My daughter is 7 and a half, she's 47 inches and 47lbs. When she outgrew her 40lbs carseat at 4 and a half there were not options for us to get a seat that harnessed over 40lbs with the exception of Britax which is way out of our budget. At that time we retrofitted our car with shoulder belts in the rear so she could ride in a high back booster. It was about a year later that seats like the Apex and Nautilus became available to us, but then she was a few weeks shy of 6 years old and we opted not to put her back in a harnessed seat. Now she is 7 and a half and still under 50lbs but not for long since she is in a major growth spurt.
Zoe was in a HBB but one day I had to take the back off for some reason and I realized that without the back there is actually a better fit. When the back is on she was so far foward in the seat that the seatbelt just would not sit in a safe AND comfortable manner, clearly we opted for SAFE. But with the back off not only did the belt fall in the correct position, but it no longer dug into her. This is only true in our van (primary vehicle), in other vehicles we use have to use the back. My daughter has excellent posture and tends to sit upright at all times, she does not wiggle in her seat EVER, doesn't slouch, and never sleeps in the car. I got lucky as all 3 of my kids are excellent in the car.
BUT i see so many kids (here) that are still harnessed and clearly older/larger than my daughter and it makes me second guess how safe she is.
So if your 7 yo was properly seated and the seatbelt was being used properly and safely would you re-harness her just because you could? Or would you allow her to remain in her booster?
Zoe was in a HBB but one day I had to take the back off for some reason and I realized that without the back there is actually a better fit. When the back is on she was so far foward in the seat that the seatbelt just would not sit in a safe AND comfortable manner, clearly we opted for SAFE. But with the back off not only did the belt fall in the correct position, but it no longer dug into her. This is only true in our van (primary vehicle), in other vehicles we use have to use the back. My daughter has excellent posture and tends to sit upright at all times, she does not wiggle in her seat EVER, doesn't slouch, and never sleeps in the car. I got lucky as all 3 of my kids are excellent in the car.
BUT i see so many kids (here) that are still harnessed and clearly older/larger than my daughter and it makes me second guess how safe she is.
So if your 7 yo was properly seated and the seatbelt was being used properly and safely would you re-harness her just because you could? Or would you allow her to remain in her booster?