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.

Safety ratings of old cars are not comparable to a modern car for all of the reasons I pointed out.

You do sound like you need some very basic education on car safety given you don’t actually know what you’re looking at.

What you mean is that modern cars have better safety features and receive higher scores. Obviously.

But the basics of the score criteria remain the same, and 84% is still 84% and although not the safest it is still a safe option.

Do your homework, and stop being so snooty.

Also each space on the coach has to be paid for whether anyone is sitting in it or not. Should the OP's child have to pay extra because they require an empty seat next to them? How would this work if lots of parents decide they want their child in a car seat?

Actually I think they will notice - Reception children are savvier than sometimes we think. They will notice and as you say will be used to SEN allowances and will probably chalk it up to that. The OPs daughter will also feel different - it is whether this for the OP is a worthwhile price to pay

@Maybeitsok I feel it is you who isn’t listening. The safety stuff is moot- that isn’t going to change. Having a booster seat on a coach is for your DD safer than not.
Most parents won’t be bothered by the extra safety percentage and will send their children without and no amount of science, data or articles will change their minds. This is true of a lot of things when it comes to schools and other parents so get used to if.

So yes your child will probably be the only one and yes there could be consequences of taking a booster just like their could be consequences of not.

You have to make that choice - alongside many others you will have to make as your child gets older and more and more things happen outside of your control until you no longer have anything to control.

I've just supervised 90 four to five year olds on a coach trip.
The seatbelts fitted fine. The seats would've been too narrow for car seats, they were definitely significantly narrower than a car.
You're very high up on a coach and protected by the structure as well as the seats around you. You're comparing apples to oranges thinking coaches need the same requirements as cars.

Kids use car seats on mini buses because they're low to the ground and not much bigger than cars

It was a safe option 15 years ago against its peers. That is what you are struggling to grasp. It was the best of what was available then.

The EU has made massive strides in safety features over the last 15 years which has improved cars for the better. Things like side impact protection standards have changed. Something that may be a 5 star then is now 0 stars.

Personally I think it’s ridiculous to worry about car seats if you’re going to put your kids at risk by driving about in an old car lacking modern safety features. That might make me snooty, but I’d rather be alive and realistic than dead and right.

A coach is not a car.

Your OP asserts that people are not clued up on car seat safety and that’s why they are not sending their children with a car seat on the coach. This is just wrong and condescending. Do you think you are the only parent in the school that values their child’s safety? Other people are simply better at weighing up risks than you are.

You also say “safety first” but that you want your child to be happy. But they may well not be. They asked themselves if others will be in one so they’re obviously worried about it. If they were oblivious, they’d never have asked. The other children will also not be oblivious, and when they see your child being sat in one of these seats with no one sitting next to them because there’s no room, they will absolutely comment on it and question it. Your child will have to hear the same questions over and over again as each child notices it.

You have no interest in what people are saying. You have decided you are right and everyone else is wrong. So either send them in the seat and let them deal with the attention, the questions, the possible giggles and teasing. Or keep them off completely. Or drive them yourself. They won’t be as safe in your car as they would be in the coach even without a car seat, but you’ll feel good about yourself. Be sure to chaperone them on the trip too incase anything were to happen there.

Sadly there were no safely seats or belts of any kind, this was some years ago before they were mandatory.

A childs spine is not "likely" to snap in the event of a collision.

The risk is higher if forward facing but the risk of a snapped spine in any given car journey is very, very, very low. This is why people don't take rear facing evangelists seriously, using emotive language and telling people that their child is likely to break their spine if they FF. It's simply not true. They might be MORE likely to sustain a spinal injury but the risk of it happening at all is virtually nil considering the amount of car journeys undertaken.

The kids will maybe notice but they are used to children on wobble cushions and children with earphones and perhaps children in nappies etc. I don't think it would be a big deal and any decent teacher would nip any teasing in the bud sharpish. But at reception age they are probably not going to be teasing like they would in year 2/3 upwards.

Don't get me wrong I think it's ott and the school staff with be no doubt rolling their eyes. However there's always a few in every class whose parents are difficult about school trips! I find the parents who insist on going so they can monitor only their child the most annoying as they trail around all day potentially judging the school staff and taking up the ratio numbers. If a parent wanted to take their child in the car I'd say knock yourself out! One less for me on the coach! I'd be less keen to fit a car seat but if the school have said they will do it it's obviously fine with them.

The coach trip is part of the fun. Please just let her take part in it, dc go on hundreds of trips a year, they really are safe. Don't be that parent

My school won't have parent helpers on trips or in class for that very reason, @Allswellthatendswelll

@Dawnb19And be prepared for the school to say no to you driving her. My school won’t allow it, for a start.

I know, it’s madness this kind of thinking. Every aspect of school life helps children learn how to navigate different situations. Kids do all sorts of daft things but cutting the apron strings lets them learn how not to do these things. The teachers will be there looking after the kids for goodness sake.

You’re the one that isn’t grasping things.

I’ve never said it is about total safety, I’ve explained that it is about doing the best you can, to the best of your knowledge. A booster is a small thing to do, but for a lot of safety conscious parents it may not be possible to upgrade from a 2009 Focus for example to a 25 plate Audi Q6 e-tron 🙄

Yes you come across as snooty by bringing up cost!

@Maybeitsok and sometimes doing the best you can with the best of your knowledge involves letting go just a little bit.

You and @Dawnb19 can control the environment for your children forever and school reception trips are the first step in doing so and yes they will both be aware that they aren’t on the coach with all of their friends.

Seatbelts will be mandatory and enforced and safety within a group environment and risk assessments followed.

because on the one hand the safest thing to do is stay at home and not face any outside risk but the other it is the most dangeorus to do due to the impact on your physical and mental health. Life is a constant balancing of the risks and benefits of anything and parenting is teaching our children a sensible approach to that.

Yes there are risks attached to coach travel with your class and school - just like there will be risks attached to whatever trip they are doing. But the benefits of doing it (both mine loved the farm trip they did in reception outweigh that.) Driving your child loses benefits. A booster seat well that depends on the school the child the class and the teacher - using it could outstrip the safety benefits or it may simple even out or it could cause damage and make your child be viewed in a way you don’t want

@Maybeitsok you are fully aware of one side of the scale - take some time to work out the other and balance accordingly

To be fair, PP has a point, if you're this concerned with safety, I'd also assume you were buying the newest, safest car you could afford with all the bells and whistles. It's all about risk, and the risk of a one off coach ride without a booster is far less than multiple car rides in an older, less safe car. Just wanting to point out your thought process might not be entirely logical. I don't think your child will be alienated though, I doubt 5 year olds will even care or notice, they'll be far too excited with their trip. Hope your DC has fun

I do have the newest car with all the bells and whistles we can afford (for this reason!)

Ah OK, I misunderstood! Hope you've taken a defensive driving course too 😉

🤣

Like I said, it’s not about eliminating all risk.

You’re quibbling over a booster seat on a coach, a mode of transport safer than rail travel, and laughing at the thought of a defensive driving course?

Your ability to assess risk is very, very poor.

Agree, if she was good at assessing risk she wouldn’t be driving the child in a car (with rear facing car seat) at all, she’d be walking or using public transport. But the attitude towards others on here speaks volumes. I’d be concerned about all primary school trips being cancelled if even a minority of parents were like this.

If kids needed booster seats on coaches/busses it would be a thing. I’ve never seen kids with car seats or the like on a coach, bus. I think you are being slightly too precious about this. They are going on a coach, not in a car. Entirely different set up. Let your kid have fun on the coach with the other kids.