If you’re a parent with a little baby or toddler, you’re probably juggling a child seat on the regular. But if your kids are a little bit bigger, you might be pondering over booster seats. If you’re wondering if they’re necessary, or how long you should use them, fear not—we’ve got the information you need.
Meet Jamie Grayson. He’s a Child Passenger Safety Technician, an important job you probably didn’t know existed. He uses social media to talk about safety tech for kids, advising parents on how best to take care of their little ones on the road. Recently, he’s been talking booster seats, educating us about just how important they are.
Thankfully, determining whether your kids need a booster is easy. Jamie recommends following a simple five-step assessment.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8dG58zpSUM/?igsh=cmhwb3ZvdXMxMmVy
You might be wondering why booster seats even matter, and that’s a great question. The simple fact is that car seats are designed to seat adults, first and foremost, and they’re simply not suitable for smaller children. The booster serves as a smaller, comfortable seat that provides appropriate restraint and safety for child passengers.
“A lot of people don’t use booster seats long enough,” says Jamie. “Improper booster seat usage, or lack of booster seat usage, is actually where we see a higher instance of injury in car seats and crashes.” Simple benchmarks exist for determining a child’s need for a booster, but Jamie swears by a proper five-point test to be sure.
The first step is determining if your child can sit with their back against the car’s regular seats. The second test is to determine whether their knees can easily drape over the edge of the car seat. Being able to comfortably sit with their knees over the edge is a particularly easy tell as to whether a child is ready to ditch the booster. Some in the industry consider it beneficial if the child’s feet can rest neatly on the floor, but Jamie notes that it’s the knee position that is critical.
As you might expect, seatbelt fitment is critical, too. Step three involves checking whether the shoulder belt crosses the body at the hard part of the collarbone. If the child is too small, the seatbelt may cross at the neck, which is a big no-no. As for the lap belt, it should fit low and tight over the pelvis. It shouldn’t be cutting across the stomach or over the legs. If the belt doesn’t fit properly, injuries are more likely in the event of a crash.
Finally, emotional maturity is also a factor. Kids who aren’t able to routinely sit correctly in a regular car seat may not be safe to use one. If they’re likely to misplace or disregard their seatbelt, slump over, or otherwise sit incorrectly, they might not be ready.
As Jamie explains, the five-step test is a little bit more complicated than traditional rules of thumb, but there’s good reason for that. A commonly suggested “rule” is that children under 4’9″ should use boosters, but such a simple measure kind of misses the point. Bodies are complex, and the real safety check is making sure the child’s body and the standard car seat are a match.
A proper booster seat is a key safety item. Beyond the five-step test, make sure you’re also familiar with how to install and seat your children in their booster correctly. Used properly, a booster seat is a great way to ensure your kids are safe while you’re motoring around.
Image credits: Jamie Grayson via Instagram Screenshot