wwyd booster or none poll

[christineka]

A quick run-down of the situation: You are at the church with two 9 year old boys. One is your own. The other boy's mom hasn't come to pick him up and scouts has been over for 10 minutes. From the church, the walk to his home is diagonally across the street, then a walk across to the sidewalk on the other side, and 4 houses down. You can see the boy's house. The boy could walk there. He has, probably a hundred times. He often even walks to the church and back for cub scouts. He doesn't feel like it today. You have one booster in your car. You say so. He argues that he doesn't need one. You have even allowed him to try the belt without a booster. It's way up high on the belly. You say that your son can wait at the church while you drive him home. He puts up a fuss, saying that his aunt is a car seat expert and said when he was 5 that he didn't need a booster. You also know that this boy absolutely adores your son and insists on riding in your vehicle with your son every time there is a scout trip. What would you do? Put your son in a booster and drive the other boy without, rationalizing that it's only a short drive. Have your son wait, make the boy ride in the booster, and drive him home? Make him walk?

 

[Baylor]

call his mom?

 

[bubbaray]

I would all three of us walk to boys house. I would not let him ride in my vehicle without a booster if he didn't 5 step. ETA unless it was an emergency, but what you describe is not an emergency in my books.

 

[Carrie_R]

He can walk. He'll get over it.

(And throw a spare Literider in the trunk for next time.)

 

[jacqui276]

I would walk with him to his house. I wouldn't let him ride in my car without a booster if he didn't 5-step unless it was an emergency and that sounds like a pretty short walk.. he can handle it.

Either that or I would call his mom and ask why she wasn't there to pick up her son.

 

[Brigala]

Let him walk. Or walk with him (you and your son).

I would tell him that because he complained about the booster he lost even the option of riding along. Besides, you cannot drive him home without your son in the car. It's against the Boy Scout Youth Protection rules.

If he refuses to walk, call his mom and ask what the hold-up is.

 

[MamanMoore]

I agree with all three of you walking him home, and a spare booster is a great idea if you can foresee this sort of thing happening again.

 

[lovemy2kidstw]

A quick run-down of the situation: You are at the church with two 9 year old boys. One is your own. The other boy's mom hasn't come to pick him up and scouts has been over for 10 minutes. From the church, the walk to his home is diagonally across the street, then a walk across to the sidewalk on the other side, and 4 houses down. You can see the boy's house. The boy could walk there. He has, probably a hundred times. He often even walks to the church and back for cub scouts. He doesn't feel like it today. You have one booster in your car. You say so. He argues that he doesn't need one. You have even allowed him to try the belt without a booster. It's way up high on the belly. You say that your son can wait at the church while you drive him home. He puts up a fuss, saying that his aunt is a car seat expert and said when he was 5 that he didn't need a booster. You also know that this boy absolutely adores your son and insists on riding in your vehicle with your son every time there is a scout trip. What would you do? Put your son in a booster and drive the other boy without, rationalizing that it's only a short drive. Have your son wait, make the boy ride in the booster, and drive him home? Make him walk?

I wouldn't drive him if the belt didn't fit properly. I would explain that it's your vehicle & your rules. I wouldn't put up with the whining & back-talking of him saying his aunt said he didn't need one either.

 

[Qarin]

Just reading the argument/discussion you had with him took me more time than it would have for him to have walked home. I don't understand why this is a dilemma of any sort.

 

[carseatcoach]

I would not leave my child unattended to drive another child, and I would not drive a kid who needed a booster without one.

We would all walk together, or we would call his parents to come get him.

ETA: if he is allowed to walk alone, why is there even a question about what to do?

 

[Baylor]

I was not being flip. I would have called his mom and not taken him anywhere. I don't think you drive another persons child without permission. I would have waited with him or had him walk home on his own while watching him.

But I would not argue with a child about being boostered because I would not drive him without permission.

