What’s with people getting angry that kids are in carseats longer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents definitely rolled their eyes and had that “you baby them too much” attitude about car seats. I like to remind them that they are the parenting generation that needed a reminder at 10pm that they were parents and needed to check where their children were.

I hear where you’re coming from, but that was more related to how independent kids used to be. I’m 43 and I was an “outside morning until bedtime” kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents definitely rolled their eyes and had that “you baby them too much” attitude about car seats. I like to remind them that they are the parenting generation that needed a reminder at 10pm that they were parents and needed to check where their children were.

I hear where you’re coming from, but that was more related to how independent kids used to be. I’m 43 and I was an “outside morning until bedtime” kid.

I don’t know about you, but I was independent because I was a latchkey kid and I had to be.

[Anonymous]

I know someone whose 7yo is the size of a 4yo. Their kid naturally sits in a front facing car seat. It’s not a question of age, it’s a height/weight issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a lot of anger and animosity from (mostly) older folks regarding current guidelines for child passenger safety.

My 3.5-year-old is rear-facing carseat and my 7-year-old is in a backed booster with a harness. For some reason my father and father-in-law are extremely bothered by this. When I told my dad that both boys will be in some type of booster in the back seat until they’re 4’11” or 12 (whichever comes first) his head spun and he let out a guttural groan like he had been punched in the stomach.

We follow the recommendations of the NHTSA, CDC’s Child Passenger Safety and our pediatricians office. I don’t see a reason not to? My kids have never complained. They are always comfortable. They’re petite for their age and aren’t prone to car sickness so thank God I don’t have to worry about queasiness with the rear facing. They both will fall asleep in the car if the drive is longer than 30 minutes and so I don’t have to worry about them slumping over. Their peers are in similar carseats and booster seats and the older has never mentioned being embarrassed. Why not? Car accidents and guns are the two leading cause of deaths for children under 16 and I really have very little control about either but if I can give my children a decreased chance of serious injury or death in the event of a car accident why not?

So many older people seem to have survivors bias about it all.

“Back in my day we just sat in the back of the car and we turned out fine!” Well, I’m sure many didn’t and I don’t think car fatalities were nearly as common in the 1950s.

Same thing with helmets. Drives my dad crazy! “You never wore a helmet growing up and you were fine!”

Yeah. Thank God I didn’t crash and hit my head. I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you because I could’ve had a TBI. My kids gonna wear a helmet. Why on earth would they not? So they can look cooler to a bunch of 65-year-old men?

And I’ve seen ads for carseats and booster seats on social media and the comments are similar (yes, I know Facebook comments are always going to be the worst humanity has to offer). But there are so many people actually ANGRY that a 8-year-old is in a booster. Like angry and throwing out wild theories, “they’re trying to make our kids soft!” “This is why men can’t be men anymore!!” Just true insanity.

Why on earth does decreasing the chances of your kid being seriously injured or killed seem to trigger an entire generation?

Because they’re still little. Your oldest is 7? When he’s in 4th grade, get back to us and let us know how he feels about climbing into a booster seat in front of his friends from school.

My kid will be 12 in a few months and in sixth grade. She still uses a booster, even with friends in the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a lot of anger and animosity from (mostly) older folks regarding current guidelines for child passenger safety.

My 3.5-year-old is rear-facing carseat and my 7-year-old is in a backed booster with a harness. For some reason my father and father-in-law are extremely bothered by this. When I told my dad that both boys will be in some type of booster in the back seat until they’re 4’11” or 12 (whichever comes first) his head spun and he let out a guttural groan like he had been punched in the stomach.

We follow the recommendations of the NHTSA, CDC’s Child Passenger Safety and our pediatricians office. I don’t see a reason not to? My kids have never complained. They are always comfortable. They’re petite for their age and aren’t prone to car sickness so thank God I don’t have to worry about queasiness with the rear facing. They both will fall asleep in the car if the drive is longer than 30 minutes and so I don’t have to worry about them slumping over. Their peers are in similar carseats and booster seats and the older has never mentioned being embarrassed. Why not? Car accidents and guns are the two leading cause of deaths for children under 16 and I really have very little control about either but if I can give my children a decreased chance of serious injury or death in the event of a car accident why not?

So many older people seem to have survivors bias about it all.

“Back in my day we just sat in the back of the car and we turned out fine!” Well, I’m sure many didn’t and I don’t think car fatalities were nearly as common in the 1950s.

Same thing with helmets. Drives my dad crazy! “You never wore a helmet growing up and you were fine!”

Yeah. Thank God I didn’t crash and hit my head. I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you because I could’ve had a TBI. My kids gonna wear a helmet. Why on earth would they not? So they can look cooler to a bunch of 65-year-old men?

