snowbird25ca
Moderator - CPST Instructor
In AB we don't have a minimum age to be in a booster - just 40lbs combined with proper use. Proper use is a weight limit and a minimum height to use the booster, so in this case the child met both.
She was 40lbs on the nose in a 3in1 seat so I told the parents they had to remove the harness and convert it to a booster now and tried to get them to buy a HWH seat - even one of the evenflo ones would get her to age 4.5 or 5...
The parents were really resistant though even with the explanation about kids moving out of position and then being basically unprotected. The mom was quite adamant about the whole staying harnessed at 3.5yrs old being overboard because all her friends 3yr olds are in boosters already.
So they're going to go home and mull over their options - based on the description of their vehicle the apex is a good choice for them, and they'll likely get that if they buy one. Otherwise this little 3yr old girl is going to be riding around in a 3in1 booster.
And on a related rant, the health unit told mom that a couple lbs over the weight limit of the harness wasn't a big deal and that they could keep using the harness. I told mom that maybe it wouldn't fail at 1lb over, but maybe it would and there was no way to know at what point the seat would fail. And I told her that if she was pulled over for a seat check and using the seat's harness with a 41lb kid she'd get a ticket. Dang 3in1 seats... parents buy it thinking it'll last, but then it doesn't. And they don't want to spend more money because they've already spent over $200 in the first place. Someone ought to sue Dorel for false advertising.
She was 40lbs on the nose in a 3in1 seat so I told the parents they had to remove the harness and convert it to a booster now and tried to get them to buy a HWH seat - even one of the evenflo ones would get her to age 4.5 or 5...
The parents were really resistant though even with the explanation about kids moving out of position and then being basically unprotected. The mom was quite adamant about the whole staying harnessed at 3.5yrs old being overboard because all her friends 3yr olds are in boosters already.
So they're going to go home and mull over their options - based on the description of their vehicle the apex is a good choice for them, and they'll likely get that if they buy one. Otherwise this little 3yr old girl is going to be riding around in a 3in1 booster.
And on a related rant, the health unit told mom that a couple lbs over the weight limit of the harness wasn't a big deal and that they could keep using the harness. I told mom that maybe it wouldn't fail at 1lb over, but maybe it would and there was no way to know at what point the seat would fail. And I told her that if she was pulled over for a seat check and using the seat's harness with a 41lb kid she'd get a ticket. Dang 3in1 seats... parents buy it thinking it'll last, but then it doesn't. And they don't want to spend more money because they've already spent over $200 in the first place. Someone ought to sue Dorel for false advertising.