Battle of the booster!
Is your youngster begging to move out of their booster seat? To avoid a battle we’ve got a fun activity that can help your family.
Why just me?
Your observant youngster might have noticed that they’re the only family member using a booster seat in the car. They might have noticed their playmates aren't sitting in a booster seat when jumping out of the car at school drop off.
We know that children grow and develop at different rates with children of the same age, in lots of cases, radically different in heights and weights. It’s important to realise that vehicle seats and seatbelts are primarily designed for adult bodies, so we need to make the safest choices possible when travelling with our young children in the car.
Research shows us that young children seated in an appropriate booster seat reduce their risk of injury in a crash dramatically, compared to sitting in an adult seatbelt without a booster seat. And of course all of us want to be injury free!
While the legal age to move out of a booster seat is seven, we recommend not moving your child out of a booster seat while they are under 145cm in height. This rule is easy enough to share with your family, but if your youngster needs further convincing as to why they need to wait until their height reaches 145cm, read on!
Game time!
To help explain this height safety rule to your child, you could try turning this situation into an enjoyable activity for the whole family. Do you have a height chart on the wall at home?
Showing your child how they can measure their current height and comparing that to the 145cm safe height will help them visually understand the situation. You could get crafty together and create your own DIY height chart out of coloured poster paper, carefully measuring out centimetre increments with a ruler and personalised decorations.
Get the whole family involved to regularly measure each other’s heights. You could even order a personalised height chart online with your child’s name and birth date. Incorporating a height chart into your family’s routine will serve a practical purpose for your little one to understand the journey and why their booster seat is still needed. It'll also become a special keepsake for your family.
In addition to your child being 145cm tall, you should also consider the '5 Step Test' before moving your child out of their booster seat into an adult vehicle seat. These steps are:
Can your child sit back with their back against the vehicle seat?
Do your child's knees bend in front of the edge of the seat cushion?
Is the lap belt sitting low across your child's hips and touching their thighs?
Does the sash belt sit across the middle of your child's shoulder?
Can your child stay seated correctly like this for the entire trip without slumping?
If you answered no to any of the above questions, it's safer for your child to stay in their booster seat.
If you have any questions or would like additional information from our professional child restraint experts, please contact us for a fitting.