I have a 7.5 yr old who is small for her age and she's still in a high back booster (converted from car seat last year).

We have a backless booster we use for cabs, travel, or riding in someone else's car.

The backless booster is MUCH easier to use since it's easy to move and easier to get the seat belt around. I do look forward to switching to that permanently. But for now I feel she's better positioned in the high back booster and she hasn't rebelled on us about using it yet, so we've stuck with it. We were in a car accident with her when she was a baby and it spooked me (everyone was fine thanks to car seats and seat belts), so I'm more cautious than most people, I think.

Mine was about 7.5, average sized girl. It was a diono. She could have stayed in it longer but it was pretty trashed at that point (third kid), and it was time to toss it. I didn’t want to spend the money on a new one since she big enough to use a backless and it was a lot of convenient for carpooling and traveling

Our child is 83rd percentile height and weight. She was in a 5 point harness until close to 5, and we stopped the 5 point once the shoulder strap had to go UP and over her shoulders instead of just coming down or across. Which is what the instructions said. So we switched to high back booster (literally all you do is conceal the harness) and the shoulder strap went over their chest properly.

She will be in the high back booster until she is too tall for it (where the head pads are resting on her shoulders probably and her head sticks out the top of those pads)

Honestly doing long drives with a high back and regular seat belt is so much better for her. Way more comfortable and not completely locked into the same position.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old still rides in a 5 point harness most of the time. It’s a forward facing only seat which is much cheaper than a convertible.

You mean a carseat? I am genuinely curious as to why? Assuming safety reasons but isn't this going beyond the recs and isn't she embarrassed? This question sounds very rude but I'm not trying to be

NP. I didn’t move my oldest out of her 5 point until she outgrew it at 7 either. I’m not sure why she would be embarrassed; it’s all she ever knew. We also rarely drive. Pre-pandemic my kids got in the car once a week, max. I suspect my 5.5 year old will outgrow the seat before we ever even put him in it again. He’s taller than my older child and last I tried to put him in it was a tight fit.

We went straight to a backless booster for the older one.

Kid went straight to backless booster around 5.5yo (kid was probably 45", 45 lbs). Planned to do a high back booster but our car didn't have removable headrests and it didn't fit correctly. The booster had a seat belt adjuster and kid sat properly in the backless booster.

If you keep your older kids in a 5pt harness, don’t you still have to tighten it for them? My kids are in backless boosters - we had high back but I read there isn’t really any difference as long as they are the tight height and have the seatbelt safely on. Backless are easier for them to strap themselves in and then we double check. The 5 pt they could snap in themselves but we always had to tighten it ourselves -‘do you not tighten it?

We just changed our 7 yo not quite 4 ft 50lbs wet with clothes on kid out of her 5 point high back booster. Now she’s in the same high back booster but with a seatbelt. She’ll probably be in that for the next 2 years at least.

Just FYI to those whose much older kids are still in 5-point-harnesses. I had our older kid who is very small in one for quite a while, but then I did some research, and it actually seemed unclear whether the 5-point-harness might actually be less safe for older kids. It seemed to cause more neck injuries or something because it held the body in place but not the head (sorry, I can't exactly remember now). I had assumed it was inherently best, but it actually seemed like maybe not once when get big enough and can follow the rules about sitting properly in a regular belt with a booster.

Just suggesting you might want to do some research on it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old still rides in a 5 point harness most of the time. It’s a forward facing only seat which is much cheaper than a convertible.

You mean a carseat? I am genuinely curious as to why? Assuming safety reasons but isn't this going beyond the recs and isn't she embarrassed? This question sounds very rude but I'm not trying to be

Honestly - how would a kid know any better? It's not like my kids are peeking into their friends' parents cars to see what car seats they're riding in. This is more a parent thing. 7 year olds don't care.

Anonymous wrote:Instead of a high back booster, we plan on just converting her car seat from a 5 point, to using the regular car seat belt. (maxi cosi Magellan) Is that not a good strategy? Will other kids make fun of her? Our seat just looks way more comfy than those booster seats do

car seat tech here again: The Magellan converts to a high back booster. You can switch from the harness when the child is between 40-65 lbs. we recommend closer to 65 lbs. it’s a heavy seat though so if it’s staying in one car it’s fine. If you are moving it between cars for carpooling etc during non Covid times I would get a lighter seat/ booster.

Anonymous wrote:My very small almost 9 year old (48 inches, 50 lbs) is still in the Britax Frontier 5 point harness mode.

For the PP who asked if we are embarrassed- why? We are doing what is safest for our child. It’s also not like we’ve been carpooling with other kids for nearly a year now....

I’d be embarrassed to have my small child in an unsafe seat in the car.

Is she embarrassed?

Anonymous wrote:Instead of a high back booster, we plan on just converting her car seat from a 5 point, to using the regular car seat belt. (maxi cosi Magellan) Is that not a good strategy? Will other kids make fun of her? Our seat just looks way more comfy than those booster seats do

if you are converting your seat to use with a seat belt then you are using it as a high back booster.

My 8 yr old, currently 4'7", has been out of a booster for a long time.

Our kids used the seat until the seatbelt hit them in the right place. It was a different age for each as my older one was big enough earlier than the younger one. We were in a really bad car accident when my kids were small, so I don't factor "embarrassment'" into the safety calculation. My 11-year-old's super-tiny best friend still has the seat base in their car.

Instead of a high back booster, we plan on just converting her car seat from a 5 point, to using the regular car seat belt. (maxi cosi Magellan) Is that not a good strategy? Will other kids make fun of her? Our seat just looks way more comfy than those booster seats do