 

[safeinthecar]

If he is supposed to walk home he walks home. Period, end of story. I send my son walking to scouts (not as close, but about a 10 minute walk and he is older) and one mom there has told my son that she won't "let" him walk home if she knows about it. It pisses me off a little honestly. My son NEEDS the alone time and quiet and the walking to wind down after scouts so he can go to bed some days. I'm not going to make an issue of it because I expect my son to be able to say, "I really do need to walk home. I can't sleep if I don't chill out and this is how I chill out" and he does or he has a hard time sleeping and gets reminded why he needs to walk down after playing hard.

So my answer is other: Tell the kid "luckily, wanting to walk home isn't required for doing so." If I wasn't in a hurry, I'd let my own son walk with him and back and take advantage of 5 mins of alone time for myself. Maybe go to the bathroom without an audience.

 

[aeormsby]

I'd make him walk. If he wants to spend a couple extra minutes with your son have them both walk as you drive to his house and then go home with your son.

 

[tanyaandallie]

Does he normally walk home on his own? If so, I'd send him packing. If his mom normally picks him up I'd call her and if all else fails, I'd let him ride without a booster before I would leave my child alone at the church or allow my (assuming younger and smaller) child to ride without a booster. However, I agree that I would not be driving him anywhere without talking to his parent first to see where on earth they were and why they were not picking him up.

I would NOT be happy if a child argued with me over needing to ride in a booster. I had a friend's child do that to me (when I was doing her mom a favor by taking her home). I told her that in my car she would ride in a booster and her only other option was to go back and stay with her mom.

 

[monica-m]

In a non emergency situation I would not transport a child without their parents' consent. I also would not transport a child that did not 5 step without a booster, it places too much liability (not to mention the guilt I would feel if something were to happen) on me. I would allow my child to walk with his friend if he so chooses and then I would pick DS up at the friend's house.

 

[LISmama810]

Yeah, there are lots of things I would potentially do here, but none of them involve driving the kid home, with or without a booster.

 

[christineka]

To make some points clear.
#1 I do not have a cell phone, nor access to a phone while at church, especially when I don't even have the key. We had scouts outside.

#2 The boy has asperger's and adhd and not too mildly either. He has very strong opinions and odd ideas about various things. He's also extremely stubborn.

#3 I have no problems whatsoever leaving my son outside at the church by himself while I am still within view. In fact, if I was not the den leader, I would have made him walk to and from scouts by himself.

#4 My house is on the same street as the other boy's- just a little farther.

#5 The car often has multiple booster seats and other restraints. There are times that the car has 4 booster seats, 2 rstvs, and a convertible seat in it (it seats 5), but the restraints and types change daily. I don't often think about possibly needing to transport other kids before I dash out the door to scouts. In fact, if I was more with-it, I would just walk to scouts, but I am never ready to go that early.

#6 I am the only cub scout parent that has any issues with other people driving my son without permission (and I give no one permission). The other scout parents are completely fine with it.

Thanks for all your great ideas an opinions. Next time, I will tell both my son and the other boy that they can both walk and I will drive in the air conditioning. I don't know why that didn't cross my mind, except maybe sitting in 100 degree heat for an hour fried my brain.

 

[TXDani]

I would have stuck him in my car booster-less, if he rides without one with his mom he can ride without one with me to drive four houses down. Seriously I can't imagine NOT being okay with that.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

 

[safeinthecar]

I would have stuck him in my car booster-less, if he rides without one with his mom he can ride without one with me to drive four houses down. Seriously I can't imagine NOT being okay with that.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

Difference is, if he rides like that with his mom and something happens, SHE gets to pay the price. If he rides like that with you and something happens, YOU pay. 4 houses for 400 miles doesn't really matter to me
And by price, I mean the actual dollar amount that your insurance will go up after they pay to repair the lacerated spleen, liver, intestines, etc.

~signed, the girl who thought it would be no big deal to let her boyfriend drive a mile to 7-11 and had my insurance cancelled when he crashed 10 feet from the driveway.

 

[bnsnyde]

Sounds like it's the responsibility of the parents, and not you at all. I would not drive another child without permission, and I would not drive one without a booster who did not 5-step.

So, I'd let him walk.
If I were really nice and had time I'd walk with him, with my son.