By 8 it depends on size. My son uses nothing but he is 95% height and weight. I dont know exact numbers maybe 5 feet tall and 85 lbs. He has friends that still use boosters. I dont know of any kids still in high backs. Definitely no kids in 5 point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is in 7th grade as is not 4’10”. There is no way I am keeping her in a booster.

+1
Sometimes you just have to be practical.

I have a friend who is 4'10" and 90 lbs. She's 50 and drives her small teen children everyday. The kids are smaller than her, but I can't guess their size - they are 13 and 15. Should they all be in car seat? Her husband is 5'4"(ish).

Well there are two factors to that question. If she's too short to see over the dash properly, then yes, she needs a cushion (i.e., an adult booster seat). Very short adults may also need pedal extenders to drive. But if everyone in her family is in or past puberty, then their bones are mature and strong enough to take the force of an impact. Pre-pubescent children's bones are not, and the booster positions the seatbelt over the strongest bones.

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is in 7th grade as is not 4’10”. There is no way I am keeping her in a booster.

+1
Sometimes you just have to be practical.

I have a friend who is 4'10" and 90 lbs. She's 50 and drives her small teen children everyday. The kids are smaller than her, but I can't guess their size - they are 13 and 15. Should they all be in car seat? Her husband is 5'4"(ish).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn't a safety difference between high back and backless, once you're using the shoulder belt. My kids used 5 point until they outgrew it. And backless until their feet comfortably touched the floor.

That’s not true. High back offers better side impact protection. Both because they limit the body’s side to side movement in an accident, and because of the actual wings absorbing more of the force. They also position the belt better for smaller kids, and keep them in position better.

That said, we removed the back when my 8 year old asked to, but I would have loved to move the seat to the center position if that was possible.

https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/car-seats/keep-the-back-on-your-booster-seat-a4806370987/

+1, my kid uses a backless booster in any car but ours and it's okay, but she's definitely better positioned in the high back booster and I feel the belt more consistently falls in the right part of her chest than in the backless booster. I'm not a member of the "car seat police" and to some degree it's just easier to stick with the high back booster because it still fits and she's been in it a long time, plus I find the cup holders convenient. But especially with a smaller kid, the high back is unquestionably safer.

My 8 year old is barely 45" so shes in a diono as a car seat. I promised to convert the belts and take the harness out at the end of school year. She does have a toddler sister in the same car seat in a harness too.

I am 4' 10" as an adult. I wonder how long will my kid take to grow to 4' 10".

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is in 7th grade as is not 4’10”. There is no way I am keeping her in a booster.

Yeah, I get it. But you likely didn’t ditch the booster at 8 either though, right? If my child was below 4’9” I’d keep the in a booster as long as possible, until it become a social stigma

My oldest is in 7th grade as is not 4’10”. There is no way I am keeping her in a booster.

Car Seats for the Littles (maybe not so little in this case) is always a good resource:
https://csftl.org/the-five-step-test/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The law is age 8. But AAP strongly recommends kids under 4’10” be in a booster. Most 8 yr olds are not that tall. Some kids aren’t 4’10 until they are 10-12. By then you’ll get a lot of push back from them about the booster, which is understandable, and I’d consider letting go shy of that height. But I’d keep her in at least a basic booster until she is closer to 4’10”

4’10 seems extreme unless you have a particularly tall car/SUV — by 4’7 my 9 year old’s head was uncomfortably close to the interior roof of our car and compact suv when she was in her booster. At 4’10 her head would literally touch it.

This isn’t specific to booster seat or car. It is the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. ^is slightly off, but close. The recommendation is booster seat of some kind until 8 yrs old AND 4’9” which kids will typically reach between age 8-12.

https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/early-childhood/early-childhood-health-and-development/safe-environments/child-passenger-safety/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The law is age 8. But AAP strongly recommends kids under 4’10” be in a booster. Most 8 yr olds are not that tall. Some kids aren’t 4’10 until they are 10-12. By then you’ll get a lot of push back from them about the booster, which is understandable, and I’d consider letting go shy of that height. But I’d keep her in at least a basic booster until she is closer to 4’10”

4’10 seems extreme unless you have a particularly tall car/SUV — by 4’7 my 9 year old’s head was uncomfortably close to the interior roof of our car and compact suv when she was in her booster. At 4’10 her head would literally touch it.

I think that was your booster. My 8 year old is 4’7” and just asked to switch to the cheap travel Graco full time because it was lower than our fancy Diono booster. But without the booster the seatbelt still sits across her neck and belly in both of our cars.