Harness to what age?

The bare minimum is 4 and 40 pounds. Some people say age 5. Many "experts" say age 6. I read on the KDM site between 7 and 10. When is it really okay to have a kid in a booster seat? My 5 year old is harnessed. I had to scrimp and save for the seat to put him back in a harness. Dh thinks I'm nuts and the seat is a pain. (Ds has trouble on Sundays when he wears a sweater. That is just about the only time dh is in the van with us.) My older girls have been in boosters since 40 pounds. Dd#1 was 5 and dd#2 was 4.5. Now dd #2 is 6 years old. She'll be 7 in August. I have recently had trouble with her turning around in her seat. I moved her to the back row so that she had no reason to turn around. I think harnessing her and 8 year old would be ideal, but is it practical? I don't have the money. Our tax rebate has to go into the bank for our next vehicle. I am trying to declutter my house and sell whatever I can. I also teach music lessons as does my dh.

Then there is the car fitting issue. The radian only fits in the lap-only belt in our van. There is only one, so I can't have any more radians in this van. The nautilus should fit in three seating positions. I could easily harness my 6 year old in it, but to harness both girls would require putting a rfing seat where I don't want one, but I could do it.

What I worry about also is getting seats that fit now, but won't fit in the next vehicle. We are going to buy an 8 seater. Maybe a sienna. Probably not an odyssey. Maybe a suburban or other suv. I think the rest of the minivans are out. I don't want a full sized van. Will nautili fit in 8 passenger vehicles next to car seats??? (We are going to buy the bigger vehicle because we plan to have a 6th child.)

My 8 year old has a 16 inch torso and weighs 45 pounds. 6 year old has a 16 inch torso and weighs 47 pounds. Oh, I only have two anchor positions too.

Do you think my 8 and almost 7 year old dds should be harnessed? Is this something I should make a priority?

Christine

I think if the almost-7-year-old has trouble sitting still in a booster, she should be harnessed.

I think it's just fine to have a 45-pound 8-year-old in a good booster if she is able to sit properly.

chickabiddy said:

I think if the almost-7-year-old has trouble sitting still in a booster, she should be harnessed.

I think it's just fine to have a 45-pound 8-year-old in a good booster if she is able to sit properly.

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:yeahthat:

If the move to the back of the van doesn't solve the problems with the 7yo, I'd consider a HWH seat for her. Or an 86-Y harness to use with her current booster.

I have no problems with my slender 8yo in a bpb. Of course, the only harnessed seat he MIGHT fit in is the Regent. He's been in one since he turned 4 and knows how to sit properly. Ryan (5yo) OTOH will be harnessed to the limits of his Nauti, and I pray by then the child has learned something resembling fear, otherwise I'll be searching for a new option for him.

I have no issue with a 7 and 8 year old in a booster. If you continue to have issues with your 7 year old, you can explore the option of moving her to a harness, but if you remind her that she needs to sit properly in her seat and she stops the turning around, then I would feel comfortable leaving both in a booster. Sometimes kids do need some gentle reminding to do things they know they are supposed to be doing! Now, if you end up having to remind her constantly or she is continuing to get out of position, then I would look more closely into harnessing her.

Now that I have moved her I can't see her. I cannot see any of the three kids in the back row. I have 8 year old in the booster in the middle row. She blocks my view of the two behind her. Rfing ds is on the other side and I can't see him on the other side of his seat, but I do know he is safe because he can't unbuckle.

Christine

Ready for a booster?

Try this (techs tell me if this isn't good advice). I did this, it may sound mean but it works I tell ya! I brake checked Connor when he moved out of his belt. It was the last time he did it. He is back in his Regent because he is more comfortable in it, but he was sitting properly in the booster.

