I still have my 2nd grader in a high back booster! Did I miss the memo

My average height 10 year old is still in a high back booster. We only use the backless booster for travel. We'll consider moving out of a booster when DC is in middle school or is at least 4'9" and the seatbelt fits her properly.

I carpool many kids in the third to fifth grade age range. The number of kids that get in my car and immediately tuck the shoulder belt under their arm tells me that they are both not in boosters in their own cars, and that the seatbelts are not fitting them correctly. It is just not safe and these kids will get injured more severely in an accident. Not my business what they do in their own cars, but in my car, everyone knows that there are boosters available for all back seats, and if you're shorter than 4'9" (one of my kids is 4'10" now, so I can eyeball it easily), you have to be in a booster. Nobody plans on getting in an accident and I want no injuries to other people's kids on my watch!

My 8 y.o. (3rd grade) and almost 11 y.o. (5th grade) are both in backless boosters still. We are a tiny family This is a basic level of safety I'm not willing to sacrifice, and other parents and kids don't seem to make a big deal of it.

No, my 9 year old is not in a booster nor are any of her friends except ONE who was a premie and is the tiniest 9 year old I've ever seen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10 years old DD, 4'9", still uses a backless booster seat. She likes the regular seatbelt strap is on her shoulder rather than her neck.

Ditto. 5th grade. Without the seat, the strap doesn’t consistently lie correctly.

+2. For my 4'9" DD. Depends on the vehicle and which seat (center seats are usually better than the window seats), but many seats still cut across her neck. So she prefers the backless booster for comfort, and I prefer it for getting the correct fit. I'm guessing she'll be closer to 4'11" before the majority of seatbelts fit correctly without a booster.

These questions always come up and the majority of the answers you get are going to be "yes my kid is still in a booster". But you know the reality is that most 3rd graders aren't in a booster. Your school/car pool is not unique, its just that those parents just don't answer.

8 year old 3rd grader is. 10 year old 5th grader just moved out of hers because she just hit the point where the belt is safe on her shoulder/lap.

Yes, of course.

Anonymous wrote:My 10 years old DD, 4'9", still uses a backless booster seat. She likes the regular seatbelt strap is on her shoulder rather than her neck.

Ditto. 5th grade. Without the seat, the strap doesn’t consistently lie correctly.

Mine 8 year old isn’t but I have very large children. He’s the size of an 11-12 year old easily.

My fifth grader is still in his. Hasn't our grown guidelines.

Yes, OP, mine is! He's a peanut and probably will be in it for a while.

My 9 year old 4th grader is in one. We just did the 5 point check to see if we could take it out but he’s not tall enough yet. He’s in the 90th percentile but a summer birthday.

My 3rd grader is almost 9 and still in a booster (backless), just so the seatbelt fits. It annoys him but won’t be forever, so he can deal.