School-Aged Children
Littlejen22
member
Just curious, I'd your 6yo still in a high
Littlejen22
member
Back booster? This id not meant to start debate but curiosity. I just saw a pic in FB of a kid clearly without one, he is 6 and in first grade and it seems so weird to me. I really think I am the only person IRL that still has their 6yo Kindergartener in a high back booster and I am no where ready to change it.
Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies
Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08
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Re: Just curious, I'd your 6yo still in a high
6 year old in a Frontier, harnessed. She has 1/4 of an inch until her shoulders are over the harness. She can stay there until she's too tall, and then use it as a hbb. Most of her classmates don't use anything since its not mandatory passed their six birthday.
They called her a baby, I told her that if they told her that again, to tell them she's not a baby, she's safe, which is more important to me.
Ugh, that just made me sick both that a state is not concerned enough about safety and that because you are educated on the issue and worried about her safety she gets teased.y son takes the bus to school so no one knows but then again I hate that he is only is a lap belt on the bus, at least it is less than 1/2 mile but still not safe enough, luckily our state requires the belts at all.
We have two boosters in our car, a high back and a backless, because we carpool with a friend and need a seat for her (our town doesn't have busing). Around town I'm fine with Julia riding in either. For long drives or if it's late at night she rides in the high back because it supports her enough to keep her upright while sleeping where when she has fallen asleep (exactly once) in a backless she slumped right out of the shoulder belt.
As long as a child is sitting correctly there's no significant safety difference between a high back and backless, but the high back provides better support, so it's more likely they'll stay in position in that for long rides or while sleeping.
Julia seems to be one of the few in her K class still in a high back, but then Emma is one of the few in her 3 year old preschool class still in a properly fitting harnessed seat (the few still harnessed are mostly in long outgrown seats) and many are in boosters, some backless. So I don't follow what everyone else does around me.
Not weird at all! We kept my son in a booster in my van until he was just about 8 y/o. There are a few reasons for this:
--he barely weighed 60 pounds, and the law in my state is that they're in a booster until 6 years AND 60 lbs.
--when he was only 6, the seatbelt in my van hit him awkwardly unless he was in a booster.
--we were in a pretty serious car accident when he was 6, and he was not injured because the seatbelt fit him correctly in the booster.
I only moved him into a regular seat because he was too tall for the booster.
We have a Sunshine booster and the same model with their new name and they have good side impact protection, a backless booster has no side impact protection so it is not as safe.
Oh, and I should add that our state is 80lbs or 8yo.
There are no standards for testing side impact protection in the US, so there's no verifiable way to know whether or not the manufacturer's claims of side impact protection are true. My daughter's high back booster is a britax parkway, which claims significant side impact protection as well, and it may offer some, may not. We don't actually know. I chose it because it was the tallest booster on the market, gave her a really good belt fit and has a clip in the crotch area that helps her stay positioned well while sleeping. I would love to believe that Sunshine Kids/Diono and Britax have reliable methods for testing side impact protection, but until the NHTSA adds that to their list of criteria it's no more than a marketing tool. Just like JJ Cole claiming their "bundle" me is crash tested to be safe.
This... The one that DD has is more comfortable than if she just had the booster. It also has side lights which is nice for her from time to time... Granted, I could remove the back part of the booster, but she doesn't mind it, so it stays..
She is in our vehicles. If she rides with grandparents or my sister, she's in a backless booster. She's around 50" and 50 lbs, so she's definitely tall enough for the belt to fit properly with just the bottom portion of the booster. She's also usually only on short car rides them. With us, it's more likely that she'll be on a long car ride, and with a high back booster, she can sleep in the car while staying in the right position. I also like the added side impact protection of the high back booster for everyday use. When she outgrows the height limits of the HBB, then we'll move her to a backless until she meets the height requirements (4'9") for a seatbelt only.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
My 7 year old + 4 months is in a low back.
In some southern states (AL. FL, etc) doesn't require boosters after age 6.
DS will be 6 in Feb. He primarily uses a 5-pt harness but he is getting tall so we will switch his seat to highback booster soon. We have a Graco Turbobooster in our secondary car. We will keep him in a highback booster for as long as we can.
DS is 6.5 and is in a Britax Frontier in my car and a Graco Nautilus in DH's car, both used with just a seat belt. I will be moving my DD to both of these seats with the 5 pt harnesses soon (since she is out growing her current seat), and DS will get a new seat. I haven't decided if I will just get a turbo booster for my car and a backless for DH's car or if we will go with 2 HBB. DH leaves all of this to me, and I need to see what fits DS best before I decide.
From what I see of his peers, most of them are in backless boosters. There are a some (usually children that are the only one in their family) that are in HBB. Seems to be the norm for those with more than one child to move them to a backless sooner. At least in my area.
DS is still in a high back booster. It's safer to me because I can better control the belt positioning. The law just changed here in AZ to requiring safety seats up until age 7, but at school drop off this morning, I saw so many kids obviously under 7 without boosters. It makes me want to vomit.