Carseat related--would you be okay with this?

[h]

My kids just switched to a new Montessori school from the day care they had been attending since DS1 was a baby. Our old day care never transported the children anywhere by vehicle--their only field trips involved walking to the splash pad or the nearby fire station. The new school sometimes does field trips that require driving. They will also transport the kids to a nearby (about 1 mile away) facility for piano, karate, or tennis lessons if you want to sign them up. All the transportation is done by small school bus. The children each have an individual seat belt they are required to wear, but no car seats.

DS2 (27 months) is too young for piano, karate, or tennis, and the class he is in doesn't really do field trips, so I am not worried about him. But DS1 (turns 5 next month) is dying to take karate, and I would love for him to start piano. And his class does do field trips, which he will obviously want to go on. Would you be okay with a five year old being transported by school bus with just a seat belt? Am I being ridiculous to even second-guess this? He is still in a five-point harness in both of our cars, while many of his classmates have been in boosters with seatbelts for a long time, so I know we have a tendency to be conservative on this issue.

[karinothing]

I mean I guess I would be okay becasue when kids go to school at 5 they ride the school bus and it doesn't even have seatbelts (at least mine didn't).

[rootbeerfloat]

DS started riding the bus for field trips in preschool (3.5-4ish). I'm fine with it.

[Deleted]

The data that I've seen says that a properly worn seatbelt is equally safe to a forward facing seat, so as long as the kids are well supervised and he can sit properly for that long, I'd be fine with it.

And at 4.5 I got stuck on the real school bus to go to Kindergarten. No seat belts exist on real school buses.

[h]

Jul 12, 2012 14:20:48 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I mean I guess I would be okay becasue when kids go to school at 5 they ride the school bus and it doesn't even have seatbelts (at least mine didn't).

I guess kids must still take school buses at 5, right? It's just hard for me to get behind letting my kid ride around without a car seat multiple times a week when he will likely be in a carseat in our cars for another 3+ years, but that must just be how it works.

[lala]

If I remember correctly, busses are designed differently so the risk of injury during a crash is different that in a car. I don't know how that varies between bigger school busses and smaller ones.

When we went to disney we rode their resort busses and the big luxury bus from the airport to the hotel. No carseats were allowed.

[h]

Jul 12, 2012 14:23:18 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

The data that I've seen says that a properly worn seatbelt is equally safe to a forward facing seat, so as long as the kids are well supervised and he can sit properly for that long, I'd be fine with it.

I would be fine with a "properly worn seatbelt." It has just always been my understanding that a young child cannot properly wear a seatbelt without a booster because it won't hit them in the right place. A few years ago I sat through a legislative hearing (for work purposes, not to torture myself) on a bill to extend my state's carseat laws, and there was all this awful testimony from doctors and parents of children who had literally been cut in half by seatbelts that did not fit them properly. I think I am still traumatized by it.

That said, it is apparent that I am probably over-reacting here. I will let my kid ride the bus to karate.

[Deleted]

Jul 12, 2012 14:34:59 GMT -5 lala said:

If I remember correctly, busses are designed differently so the risk of injury during a crash is different that in a car. I don't know how that varies between bigger school busses and smaller ones.

When we went to disney we rode their resort busses and the big luxury bus from the airport to the hotel. No carseats were allowed.

I also remember reading somewhere that using a car seat on a bus can be a safety hazard. Buses are designed to keep children safe without the use of car seats and seat belts.

[blue1980]

My DD's daycare starts taking the kids on weekly field trips starting at 3 yo. They ride the bus with no carseats. I don't love the idea and it makes me nervous but I am just forcing myself to deal with it. I asked around and it seems that most of the daycares here do this starting at age 3.

[dragonfly08]

Well, since I spent all of the last school year putting my 5 yo on a bus - without seatbelts - for kindergarten, I guess yeah, I'm ok with it. Both she and her almost 9 yo sister still ride in high back boosters in my car but that's just now how buses work/are designed.

[wordtothewise]

Yep.