And I’ve seen ads for carseats and booster seats on social media and the comments are similar (yes, I know Facebook comments are always going to be the worst humanity has to offer). But there are so many people actually ANGRY that a 8-year-old is in a booster. Like angry and throwing out wild theories, “they’re trying to make our kids soft!” “This is why men can’t be men anymore!!” Just true insanity.

Why on earth does decreasing the chances of your kid being seriously injured or killed seem to trigger an entire generation?

Because they’re still little. Your oldest is 7? When he’s in 4th grade, get back to us and let us know how he feels about climbing into a booster seat in front of his friends from school.

My kid will be 12 in a few months and in sixth grade. She still uses a booster, even with friends in the car.

Your exception does not prove the rule that this is common or even necessary or that the kids still sitting in the booster at an advanced age don't mind. Plus the PP was talking about a boy.

[Anonymous]

I have a theory!
I bet the people who still have or plan to have 11 year olds in boosters are the SAME people who are still masking indoors. I also bet the people who stopped using boosters early or the second they could get away with transitioning are the SAME people who resented masking and stopped as soon as they were allowed.
Amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a lot of anger and animosity from (mostly) older folks regarding current guidelines for child passenger safety.

My 3.5-year-old is rear-facing carseat and my 7-year-old is in a backed booster with a harness. For some reason my father and father-in-law are extremely bothered by this. When I told my dad that both boys will be in some type of booster in the back seat until they’re 4’11” or 12 (whichever comes first) his head spun and he let out a guttural groan like he had been punched in the stomach.

We follow the recommendations of the NHTSA, CDC’s Child Passenger Safety and our pediatricians office. I don’t see a reason not to? My kids have never complained. They are always comfortable. They’re petite for their age and aren’t prone to car sickness so thank God I don’t have to worry about queasiness with the rear facing. They both will fall asleep in the car if the drive is longer than 30 minutes and so I don’t have to worry about them slumping over. Their peers are in similar carseats and booster seats and the older has never mentioned being embarrassed. Why not? Car accidents and guns are the two leading cause of deaths for children under 16 and I really have very little control about either but if I can give my children a decreased chance of serious injury or death in the event of a car accident why not?

So many older people seem to have survivors bias about it all.

“Back in my day we just sat in the back of the car and we turned out fine!” Well, I’m sure many didn’t and I don’t think car fatalities were nearly as common in the 1950s.

Same thing with helmets. Drives my dad crazy! “You never wore a helmet growing up and you were fine!”

Yeah. Thank God I didn’t crash and hit my head. I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you because I could’ve had a TBI. My kids gonna wear a helmet. Why on earth would they not? So they can look cooler to a bunch of 65-year-old men?

And I’ve seen ads for carseats and booster seats on social media and the comments are similar (yes, I know Facebook comments are always going to be the worst humanity has to offer). But there are so many people actually ANGRY that a 8-year-old is in a booster. Like angry and throwing out wild theories, “they’re trying to make our kids soft!” “This is why men can’t be men anymore!!” Just true insanity.

Why on earth does decreasing the chances of your kid being seriously injured or killed seem to trigger an entire generation?

Because they’re still little. Your oldest is 7? When he’s in 4th grade, get back to us and let us know how he feels about climbing into a booster seat in front of his friends from school.

My kid will be 12 in a few months and in sixth grade. She still uses a booster, even with friends in the car.

Your exception does not prove the rule that this is common or even necessary or that the kids still sitting in the booster at an advanced age don't mind. Plus the PP was talking about a boy.

Oh please. Because girls are known for being less image conscious than boys and less cognizant of social norms. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a theory!
I bet the people who still have or plan to have 11 year olds in boosters are the SAME people who are still masking indoors. I also bet the people who stopped using boosters early or the second they could get away with transitioning are the SAME people who resented masking and stopped as soon as they were allowed.
Amirite?

Nope. PP with nearly 12 year old I. A booster. I Hated masking and only did it when required.
My kid is quite small height and weight wise and the seatbelt doesn’t fit her without the booster. Why on earth would we not use it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to see an 11 year old in a high back booster. Good luck with that.

My 11 year old is 53 inches tall and we haven't removed our high back boosters from the car yet.

This is very very small. My 11 year old is always in the front row of group pictures, never the absolute shortest but one of them, and he is 58/59 inches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a lot of anger and animosity from (mostly) older folks regarding current guidelines for child passenger safety.

My 3.5-year-old is rear-facing carseat and my 7-year-old is in a backed booster with a harness. For some reason my father and father-in-law are extremely bothered by this. When I told my dad that both boys will be in some type of booster in the back seat until they’re 4’11” or 12 (whichever comes first) his head spun and he let out a guttural groan like he had been punched in the stomach.

