Best ways to talk about safety with booster riders?

What are some of your best soundbytes for delivering to kids about booster safety? I am very comfortable talking to parents, but I did a check yesterday with a 5 & 7 year old... 5 year old in a Nautilus and 7 year old in a First Years HBB. Both buckle themselves, and mom was complaining about how the 7 year old is pretty bad about sitting still (re-harnessing wasn't an option here... we did discuss that a little bit, but with their budget and his height, it wouldn't have happened). I helped him buckle up and showed him where the belt should fit him and told him it's very important for him to sit the right way... but I doubt I had much of an impact on him.

I talked a lot with the mom, and she really gets it after the conversation we had, and I know at the end of the day it's up to her, but I'd really like to have some better delivery with kids to help them get excited/motivated about it.

I don't have the "cool factor" of working in a fire department or anything - I'm just the car seat lady at the auto repair shop so hit me with some of your best lines for getting kids to listen up about why they need to be in a booster and be in it the right way!

Ask them questions. It helps you figure out where they're coming from.

I like to use the "falling" analogy, because all kids have fallen down, most have fallen off their bikes, etc, so they can understand it from a physical perspective, yk? I'll ask them if they've ever fallen off their bike, and did it hurt? Or off something at the playground. Then I point out that being in a crash feels like falling of a really tall building (if we're in my town where I do most of my checks, I'll point to the tallest building in town - 3 stories LOL - and say "Can you imagine how much it would hurt to fall of that building? It would hurt a LOT!")

Then I say that the seat belt is like a safety harness, and I ask them if they've seen safety harnesses on TV or somewhere - like someone in a parachute or bungee-jumping. I try to get them to figure it out by asking them questions - "Would that safety harness work very well if it only covered squishy parts of their body, like their tummy? Or does it need to be on their strong bones to work right?" Then I show & tell them how their seat belt is like a safety harness.

I'll also have them help me demonstrate what happens in a crash - I'll have them sit down and buckle, and then move the shoulder belt out of the way, and have them "pretend" to be in a crash. Then I put the shoulder belt back in place and hold it tight for them and have them do the same thing again, only this time it's holding them in position. That way they can feel the difference, yk?

As for not having the "cool" factor, I know what you mean, and I explain to kids what I do when I meet them. I tell them that my only job is to help kids stay safe in the car (even though that's not really true). That's it! I learn all kinds of things about car crashes and booster seats and carseats so that people won't get hurt as bad if they get in a crash. I ask what their mom or dad does for work and use that - "Your dad works on airplanes? I bet he knows a LOT about airplanes! Just like I know a LOT about car crashes!"

I actually love working with older kids, they're really a lot easier to convince than their parents most of the time LOL, and they're so much FUN! Plus, they're not all worked up about being judged - if I tell a kid he's buckling himself wrong, he's not offended, he just wants to know how to do it right.

This was SO helpful, thanks for all the great suggestions Debbie!!

Also, what about Twinkie Physics? The demonstration with a skeleton and a twinkie to show why kids needs boosters. I think older kids would get a kick out of it while learning why they need to be boostered.

What I told my kids is that you have to sit still so the straps can do their job and hold you in in a crash (after pointing out the potential injuries that they protect you from, of course).

I point out that this is why babies and younger kids ride in carseats with built in harnesses... they can be kept tight and the kids can't get out of them, so they are always in position. But when you're a BIG KID, teenager, then grown up, you are big enough to know the rule is to sit still, so you can use the seatbelt.

the booster is comfy and cool and all, but it's there to help the seatbelt fit you because the key is for that seatbelt to be on you here, here, and here (I point to where it has to hit... shoulder, draw across to the hip, then over to the other hip) in order to keep you in your seat.

I demonstrate (and if you have a laptop you can show crash test videos) the movement in a crash with them in and out of position... and tell them very brief but to the point exactly what would happen (organs shoved up, spine broken, you name it)

And I quite frankly tell them that these injuries can kill them... and that it is my job to protect them, so that means we sit still, wear our seatbelts, use boosters, carseats, and we do all we can to be safe.