PS I did NOT brake check hard enough to hurt him, just enough to scare him a little. But he is super safety minded like me, I don't know how this might work for a child who isn't. I should try it on my nephews.

myliljunebugs said:

Try this (techs tell me if this isn't good advice). I did this, it may sound mean but it works I tell ya! I brake checked Connor when he moved out of his belt. It was the last time he did it. He is back in his Regent because he is more comfortable in it, but he was sitting properly in the booster.

PS I did NOT brake check hard enough to hurt him, just enough to scare him a little. But he is super safety minded like me, I don't know how this might work for a child who isn't. I should try it on my nephews.

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i've done the brake test too! it does work. i've done it a total of 2 times. ionce for each booster kid. i'v edone the tell them the "what ifs" & the terrible things that can happen i've showed them pictures & videos & such. this stuff gets thru to them. it's one of those tough love parenting things, scare tactic stuff. for my kids it works.

i did the brake check to an adult who kept putting the shoulder belt behind him or under his arm, across his ribcage. lol i asked him if he liked his liver, and then remembered.. no he dosent, he's an alcholic. (not that drinking is funny.. it was just the sequence i remembered in my head was funny)

youknow.. it still didnt work... i'm gonna have to tell him if he cant sit like a big boy i wont drive him anymore. ugh... stupid men...

tell him if a SIX year old (actually not even quite that) can, he can too! LOL

ginny4 said:

i've done the brake test too! it does work. i've done it a total of 2 times. ionce for each booster kid. i'v edone the tell them the "what ifs" & the terrible things that can happen i've showed them pictures & videos & such. this stuff gets thru to them. it's one of those tough love parenting things, scare tactic stuff. for my kids it works.

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Find a safe area, then do a quick accel, deccel, and maybe a sharp turn. (not enough to hurt anyone) works best with a manual transmission. They'll be begging for a 5pt after that.


... or think its a fun ride.

Jmark said:

Find a safe area, then do a quick accel, deccel, and maybe a sharp turn. (not enough to hurt anyone) works best with a manual transmission. They'll be begging for a 5pt after that.


... or think its a fun ride.

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*snort* there went my dp all over my keyboard. my son probably would have loved it in other circumstances, he thinks it's awesome when I go somewhere and do something like that, but only in his 5 pt harness

Maybe I can get dh to do the brake test. I'm not the adventurous driver type. I did show all the car seat/non car seat, etc videos to the older three kids in an attempt to scare them. Did I mention that when 6 year old was turning around she found ds had unbuckled himself? I had already shown him several videos before the incident. 6 year old is my rule stickler, so I was hoping that if she saw the videos she'd stay put. At any rate, having her next to ds means she will alert me if he ever tries to unbuckle while moving again. I really wish I could see the kids, but I can't. I'm going to see if I can fit in a booster seat. Maybe that would help. I have a 22 inch torso and hate having the belt in my neck.

Christine

I'd rather just pill over & wait silently for as long as it takes for the person to figure it out.... Kids are usually more adept at this than adults, but the "break test" is more often more fun for either party & is generally more risky than being parked safely :twocents:

Please don't send me hate mail but some recommend booster ahead of 5 pt. harness. It's awesome that you focus so much on keeping kids safe, I love you for it, but it's not a clear cut case that 5 pt. is better or safer as the children get older.

This is just for a little perspective and not nagging at or bashing anyone else using a 5 pt. harness. In my current location, Sweden, where car seat safety is taken seriously, booster is recommended as the kids get older (from 4-5 years). It's because of the extreme forces in a crash on neck and tissue still not properly developed. This usage is recommended regardless of geographical location.

There are choices to keep kids ff in harness here, like the Britax Two-Way Plus up to 55 lbs., but it's recommended against doing so. A good booster seat is instead suggested. I've also seen the youtube videos of crashes but it's not as simple as that. There was a very long thread where we discussed 5 pt. and booster the other week.

