When can my kids ride without a car seat?
By Heather
By Heather
We had a little incident over the weekend. My four year-old son threw up while we were driving. Yuck, right? Luckily, he had given us warning that something was about to happen. And luckily, we actually listened to him, so we had already pulled over and were about to park in an empty parking lot when the event occurred.
My husband tended to the sick kid by cleaning him and changing his clothes. I scrubbed the car seat and car interior with baby wipes until we were fit to continue.
After our journey, I removed the car seats for a proper cleaning. I carefully unstrapped and unlatched everything paying extra close attention to where the straps would need to be rethreaded so I could do it right. I removed all cloth parts for the “hand wash” cycle on my washing machine; I shook out all the crumbs and sand from the crevices and cleaned the surfaces with sterilizing wipes.
Once those darn covers finish air-drying, I reassembled everything.
In the meantime, my back seat was clean and clear of the two car seats and bag of toys for which it has been a platform for more than two years. An exciting sight indeed. I felt like I should be driving other adults on double dates to celebrate this reborn backseat, but understand that is even more intriguing to the four year-old.
Holden was very curious and wanted to climb in. He didn’t recognize the car’s existing seat belt. The shoulder belt was a strange and marvelous strap that he hadn’t noticed before, so I invited him to climb in for a demonstration. I pulled the shoulder and lap belt over and clicked him in.
As a tall, thin four-year old in California, he is 20 pounds and more than a year and a half away from riding in the car in the back seat with only a shoulder seat belt to restrain him. Good thing too because his legs stick straight out into the passenger seat with no way to bend his legs, and the shoulder strap cuts right across his face.
So, when can my kids ride without a car seat?
The answer to that question depends on where you live. Currently, the laws governing safety seats for children vary state by state. If we lived in Tennessee, my boys would be booster-bound for an additional two years.
This interesting blog piece from the good folks at Consumer Reports indicates that there is a trend toward more states requiring boosters for longer.
For now, the car seats go back in place. And the toy bag reclaims its permanent spot in the back seat. Only now it has towel shoved into the bottom of it, for, you know, those unavoidable “Pull over, Mommy” moments.
5 Responses to “When can my kids ride without a car seat?”
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