With all the information out there about the importance of booster seats and their power to save the lives of children, some parents shockingly still don't use them. Especially parents who carpool it seems.
A new study from the University of Michigan found that while most use them when they're driving their own kids, 30 percent of parents don't require their kids ages 4-8 to be in a booster seat when they ride with someone else. Not only that, they found that 45 percent of parents don't make their own kids get in booster seats when they have other children in their own car without booster seats.
Are you kidding me? Who are these people?
Okay, I may be one of them once in awhile, and I'm not proud of it. Not for my 3-year-old ever -- she's still in a five-point harness car seat. But once my son moved into the booster seat and through preschool, I started getting more lax. He's 8 now, but not 4' 9'' tall (national guidelines suggest children be both) and MOST of the times he's in a booster. But I admit there has been more than one time over the years that I let him ride without a booster, and just as this study suggests -- it has almost always been in a carpool situation.
More from The Stir: 9 Lifesaving Car Seat Rules You're Probably Ignoring
More times than not, it has been me telling my son to give up his booster seat to whatever kid I'm toting in my car, because I feel so much responsibility when I have someone else's child in my care. But sometimes I let him go with someone else who doesn't have a booster seat when I could easily get mine from the car because ... I'm not sure why. I'm lazy? It's inconvenient? I don't want to be that mom who won't let him go have fun because someone doesn't have an extra booster seat?
Whatever the reason, it's not okay. I know we all rolled around on the floor while our parents drove and we turned out fine, but that doesn't mean we can't do better for our kids and make them safer. And if that's not reason enough, it's also illegal in many states for children under 8 to ride in a car without a booster seat.
This study should serve as a good wake-up call for us all to review the laws in our individual states and those guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and make sure that we're following them ALL the time. As busy as we all are, we should still always make time to put what's important first, because it only takes an extra minute to make sure our kids are in the right type of seat, and just once for life to change forever if we don't.
More from The Stir:
New Car Seat Rules Mean You May Be Doing It Wrong
Proof That Older & Taller Kids Can Still Rear-Face in Car Seats (PHOTOS)
Do you find yourself disregarding booster seat rules when it comes to carpooling?
Image via Jinx!/Flickr
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Comments 32
^^This!! To add, the ONLY ones benefiting from this ridiculousness are the carseat companies who are rolling all the way to the bank.
So when 3 boosters dont fit across the backseat do you put the 3rd kid's booster in front with the airbag? I'd say it's a lot safer to forgo the booster.
You are more likely to get hurt in a car than you are likely to win the lottery. Yet, people play the lottery thinking they can win, but never think a car accident can happen to them. That logic does not make sense to me!!!
My older kids are 5 and 8 and there's no way I would ever let them get in a car without their car seat. NEVER.
I won't let laziness endanger my child's life. People seem to forget that is what car seats are about. It's not a milestones to graduate to seat belts only. It's not just about the cute patterns of the seats... car seats and boosters are necessary for Safety.
On the way back, we are pulling out of the parking spot, and someone zooms by, nearly hitting us, on the drivers side. I did not see my life flash before my eyes. No. What I saw was my son being hurt and me putting a gun to my head because there was no way I could live with the guilt. Luckily, we didn't get hit, but, he was a centimeter from hitting us! I would never have forgiven myself. I learned my lesson, and on be doing that again.