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.

One leg either side of the head rest I presume?

They just face backwards the same as a younger child does. They tend to put their legs in a basket or just wherever is comfortable for them really. Children tend to sit in weird positions compared to adults anyway 😂Mine have never complained of sore or squashed legs at all. But now nearing 6 we're looking at forward facing seats but that's only because of my own physical limitations with getting them into their seats in our car. Forward facing seats will just be easier for the climbing and strapping in parts. Otherwise they would be rear facing until they grew out of the seat which would be around 7 years old.

@Maybeitsok just send her on the coach with the booster! It seems like a happy medium, she’s safer and so your anxiety is reduced, but she also doesn’t miss out on the fun coach trip/group experience.

I’ve only read op’s posts not the whole thread, but the coaches used in school trips that I went on at primary age often had 6 seats per row - 3 each side of the aisle. Are you sure that a booster will fit?

I thought about this when DS first went on school trips at a similar age as we also rear faced till 6/7. I can’t remember but we might have used one when he went on a nursery trip but I think in the end I decided not to send him with one. Now he is a teenager and there are risks associated with lots of things he does. He went on a coach for a ski trip. You read about coaches crashing on the icy roads near ski resorts and children dying fairly regularly in the paper. There are going to be inherent risks with lots of things your children do and as they grow up you learn that you have no control over those risks unless you wrap them in cotton wool and never let them do anything. It’s really hard when they are little to get into that mindset but my advice to you now OP is that you can’t mitigate all the risks your child will face and sometimes we have to let go and let them do things with their peers they will enjoy. Yes you might reduce the risk of you send a booster seat but at what age do you let go and stop trying to go that extra step to protect them. Older children and adults can also be injured in coach crashes so the risk will never go away.

The teachers will be hyper vigilant on checking seat belts are on, especially if you explain she takes hers off in your car. Surely the coach is actually easier to ensure she has it refastenend than in your car?

I think I understand what you’re asking now

and I think the answer is that no one will
care except the teachers. And then it’s just about logistics - you’ll likely want to show them how to install the seat. It’s somewhat likely that your child will need to sit in the front with the adults as she won’t be able to just jump on the coach and sit wherever as someone will need to install the seat properly, but that’s not a huge deal. None of them will know any different anyway. I’d just clarify if you’re mean to have a bag for your daughter to carry it around during the trip or if it can be stored somewhere during the day and carry on with your plan.

I am not here to debate car seats and front facing and etc etc. All parents have a million choices to make every single day and we all
do the best we can with many different combinations of factors. I know plenty of
my friends were a bit bemused by how long I carried on cutting up grapes - the risk just got into my head and I couldn’t ignore it. So that amount of faff was worth it for me to never second guess myself. Everyone has to work out the lines for themselves.

@Maybeitsok Yes, many of the newer coaches will adjust to a very small child.
Our rural school coach picks up P1/reception children (my own included) and the belts fit.

Also, coaches are limited to 62mph on dual carriageways but invariably travel slower than that on short journeys because of how long it takes to get up to speed and other drivers!

Can I ask which booster you’ve got - a smaller weight/height one would be useful for our family holiday as we have one DC who is very close to the line for HBB to BS and I can’t decide which to take. A BS would be a lot easier!

Well, yes, but the possibility is still there that this might be ok.

I mean, not everything in life is a risk. If it is, then we'd all be happy to stay at home and do nothing🤷‍♀️

Agreed. It seems a tad excessive in terms of anxiety IMHO.

Whispering quietly- how did I get to be almost 60? Car seats were not a thing when I was a baby (carry cot laid on back seat) and seat belts didn't exist in most cars until the 80s... My own children forward faced because rear facing seats didn't exist except for baby carriers (SUVs were not really a thing so they could reach the floor of the small car I drove as they were pretty tall as youngsters and booster seats were gone completely before secondary school age). I know that regulations and laws change but some common sense is also required and humans appear to be rather lacking of it these days..... OP the best advice you've had is from @Maybeitsok who has relevant knowledge and although you have obviously read her post you have chosen to ignore that the belts are adjustable to accommodate very small passengers (I.e. children).

