to reassure you that the risk is less than when you drive your child.

So just do it. I do hope your child enjoys their day.

I also have no idea why this thread was started but also have no idea why I’m so invested lol

Honestly OP, just do what you like. You have permission from anyone who gets a vote. Your kid will either be fine or be teased, either option is fine. I have made some decisions for my kids that aren’t popular too.

The best comment I saw here was to just be careful about how you explain this to your kid and avoid saying or implying other people’s parents don’t care as much as you do, or anything like that. Your child is likely to repeat a version of whatever they hear over and over again to exactly who you wish they wouldn’t so just think about your language carefully.

it is entirely possible to love your children and value their safety and still think the risk of sitting on a coach without a car seat is acceptable. It doesn’t make you better than those parents, which unfortunately is very much the tone you’ve had here - but appreciate that tone is really hard to get across online.

Hope your child has a fun trip

It is the fixation on it rather than the actual thing you are fixated upon that is the reason you come across like this.

washing your hands, checking the lights are off and shutting the door to your house are all normal things everyone does. Checking multiple times is not and with this you are veering into multiple times territory

that is the difference

look it is hard letting your children go on things like this for the first time - doing something that you cannot control and it looks potentially like that is your struggle and you are focusing on making it as safe as you can

Did you even read anything I said? Doesn’t seem so.

If it makes you feel more comfortable and doesn’t impact the trip itself or put the staff in a position of having to fit it or carry it around, then use the car seat. The other option would be to drive him yourself and offer (to parents) to take any of the other children who may get travel sick on a coach, so your son doesn’t completely miss out. You may need business insurance for this, which doesn’t cost a lot and written permission.

I really struggle with this mentality. We are an extended rear facing family but we also have 2 very safe cars with 5 star NCAP ratings with >85% for passenger protection.

Unless you’re backing up an ERF with an equally safe car, it’s sort of pointless. You’re absolutely done for in a crash. A coach is much safer than a typical car in this regard, booster seat or no booster seat.

An ERF does nothing if your car is folded like a pack of cards. The ERF groups are full of people wondering what £600 seat to put in their £1,200 car with no recognition of the more global safety issue at stake.

I am aware of that.

Our car is extremely safe, and this was a consideration of ours when we had children.

So you can grasp that a coach is much safer than a car then?

Of course it is…. With proper restraints.

By the way, I’ve just found a car literally half the price of ours with a NCAP rating 1% higher than ours for children’s safety.

Bold of you to bring money in it. A rear facing car seat is still obviously safer than FF in a less safe car.

No, what is safe is not getting into a car accident. NCAP is an assessment of not only how likely you are to survive a crash, but how likely you are to get into one in the first place.

You can stick your fingers in your ears all you like but travelling in a coach is many orders of magnitude safer for passengers than virtually any car.

And yes, generally price is correlated with safety given that the EU has massively strengthened car safety standards over the last 15 years. Basics like automatic daytime running lights are lacking from many pre-2010 cars.

Also, if your car is used you can’t compare it to the NCAP for any newer years. It gets progressively harder each year.

Another one that chooses what they want to hear.

I’ve repeatedly acknowledged that a coach is safer than a car; and I have clearly stated that my wish was to follow expert advise and make it even safer.

So what’s the issue then? Be that parent that insists on a booster. Why are you taking to Mumsnet to argue your point?

You can’t be that confident in your “expert” advice if you need to argue with people on the internet about it.

Gosh, how insufferable. I wish people would read before commenting.

I posted because I was concerned about alienating my child, as I already knew that not many others, if any, would use a booster.

I don’t need any eduction on car or car seat safety.

By the way. I’ve just found a 2009 car with a 84% child safety rating. Not bad, eh? It’s listed for £2,000 😉

You won't alienate your child if they are in reception. I seriously doubt the other kids will notice. Different accommodations are made for children all the time due to SEN etc.

Do make sure the seat can stay in the coach so no one has to carry it or store it as that would be unfair to school staff.

You are in my opinion, and lots of other people on this thread's, being ott and the school will probably think you are as well. But it's obviously very important to you and they are willing to accommodate it so go for it.

Thanks for the balanced post and reply to my actual question.

It’s quite refreshing to read a normal, adult response that isn’t insulting me.