Booster Seats

This morning, I saw more completely heinous booster seat misuse than I have ever seen before. I'm not even going to touch the fact that I saw kids who could not have been much older (and were certainly no bigger) than Orren, in boosters. That's ridiculous enough to stand on its own. No, the other stuff is what we're going to talk about today.

First of all, let's understand what a booster seat is for. No, it doesn't have anything to do with being able to see out the window, nor does just putting your child's butt on one afford some magical shield of protection. What a booster does, plain and simple, is position the seatbelt (which is designed for adults) so that it fits a kid who is not large enough to fit it on their own yet.

Now, what does proper fit of the seatbelt mean? Well, the shoulder portion must, in fact, cross the center of the shoulder, not cut into the neck, or hit at bicep level, or anything else like that. Then the lap portion must sit on the tops of the thighs, not across the abdomen. If a seat accomplishes these two things, then the fit is good.

There is another less discussed, but still very important, feature of booster seats, and that is head support. A child will not get whiplash nearly as bad if their booster supports their head (meaning it comes up to AT LEAST the tips of their ears, preferably higher). This is particularly important if the car has no headrests.

One huge reason I REALLY hate 3-in-1 carseats is because they make the worst boosters ever, and parents are sold on this idea that this is the only carseat they will ever need, so they just make their kid keep riding in it until state law says they can be in nothing (in TX, that's 8) at which point they chuck it in favor of a seatbelt that doesn't fit the kid either. It's hard to say which is worse. This morning, I literally saw a kid Erin's size riding in one of those 3-in-1 seats as booster. It was awful. This kid literally had their entire head above the top of the shell, and the shoulder portion of the seatbelt was hitting right about mid-bicep. I didn't see the lap portion (We were behind them at a light) but I know from seeing this same death trap of a seat in friends' cars, that there's not a kid on the planet who actually has the lap belt positioned correctly by that thing. I will reiterate, there are no magical safety bubbles that appear around a kid just because their butt is touching a carseat or a booster. These things absolutely save lives, but you have to use them correctly.

I also really wish manufacturers would stop being so misleading. Carseats are such an important safety decision, and so many parents are so clueless and will just take what the manufacturer says and go with it. I've been there. Before Erin was born, I remember standing in the carseat aisle of Target, looking at everything they had, but beyond knowing that I wanted a convertible seat rather than an infant carrier style of seat (because I needed to get the most for my money) I didn't know how to make heads or tails of anything. Thank goodness they didn't have 3-in-1's back then, because I totally would have fallen for that line of crap. I honestly see those seats as a method of preying on poor families who are trying to make ends meet. They say they do so much, yet they do absolutely none of it worth a damn, and the top harness slot is unusable because it isn't reinforced. (Literally, if you read the manual, it will say that.) If you use the top slot, and get into a wreck, it will not hold, and your child will probably die. That is NOT obvious by looking at the seat, and since they don't attach the manual to the seat like higher-end brands do, most people have lost it by the time they get to the point that their kid would be big enough for that, so it happens all the time.

Another way I wish the manufacturers would get right is by (and I know I said I wasn't going to talk about this, but I have to go there just for a minute) NOT marketing boosters as appropriate from 3 years and 30 pounds. OK, so just out of curiosity one day, I put Erin's booster on its smallest settings and put Orren in it with the car parked. It fit him. Why the hell does anyone make a product that would make it feasible for an unknowing parent to put a child Orren's size in a booster? A child that size should still be in a harness!! Rear-facing, at that!! The reason people don't know that is because in the US, seats are marketed to the wrong audience. I have no idea why manufacturers do that. What does it matter to their bottom line if parents buy boosters when their kids are 3 or when they're 5 or 6? Either way, the same number of boosters are being bought.

Anyhow, the bottom line is, as always, carseats are devices that can help us to keep our kids safe. They are NOT magical safety bubbles that spring into action the minute a butt touches them. You have to use them correctly. When it comes to boosters, make sure the shoulder belt crosses the center of the shoulder (to accomplish this, the belt guide should be JUST above their shoulder), and the lap belt crosses the thighs. Also make sure the child's head is supported, and that the back of the booster is AT LEAST to the top of their ears.

A few good boosters:

Sunshine Kids Monterey
Britax Parkway
Clek Oobr
Graco Turbobooster
The First Years Compass

These range in price from $60-300, and they all position the belt well on most kids. Every kid deserves a good booster that will help them to be safe until they can pass the 5-step test, and use the seatbelt on its own.