At what age will your child stop using a booster even if they don't 5 step?

hrice

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #1

I've been thinking about this allot lately. Dustin is 10y3m. None of his friends are in boosters anymore which really doesn't matter to me but it is starting to bother him. He doesn't complain much and understands that it is for his safety. I told him if he doesn't 5 step by the time he's 11 I will think about letting him go without.

I'm just wondering what everyone's cut off is. I have heard some say puberty.

And here he was in October/November

 

BabyKaykes

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #2

12/13yo

on my Kindle Fire using the app...I make much more sense IRL...

 

Mags462

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #3

I'm not a tech so i have not been trained to full understand all of the angles of this.... but as a mom - my kid will ride in a booster until they 5 step. DS1 rides in a HBB and asks all.the.time why his friends can just use the seatbelt in their cars. It just goes with the territory. I guess it would also depend on how far off 5-stepping they were too.... but overall i just cannot imagine myself putting my kid in a seatbelt unless i felt confident it would keep him safe in a crash.

 

C

cmm7

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #4

That actually doesn't look too bad to me. Do his knees bend? Feet reach the floor? If that was October I would say be probably fits even better now.

 

Shaunam

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #5

I don't think 10 is on the extreme end to use a booster. DS is average sized and will probably still use a booster then (just guessing, unless he hits a major growth spurt). I'd say more like 12, or puberty to go without. But that's mostly just the really small kids who won't fit without one. It kind of does stink that most laws say age 8, and so for our kids, 10 seems like crazy old to be in a booster. :thumbsdown:

 

hrice

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #6

cmm7 said:

That actually doesn't look too bad to me. Do his knees bend? Feet reach the floor? If that was October I would say be probably fits even better now.

Click to expand...

Yep and yep. I need to test him again.

He's also starting to have underarm odor. So I think he is in the early stages of puberty.

 

Shaunam

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #7

What about head support? He looks like he's pushing it in that seat. If he's grown I'd want him moved to a seat with a headrest. He might fit differently in one of those seats.

 

hrice

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #8

Shaunam said:

What about head support? He looks like he's pushing it in that seat. If he's grown I'd want him moved to a seat with a headrest. He might fit differently in one of those seats.

Click to expand...

Yeah. He sits outboard in that vehicle (with a booster) and there is a headrest.

 

selinajean

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #9

THat is how the belt fits my son in our van. The shoulder belt is fine but the lap belt is too high on him tummy so he continues to use a booster. He 5 steps in DH's car though so he does get the occasional ride without a booster.

 

jeminijad

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #10

Probably puberty-ish... which for a girl can easily be age 10.

If I was getting not a whiff of objection from her, and no teasing at all, indefinitely.

 

Genevieve

CPST Instructor

• Jan 26, 2012

• #11

I think I'll allow the kids to go without at age 12, so I voted puberty.

 

christineka

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #12

My dd just turned 12. My cutoff is 13. She's getting on with the puberty thing, but hasn't had a cycle yet. I'm waiting... Which reminds me, I need to photo her in her new seating position without the booster because she is close.

 

Qarin

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #13

I live in some crazy land of no-teasing about this stuff, and I can't yet imagine picking an age to promise that my kid could ride in a way which puts her internal organs at high risk, but I also can't yet imagine my kids preferring that- if the seatbelt could damage me and I could sit in a device which would protect me from the seatbelt, I would choose that- and so far my rational daughters (who are, as I say, in some crazy land of no-teasing about this stuff) would choose the same and claim to not understand why someone would do otherwise.

So, I don't really have an answer. As my kids grow and develop, they take on more responsibility for themselves and their safety; my goal now is to make sure they have verifiable information now to make good choices, and that they know how and what to consider as they make those choices.

 

zactayaus

Well-known member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #14

I let my dd go without when she turned 12yo. She had just hit 4'9" and although I still wasn't thrilled with the belt fit it was acceptable. She was starting to become really embarrassed about sitting in a booster and I made the parental decision to let her go without. I will say that she did comment how she missed her booster when we went a long rides that summer. She was still in a highback up until her 12th b-day and loved to lay her head on the head wings and go to sleep. She still complains to this day at almost 14yo that there's no place for her to put her head when she wants to go to sleep in the car.

 

tiggercat

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #15

My eldest is 11 and 5 steps in my vehicle, but not his dad's car. So far he hasn't cared about needing a booster, he just wants to know when he can sit in the front seat. Lol. I think probably 13 ish I'd let them chose, if they don't 5 step? This is one time I'm glad my kids aren't tiny, lol.

Sent from my iPod touch using Car-Seat.Org

 

christineka

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #16

zactayaus said:

I let my dd go without when she turned 12yo. She had just hit 4'9" and although I still wasn't thrilled with the belt fit it was acceptable. She was starting to become really embarrassed about sitting in a booster and I made the parental decision to let her go without. I will say that she did comment how she missed her booster when we went a long rides that summer. She was still in a highback up until her 12th b-day and loved to lay her head on the head wings and go to sleep. She still complains to this day at almost 14yo that there's no place for her to put her head when she wants to go to sleep in the car.

Click to expand...

My dd had similar complaints switching from high back to backless. I promised that as long as she still fits, she can have the high back for long drives.

 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants

• Jan 26, 2012

• #17

In my car, never. In friends' cars, probably high school or 3 years after she starts her period (skeletal maturity, and the "3 year" figure is a Scientific Wild-Ass Guess).

ETA that she is 4'6" at age 9y10m (she has grown 7" and over 25# over the last 18 months), so I fully expect her to 5-step before high school.

 

Last edited: Jan 26, 2012

Lemonade

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #18

I have no idea....my DS is so small. It could be a long long time. He's not overly short though - 25th-40th%ile and that's probably more important than his single digit %ile weight. We'll know when the time comes.

 

M

Mysweethoneybee

New member

• Jan 26, 2012

• #19

This thread makes me very happy to have giant children. My first two fit without a booster by age 8. (They still don't sit still so they will never 5 step).

 

Kecia

Admin - CPST Instructor

• Jan 26, 2012

• #20

I told DS1 when he was about 9 years old that I wouldn't make him ride in a booster once he was in Middle School (which is 6th grade for our district) but until that point it was my decision to make. All of his friends and peers had been out of boosters for years already and it was a great source of embarrassment for him. It got to the point near the end where he wouldn't open the slider door to the van and would enter/exit the vehicle from the front passenger seat just so no one could see the backless booster in the middle row. I totally understood and went out of my way to help him avoid embarrassing situations as much as possible. I would even offer to drop him off a block away if that's what he wanted.

Luckily he had a big growth spurt the summer before MS started (he had turned 11 in May) and it all worked out. He 5-Stepped by the time school started in September.

In hindsight I will say: At the time, he probably felt as if he was going to be stuck in a booster *forever*. And people who didn't understand probably thought I was being totally ridiculous and that I was scarring him for life. But now he's 14 (and taller than I am) and it's all just a distant memory. So whenever parents or even students in tech class express concerns about keeping kids in boosters until they're 10, 11 or even 12 years old - I say "trust me - they'll live".