Do You Know Anyone Who DOESN'T Use a Booster in the Car for Their 4-5 Yr Old?

Don't know anyone. My son is almost 7 and is still in a car seat w/ 5 point restraint. Which he will continue until he is 65 lbs.

My kids are all still in 5 point harness car seats - ages 6,4 and almost 2.

I wonder if I would be counted in the "no booster"' category?

My kids are 7 and 10 and are both still in boosters. The problem is that they just raised the weight for boosters here to 80lbs, and my ten year old is small, only 65lbs. He is the only one of his friends still in a booster, and soon he will be in middle school, and probably still have to legally be in a booster. I know he is terribly embarrassed about it, and I feel really bad for him. I don't know anyone who doesn't use boosters for kids who are supposed to be in them, except for time to time when someone is driving an extra kid a short distance, but that is no different than being in a taxi, and taxi's aren't required to use boosters.

Nope, I don't know of anyone either.
Of course the parents who don't bother to follow basic safety laws/recommendations when it comes to their children probably aren't going to be on a site like mamapedia looking for parenting advice, so I doubt you're going to hear from a "broad cross section" here!

No. Here a child must be in some restraint system til they are 8 or big enough to go without one. It's state law.

http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/frs-safe/resou...

DD is in a 5pt harness. She's not yet 35lbs and still RF. I expect she'll turn around by Christmas the way she's been eating. I have not noticed any of her classmates not being in a suitable seat.

If the seat says to use LATCH is it a convertible car seat vs a booster that only positions the belt for the child? Ours has LATCH but it is a convertible seat, not just a booster.

ETA: BAD ARTICLE!!! Great Study

Okay, I just read the study. It ONLY looked at car crashes, and whether children ages that were in them 4&5 were restrained in a device, and their injuries. From 1999-2009.

BAD ARTICLE!!!! BAD ARTICLE!!!
BAD ARTICLE!!!

Boosters weren't even recommended over 2 years of age in 99 in most states. The stupid article is looking at data from a totally great longitudinal study (ALL vehicular injury accidents) over 10 years and totally misinterpreting its data.

The study is looking at whether restraining devices (whole spectrum) in their INCREASED use, is correlated to fewer fatalities. NOT looking at any driver not in an accident, AND not looking at current drivers.

Extrapolating that whatever % of people over 10 years is the same as % of people now is a bad conclusion. With that logic, it would be the same as if we tried to see how many women vote... By looking at 100 years before suffrage (0%) and averaging with the percents in intervening years. Does. Not. Work.

Chicago Tribune Fail.
______________________

I'll bet its a wording issue. (Lost that bet!)

Booster v Carseat v Convertable v 5point

Meaning that if you ask folks around here if they use a booster... The answer is almost universally "No. We use a Convertable." Or "No. We use a 5point" or "No. We're trying to rear face as long as possible."

So... I'd really lay money that it was a study that wasn't written very well OR wasn't performed very well (Like polling people in NYC who don't even own a car (cabs, trains, and busses don't have carseats)... And other populations that use mass transit (poor, etc.) outside of urban no drive zones.

((Which is another problem with representational sampling... In order to really see... One needs to separate out groups. X-million kids in NYC, vs x-million kids in suburbia, vs x-million kids in rural areas. Need to poll all 3. But how does one calculate it? 10% in Urban Type 1 (NYC), 35% in Urban Type2, 97% in Suburban, 92% in rural cant just be added & MEANED (skewed). Can't be Dario's and meaned. (40% of all kids live in urbantype1, so 10% of those = x million, etc.) Extrapolating data in a tiered system is what actuaries are GREAT at, but barely funded gov'ie studies?))

If a study isn't done well, it gets VERY skewed results. Both in phrasing, and in application.

And I cannot imagine that percentage is correct.

My kids were out of booster seats by the time they started kindergarten. I am not sure if I had kids today I would do anything differently, well unless a cop persuaded me.

Beyond that I don't know people with little kids so I don't know. Pretty sure when my daughter starts having kids she will have them in booster seats until they go away to college....

LoveTeachingMath,

Most boosters don't use the latch system, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. I've seen recommendations to use the seatbelt to secure the _empty_ booster seat, though.

I don't KNOW anyone.

However, several times in the past few years I've seen people/a mother in an urban area with 2-3 kids in her car not in a booster...heck not even BUCKLED...standing on the back seat. Literally made me sick.