We follow the recommendations of the NHTSA, CDC’s Child Passenger Safety and our pediatricians office. I don’t see a reason not to? My kids have never complained. They are always comfortable. They’re petite for their age and aren’t prone to car sickness so thank God I don’t have to worry about queasiness with the rear facing. They both will fall asleep in the car if the drive is longer than 30 minutes and so I don’t have to worry about them slumping over. Their peers are in similar carseats and booster seats and the older has never mentioned being embarrassed. Why not? Car accidents and guns are the two leading cause of deaths for children under 16 and I really have very little control about either but if I can give my children a decreased chance of serious injury or death in the event of a car accident why not?

So many older people seem to have survivors bias about it all.

“Back in my day we just sat in the back of the car and we turned out fine!” Well, I’m sure many didn’t and I don’t think car fatalities were nearly as common in the 1950s.

Same thing with helmets. Drives my dad crazy! “You never wore a helmet growing up and you were fine!”

Yeah. Thank God I didn’t crash and hit my head. I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you because I could’ve had a TBI. My kids gonna wear a helmet. Why on earth would they not? So they can look cooler to a bunch of 65-year-old men?

And I’ve seen ads for carseats and booster seats on social media and the comments are similar (yes, I know Facebook comments are always going to be the worst humanity has to offer). But there are so many people actually ANGRY that a 8-year-old is in a booster. Like angry and throwing out wild theories, “they’re trying to make our kids soft!” “This is why men can’t be men anymore!!” Just true insanity.

Why on earth does decreasing the chances of your kid being seriously injured or killed seem to trigger an entire generation?

Because they’re still little. Your oldest is 7? When he’s in 4th grade, get back to us and let us know how he feels about climbing into a booster seat in front of his friends from school.

My kid will be 12 in a few months and in sixth grade. She still uses a booster, even with friends in the car.

Your exception does not prove the rule that this is common or even necessary or that the kids still sitting in the booster at an advanced age don't mind. Plus the PP was talking about a boy.

Oh please. Because girls are known for being less image conscious than boys and less cognizant of social norms. Lol.

Um calling a boy a baby is a pretty damning insult. An 11 year old boy riding around in a booster would be mocked mercilessly. Girls mock each other for everything, boys are much more selective and this would certainly not go unnoticed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a mom in my late 40s, and my kids were in car seats/boosters longer than their peers. But i do wonder from a pure public policy perspective if all this long term boostering makes sense. The reality is that car seats and boosters aren’t cheap and they seem to be used as a litmus test to show that poor people/people of color are “bad” parents that in some cases are BREAKING THE LAW. I also wonder how much there is a quiet car seat lobby driving all this.

I totally believe all the numbers about safety, but there are lots of things that would be safer that don’t get enacted into laws that are then used to tax poor people essentially who cannot afford them. But I also own my own business and have to run background checks on people that are hourly wage people. The amount of non-moving violations that are used against poor people because they cannot afford to get a headlight fixed, fix a seatbelt, etc, then they cannot pay the fine and then they get arrested when the cannot pay fines is just unbelievable.

Yep. Y'all, there is a whole freakanomics podcast about this: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-much-do-we-really-care-about-children-ep-447/

And surprise, the data says car seats don't make a difference. 🤣🤣 Listen to it folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents definitely rolled their eyes and had that “you baby them too much” attitude about car seats. I like to remind them that they are the parenting generation that needed a reminder at 10pm that they were parents and needed to check where their children were.

I hear where you’re coming from, but that was more related to how independent kids used to be. I’m 43 and I was an “outside morning until bedtime” kid.

I don’t know about you, but I was independent because I was a latchkey kid and I had to be.

PP here. Yep, same. And in the summer I was just in the woods or surrounding neighborhoods all the time until I had to come home. I wish the place I live now was safe enough for my kids to do the same.

[Anonymous]

My 11 year old is going into 6th grade. Should we pull up the middle school carline in a booster? My friend’s mom is 4’11” full height.

GTFOOH.

[Anonymous]

People are weird. We threw away the boosters by 4th grade.
No one sits in them. Carpool, nope, sports teams, nope.

[Anonymous]

Meh people like you always tend to make it a hassle in some way.

Also the booster thing until kids are [insert some age older than 8 here] - I always wonder if you actually even know what the booster is for or if you just think it's some kind of parenting gold start to collect. Boosters are not in anyway life saving devices. The seat belt is the life saving device. So if your child has to go in a car without a booster seat, they are not missing out on the life saving part.

I know, I know, you are going to provide links to articles that quote studies you have never, and will never read. Yes, the booster positions a child better but shocker the booster doesn't guarantee the seat belt stays in the right position. Kids move around, the seat belt path for some boosters is almost the exact same as without and so on. I have seen almost zero parents use the attachment for the backless booster seats that is supposed to go on the seat belt shoulder strap by the way to make the belt fit better.