I am fully aware it is not as dangerous, but it also not “safe”

OP, I get that this is a massive concern for you but booster seats don't make road travel safe either.

I'm really sorry to be the srsehole who does it but the word is ROOT.

When my daughter was I think in year 1 (her first school trip as they had none in reception that year due to covid) I sent her highback booster in for them to use, BUT it was a mini bus.
Coaches only tend to have lap belts alot of the time.
I get it's hard feeling like the only safety conscious one! I have been there many times with things.
And you don't want your child to feel like the odd one out or be excluded (although at 5 I don't think they'd notice that much)
Although the chances of a crash are slim, and a coach would likely come off much better than a car if the worst did happen, I don't think I would have wanted my reception age child going on fast roads 45min trip on a coach with just a lap belt at that age.
Think I would have driven up/back and met them there tbh.

Did I ignore it? Or did I respond to them direct thanking them for their reply and asking further questions?

Your mentality baffles me. People used to dance around in asbestos and were told smoking was perfectly safe. Obviously, we know differently now so we behave and act differently. Obviously.

Sorry missed this update....I would definitely send a HBB then! And think they should actively be encouraging parents to do so really.

"in certain instances..." as handily shown by the car seat manufacturer.

Seriously though, the 5 times safer thing only comes into play IF you crash. A rear facing car seat doesn't make you 5 times less likely to crash. The biggest risk is the risk of the crash, after that you're into multiplying risks of 0.0001% by five.

Children this size and age have been going on coaches for school strips for forever, they don’t need booster seats, imagine the teacher having to organise 30 of them on the morning of the trips they’d end up missing the whole day! The seatbelts are different on these coaches. I know because I teach 4/5 year olds and we have to ensure that they are the seatbelts that go across their tummy and not the usual ones we use in a car x

Nope. Thought didn't even cross my mind.

My daughter's Reception class went on a class trip recently. Not quite long a journey as yours ,(about 30 minutes), and went along a busy A road. One that unfortunately does see its fair share of accidents and fatalities. Not one of my daughter's class used a booster seat when they went on their trip. I was a parent helper, so I know for sure. Everyone kept their seat belt on, and a good time was had by all. The coach driver was a lovely gentleman, and other than scraping the kerbs on some of the tight turns in town got us there and back safely.

But then the main bus route from our town to the closest city goes on said major A road. I can't drive, so regularly take my kids on the bus into the city. When they were littler I kept them strapped in their buggy. Since the age of 3, they sit next to me on the bus.

If it will give you peace of mind, send them with the booster. But truthfully, I think you're letting your previous experience and anxieties get the better of you.

The only way to be completely 'safe' is to stay off the roads

Stats?

Honestly, 5 year olds won't give 2 hoots about your little one being in a booster. It's also highly unlikely that she'll have to cart it round all day as coaches will usually stay, unless it's only a mile or two away and if not, there will be a base where they can leave bags, lunches etc.
When the primary school I taught at had their own minibus, we had a set of boosters for when smaller children were being transported.

Sure, but we also currently face an epidemic of childhood anxiety and mental health issue, and there is good evidence that a lot of this is connected with the overreaching safety culture (both because of kids picking up on parents' anxieties, and kids losing their freedom of movement and independence). Not all of the growth in safetyism has been positive, and it's a bit tiresome when every new safety must-have gets defended on the grounds of "Well, people used to think asbestos was fine!"

Getting really OTT about car seats absolutely does have costs: it leads to avoidance of public transport, restrictions on trips and days out, it makes carpooling very hard, it forces everyone into bigger and bigger cars (which, ironically, endangers other people on the road and may lead to things like "frontovers"), and it causes parents to delay having more children and sometimes aging out of fertility in the meantime as a result. The shrill tone on "car seat groups/Facebook pages" is incredibly annoying and suggests a bad case of tunnel vision. What about having broader conversations re car dependency and the sheer amount of time that kids and families are spending in cars in the first place?

You do you.
As you say, road safety is especially important to you. We all have things that are important to us and may seem a bit odd to others. Own it and don’t worry about anyone else.
it’s very unlikely any other kid will have a booster but at that age they’re also unlikely to be mean to yours about it.

I wish all the energy people put into car seat dogma & disputes could be put into making our roads safer.