One I called about, the others I didn't get a chance to before they were gone or for some reason didn't have my cell.

I know my former neighbor doesn't properly install her booster. She just sets it in the seat and doesn't use the LATCh system like the manual says to. Does that count?

ETA: Interesting info regarding not using the LATCH when used as a booster. My thought was always that the seats in a car don't move, so why should the booster, but I'll go back and read my manual!

ETA 2: Okay, I read my manual (I have a 3-in-1 booster) and everything I could find online, and it looks like it all just kind of depends on the booster, but NOTHING I found said NOT to use the LATCH system if it's on the booster. If anyone can find that, can you put up a link?

I don't remember doing a booster for very long, but then again that was back in the 90's/early 2000's. It seems like they are utilized more now (and rightly so).

My son turned 7 in September. He weighs 70lbs and is in the 98% for height.
He still sits in a booster. My other son was out of one at 8 because he is crazy tall. They get to get out of their boosters when they are big enough. I don't care if they like it or not.
L. (Mother to a child that is alive because he was in a car seat when we had our car accident....after 2 months in the PICU)

That's a problem, isn't it? I remember when I lived in GA and saw a little girl bouncing around the back seat, unrestrained. We were next to each other at a stoplight. She looked over at me and I waved and smiled....and then lifted up my seatbelt. She immediately sat back and put her seatbelt on. She was probably 4.

Another very real problem is, like the poster below, they aren't being used properly. Boosters ARE only supposed to be used with the seatbelt. Loveteachingmath, your friend *is* using it properly.

LATCH is NOT to be used with a belt positioning booster seat. A booster seat raises the child so the vehicle lap and shoulder belts fit better. The vehicle seat belt restrains the child, not the booster seat. When properly used, in an accident, the booster supports the child by moving forward and back WITH their body, absorbing some of the pressure caused by the seat belt and holding the belt in the proper position. When you LATCH the booster in, it doesn't move...but the child still does. Serious injuries could result in using LATCH with a booster.

LATCH is for front and rear facing baby seats for children up to 40lbs. Please do not use LATCH with a booster. They aren't safer with LATCH because LATCH wasn't made for boosters.

ETA: AV, that's a good question. Once you convert it to a booster and are using the vehicle seat belt instead of the harness, you should unLATCH it so it functions as a booster. Hope that helps.

ETA again: Loveteachingmath, it has to do with the smaller, more fragile child's body needing to be supported when placed in motion. I was shocked too when I found out, because I thought the same thing. I didn't know until I went to EMT school. :-)

I had a friend that didn't make her kids sit in car seats and I wouldn't ride with them when they didn't. When I had to watch them and take them somewhere it was so hard to get them to sit in them and right. But I wouldn't leave until they were buckled right. They told me at one time they would tell their daddy so when I dropped them off with him I told him and he got onto them. It is not safe to drive with them not in car seats.

Here you have to have the kids in a booster until they are eight or 4'9" tall. My DD is 7 and most of her friends still use boosters.

Both of my boys stayed in boosters until the law of the time/state said so. The oldest was 5, the youngest 8, when we dumped the booster. We didn't use the 5 point harness past 3 or so. Safety counts yes, but some laws are just silly.

I don't know of anyone.

I don't know anyone personally, but look around when you're driving and you will see all kinds of attrocity's when it comes to kids being properly restrained. Also, in many states, the law is not as encompassing as the NTSB reccommendations.

From young ages of daycare, I have seen kids not in a booster seat of any kind. Even in the front seat. Then proceed to grade school, all kinds of kids not in any kind of booster and in the front seat.

I look at it like this, I can't control cancer and many other things that might harm my child, but I can sure as heck control where and how she sits in the car to keep her the most protected. It has been ingrained in her since birth - she doesn't bat an eye at what needs to happen. In fact, when she is with others who don't follow the rules, she flat refuses to sit in the front seat or ride without a seat belt or when younger...ride without a booster seat.

We have a thing called Buckle Buddy in my state (IL), you call it, tell them the license plate of a car and what you say - they mail out educational information about safety and the law for kids in cars. (They don't get arrested or anything, but receive information.)

So, yes, I believe it - after all, unfortunately raising kids doesn't come with a mandatory idiot test.

My daughter is 7 and very tall but we use a booster still otherwise the strap would rub her neck. I know most 3 of her friends don't use boosters at all and they are on the shorter side. I would rather be safe then sorry.