I'm anal about car seat safety, my son rode rf until 4.5 and is now in a booster. It's by choice, I could put him in a 5 pt. harness if I wanted to. I's great to hear these discussions about how to keep the kids safe so thought I would mention a slightly different perspective on things. Please, no hate mail

Have a nice weekend

From a tech perspective the minimum I recommend is 5 yo and 40 lbs for a booster.

As a parent with a husband who drives a racecar....My DD will be harnessed as long as there is a seat or vest to do it. DS 1 (18 yo) has installed racing seats with racing harnesses in the front seat of his Nissan Maxima. I am very proud of him.

If I trusted my kid to be able to sit as still as the crash test dummy for the entire length of every ride (even while sleeping) then she would've gone into a Recaro booster (that was the cream of the crop when she was 4: she did ride in a booster with my parents: see below) ... but she didn't have the attention span necessary for full time booster use when she turned FF after her 4th birthday, not even with the manually locking shoulder belts & especially not while sleeping She is finally now capable of correct use -- without my attention being constantly distracted from the road: "SIT STILL!" -- but she is 6+1/2 years old now & we still have issues when there's another child in the car with her She can sit through intellectually stimulating experiences without too much physical/visual/auditory stimuli (like my college classes or the safety convention workshops, LOL) but she is *all over the place* when there are distractions/stimuli geared toward the kid audience By the time we start using our own vehicle again (rather than public transportation & carpool/rideshare) she won't need the Husky that waits in storage, but I am sentimentally attached to it

As soon as she reached the minimum size requirement for the Britax Parkway, my kiddo began using it with her grandparents (@ only age 3: she still rode RF with me) -- they had 1 person to focus on the road & another to focus on her correct use :twocents: This was far safer for her than any harness option because they were/are medically incapable of using harnesses correcly whereas I was able to teach kiddo to buckle her own seatbelt (see below again for more on this) & yell at them to wait for her to keep it straight/flat + to engage the locking shoulder belt retractor in rear center placement with side curtain airbags. (Not every 3 or 4 year can do that & not every 5 or 6 year old can remember to sit still all on their own without distracting the driver: distraction being the leading cause of crashing in the 1st place)

Until we do know precisely which is safer (always assuming correct use) for this age group, safest practice means keeping kids harnessed as long as possible when they're not capable of maintaining proper use in a booster. It also makes sense that 5 points is safer considering the fact that it spreads crash forces out over a broader area of the body & reduces risk of impacting the vehicle interior by reducing head excursion -- this could cause an increased amount of stress on the neck, but it might not be so much as to outweigh the other benefits -- we just do not yet have a comprehensive enough answer, so maintaining correct use of either option is the primary concern.

As far as kids buckling up on their own, most kids who would otherwise switch to a booster actually find buckling a 5pt. harness easier because it's right in front of their bodies vs. hidden down to the side which creates a pretty wobbly situation where they can barely see what they're donig. However, my DD wasn't able to tighten the harness when she started using the booster with her grandparents & neither were they.

Also, side impact crashes are the most deadly and the advantages of a harnessed seat vs. booster are quite obvious there.

I would be fine with a child 5/40lbs and above who sat properly. However, I've decided to harness my own kids as long as possible. But, as a tech, I'd be thrilled if people around here got to 5/40lbs.

I agree - I generally recommend 5 to 6years old, closer to 6 for boys because they tend to be less mature than girls at the same chronological age.

My own daughter will be harnessed for a while yet, although I allowed her a "test run" in a Parkway in Grandma's truck a couple of weeks ago. (With me watching her the entire 3 mile trip and a locked seatbelt. lol)

Not going to happen again for a while unless there is some kind of emergency.

Okay, my oldest was in a booster on her fifth birthday. (Went to the doctor and she was exactly 40 pounds.) I really thought she did and still does fine in the booster. My ds is 5 and there's no way I'd let him go back to the booster any time soon. He leans over to bug people. I'm still trying to figure out 6 year old dd. She is very mature for her age, but she's also a busy-body mommy wannabe. I do think being in the back helps. She can see everyone.

Christine