Safety for older kids after boosters?

My oldest dd (12) recently stopped using a booster in our cars, safely passing the 6-step test. I am wondering how people handle auto safety situations with kids after boosters, through the teen years.

What do you do if they want/need to ride in another person's vehicle, and there are no head rests, for example? What do you do if your own vehicle doesn't have tall enough head rests to accommodate your teen, and you can't afford to get a different vehicle? Is there anything that can be done to help in this situation? My dd fits fine in our vehicle currently, but a couple years down the road she may be too tall to safely ride in the back seat, due to lack of head support, and I know my ds (8) will be far too tall to safely ride there in his teens. I am hoping that we will be able to afford a different, safer vehicle by that time, but it's not certain.

Also, many relatives have vehicles with little or no head support in the back, like with bench seats. Do you draw a line there and not let them ride with others? It was fine when we could put in a HBB and solve the problem, but obviously that's not an option once the boosters are outgrown. What do you do?

The Frontier is tall enough in booster mode for many small women (like myself) to ride in. If a lack of headrests was commonly a problem, and the front seat was not an option (at 12 or 13 I'd rather the child in the front than in the back without head support) then I'd have something like the Frontier. It's cheaper than a new car.

Wendy

You just take it one situation at a time. My oldest DD is 5'8". Not exactly a small woman. While she fits in a Frontier, it would be ridiculous to have her ride in it. It would push her so far forward on the vehicle seat that she would have zero legroom (the kid has a 34 inch inseam!) and her head would be touching the ceiling. I just have to reassure myself that at her age and development, she is not a little kid anymore. Her body is bigger and stronger and she is less likely to suffer serious injuries than she used to be. Then I move on. I can't really tell her to make sure she beats her friends to the only seat with a headrest so that they will get injured and not her. I do tell her she is not allowed to ride in the side-facing seat in the trunk area of one kid's car, but other wise, I just have to make my best judgment in the moment.

I've taught mine to look for lap/shoulderbelts, use them properly, and then I just have to let it go. Sometimes they come home and report that they told their friends to buckle up properly :thumbsup: In my own car? Well, yeah, we're almost too big for the Frontier, there's no curtain airbags, so I just drive carefully and hope for the best

I agree... I mean, after telling them to always buckle up properly and to try to always use a seat with a lap/shoulderbelt... and that, if there is a headrest, make sure it's raised... what more can you do? they are built much differently now and much less likely to be injured, which is important.. and you can only do so much.

Thank you for offering your opinions and advice. DD has been out of a booster only a few weeks, and I've been struggling with how to address these situations. It's hard for me to know where to draw the line between reasonable safety and paranoia, I guess. I hadn't thought about the fact that being older, she's less likely to be seriously injured, so that helps. Like always, we'll continue to do the best we can with what we have. Thank you!

oh no worries... I know how frightening it is when they first leave that protective shell that is their booster... every step forward in carseats just hits ya right there in the gut and you're petrified...

So far, the only child NOT to terrify me has been Jeffrey... well, not on the going ff thing.. he was still only 1yr, even though he was a hefty 30lbs... but going to a booster... he was more mature, he was 6, he was bigger, heavier... I was ready.

and now that he's passing the 5 step test in the middle seat of my dh's cobalt... I was ready for that, too... because he's older... a good year older... than Damian was.

something about age just helps me.

I think part of it is we have to appreciate the kids who don't outgrow things as early because they then have that extra maturity and we can just breathe a little easier, knowing they are truly ready.

I'm actually ready for what happens in the next year to 18mo... which is Jeffrey outgrowing boosters... because he's not a mere 8yrs old... he'll be 9.5yrs - 10yrs old... and he's more mature for his age, typically, than his brother.

I think it may help to put it in perspective... you have a grown up 12yr old preteen.. not a child... (though not an adult by any means). You have taught this 12yr old person everything about car safety... and you have to trust that he is responsible enough to have paid attention and follow those instructions.

Of course, I'm still a fan of every single car having every seatbelt have a shoulderbelt, every seat have a tall, adjustable headrest, and every car have good side curtain airbags...

but I know that won't happen... unless a fairy comes down and waves her wand over my and other cars that are too old to have those features... a girl can hope, right?