Car Safety for Kids
I was recently asked why my oldest daughter still has a booster seat at age 6. Now, my daughter started asking me why she has to when others don't. I simply trusted what the police and doctors had suggested. So to reaffirm what I thought was the safest car ride for my children and to be able to tell my daughter exactly why, I looked it up today.
There are numerous websites that discuss this:
National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration
Parent Center: Booster Seat Safety
Car Safety for your 4-8 year old
Boost for Safety
Department of Transportation
Minnesota Law States:
Minnesota state law requires that children under age 4 be restrained in an appropriate, federally approved car seat or booster seat. Car seats must be installed and used according to manufacturer's instructions. Minnesota law also requires that infants under one year of age and weighing less than 20 pounds must ride in a rear-facing car seat. The state of Minnesota suggests that compliance with car seat safety law is a minimum safety standard, and suggests that children remain in a booster seat to 80 pounds and remain in the back seat until age 13.
So even though it is not required, the highly suggest it.
If your children are not in a booster seat under the age of 8, I recommend reading these articles to be sure you are making the right decision for your child's safety. It's not a matter of how safe you drive or what your child prefers... it's a matter of life and death - really.
Just for kids:
Play it Safe for kids
Simple ways to get them onboard
Safety experts say that peer pressure to wear only seat belts makes booster use difficult for children and parents alike, especially if your child has been using a seat belt for a while. But though parents may be convinced of a booster's value, it can be tough to talk kids into going back to a seat they thought they'd outgrown. Here are some tactics to ease the transition.
Get a cool design. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to make booster seats look different from car seats by, for example, giving the fabric a military-fatigue style that boys might like or using sleeker-looking materials.
Push comfort. Show your child how a regular seat belt doesn't fit well. Point out the way the belt rubs her neck or how she has to slouch to make her legs feel comfortable. Explain that a booster is designed just for her.
Point out the view. By lifting your child up off the seat, a booster allows him to see out the window better.
Invoke safety. Without getting too graphic about the potential dangers, tell your child that you want him to be as safe as possible when riding in a vehicle. If he objects that you didn't make him ride in a booster before, tell him you didn't understand how important it was to have a special restraint just for him. "Answer questions firmly but simply," says Bill Hall, of the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, in Chapel Hill. "You don't want to scare the child, but you should provide enough detail for him to understand your reasons."
Don't negotiate. Compare the use of a booster seat to other nonnegotiable safety measures, such as wearing a bike helmet. "In the past, people didn't use those, either, until their value in preventing injury became clear," says Carole Guzzetta, of the National Safety Council. "There are a lot of things we make kids do that they don't like in order to keep them healthy and safe. This is one of them."
Copyright © 2000 Richard Laliberte. Reprinted with permission from the September 2000 issue of Parents Magazine.
There are numerous websites that discuss this:
National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration
Parent Center: Booster Seat Safety
Car Safety for your 4-8 year old
Boost for Safety
Department of Transportation
Minnesota Law States:
Minnesota state law requires that children under age 4 be restrained in an appropriate, federally approved car seat or booster seat. Car seats must be installed and used according to manufacturer's instructions. Minnesota law also requires that infants under one year of age and weighing less than 20 pounds must ride in a rear-facing car seat. The state of Minnesota suggests that compliance with car seat safety law is a minimum safety standard, and suggests that children remain in a booster seat to 80 pounds and remain in the back seat until age 13.
So even though it is not required, the highly suggest it.
If your children are not in a booster seat under the age of 8, I recommend reading these articles to be sure you are making the right decision for your child's safety. It's not a matter of how safe you drive or what your child prefers... it's a matter of life and death - really.
Just for kids:
Play it Safe for kids
Simple ways to get them onboard
Safety experts say that peer pressure to wear only seat belts makes booster use difficult for children and parents alike, especially if your child has been using a seat belt for a while. But though parents may be convinced of a booster's value, it can be tough to talk kids into going back to a seat they thought they'd outgrown. Here are some tactics to ease the transition.
Get a cool design. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to make booster seats look different from car seats by, for example, giving the fabric a military-fatigue style that boys might like or using sleeker-looking materials.
Push comfort. Show your child how a regular seat belt doesn't fit well. Point out the way the belt rubs her neck or how she has to slouch to make her legs feel comfortable. Explain that a booster is designed just for her.
Point out the view. By lifting your child up off the seat, a booster allows him to see out the window better.
Invoke safety. Without getting too graphic about the potential dangers, tell your child that you want him to be as safe as possible when riding in a vehicle. If he objects that you didn't make him ride in a booster before, tell him you didn't understand how important it was to have a special restraint just for him. "Answer questions firmly but simply," says Bill Hall, of the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, in Chapel Hill. "You don't want to scare the child, but you should provide enough detail for him to understand your reasons."
Don't negotiate. Compare the use of a booster seat to other nonnegotiable safety measures, such as wearing a bike helmet. "In the past, people didn't use those, either, until their value in preventing injury became clear," says Carole Guzzetta, of the National Safety Council. "There are a lot of things we make kids do that they don't like in order to keep them healthy and safe. This is one of them."
Copyright © 2000 Richard Laliberte. Reprinted with permission from the September 2000 issue of Parents Magazine.