Mine youngest just turned 6y. She is still in her Britax convertible for my car. She's been in a high-back booster for her Dad's car for about 9m when she hit the 40 lbs mark. She wants a booster for my car, but I just haven't had the extra money for a new one.

I know a 4 yr old that is as big as my almost 6 yr old (and she isn't small for her age) that often is not in a carseat/booster seat of any kind. His mother sends him with her boyfriend's mother (not the grandmother) or leaves him with her knowing they have somewhere to go. Allows him to ride with them without a seat. The boyfriend's mother doesn't have one, doesn't insist on one, and still takes the boy with her. I have spoken up several times and am told "I know but it's her son"...I get what she's saying but 1. It's illegal and 2. (most importantly) it's not safe and 3. She (not the mother) would get the ticket if stopped.

I also know a boy that is about to turn 7 and was shocked that my girl is still in a booster. I told him that until he was over 8 (as in turning 9) he should also be in the booster. He has also rode with the same family member I mention above (without a carseat) because his mother doesn't have him sit in one.

I don't know of anyone under 8 that isn't in some form of car seat. Usually high back booster, but still quite a few in 5 point harnesses.

And regarding LATCH with boosters - some boosters are made to use LATCH in conjunction with the belt (I know mine is - Britax Parkway SGL). In this situation, the latch anchors the car seat to the car and the seatbelt is positioned correctly to secure the child. I specifically searched for that feature so that I wouldn't have to make sure the booster seat was buckled even if my child wasn't in it, so as not to become a projectile in a crash. However, not all combination seats that have LATCH are approved to use LATCH when in booster mode. LATCH is never to be used with a seatbelt in securing a seat to the car when using the car seat's internal harness.

Yes, my inlaws. They stopped using boosters when their kids reached 4 yrs old. Their son is 6 and he calls my 4 yr old a baby when he sees her get in her car seat. I don't know if they do make him wear a seat belt.
For us, my 4 yr old is in a Graco Nautilus and once ready, I will remove the back until she is the right size. My older kids were in back boosters until they turned 7 or 8 when they reached the height/weight. My husband has had to take my daughter on short trips without the booster but she is always belted in.
And I have seen plenty of moms driving their cars with their child unrestrained--at all. A kid should not be able to lean into moms or dads seat even in a seatbelt.

my daughter is almost 8 and we just recently stopped using anything for her. At her last check up a few weeks ago, the Dr. measured her height and she is tall enough now to not need one anymore. My husband asked the dr. if it was ok and she said yes because of her height. My son is 5 and he uses his convertable seat as a booster. He will be in it for a while. He is on the shorter side for his age.

I personally don't know anyone who doesn't put a 4 or 5 year old in a booster, but I was under the impression that it wasn't really recommended or a law until 2009. Well it wasn't back in Ohio until 2009 or 2010. There really wasn't much speak of needing one after the age of 4 or 5 until then. I would say those stats might be right with the time they were gathered.

My friend moved her oldest out of a booster around age 6. Legally, she met the requirements at the time (though they have since changed). She tended to do everything earlier than recommended though - turned them forward facing on their first birthdays (and before for her fourth kid), moved the oldest two from harnesses to boosters at age 3 (because she wanted the harness seats for the younger ones). She never did anything illegal and does have very tall/large children, but still, it always seemed way too early to me.

That said, my son is 5 and every single one of his friends rides in some sort of booster or harnessed seat. Most are still in a 5 point harness in their primary car and use a booster when riding with friends, grandparents, etc. Some sit in boosters full time.

My daughter only rides in a booster when she rides with my husband, so maybe once a week. She will be 5 in march. We may out her in a booster full time when the baby comes. I'm thinking of having all three in the second row. We shall see.

Well, I would not put my 4-5-year-old in a booster. They use a high-back booster once they are age 6 (and at least 40 lbs) until about age 10 or 11, whenever they 5-step to fit the bet.

I like the harness before age 6, but I can't imagine putting a 5-year-old in an adult seatbelt and no booster! Yikes! the lap belt would cause internal injuries in an accident. I do see people who do that, every now and then. I don't understand. This is your child's LIFE.

I see them all the time, kids that are less then 6 and not in any type of seat. My neighbor even lets her kids go unbuckled and play on the floor of the van as she drives. Once she was in an accident on the expressway going 60 mph, her then 7 yr old, 4 yr old and 9 yr old were all thrown around as they were on the floor. Her older kids were also hurt. And yet she still wouldn't use boosters.