As Child Passenger Safety Technicians, we spend a lot of time helping caregivers with their very first car seats. From offering advice around choosing that first rear facing only or convertible car seat to assistance around installation and use, we spend more time with parents of the 0-2 set than any other age group. They
If you’re looking for a lightweight, relatively narrow, inexpensive booster, cast your gaze towards the Evenflo Big Kid Sport.
The Graco TurboBooster has been a solid, well-fitting, popular booster seat for many years for good reason! It is lightweight, very simple to assemble and use, and fits a wide variety of children well. It’s also budget friendly, making it a good choice for many families.
The CruiserFix Pro is a belt positioning booster that includes a variety of features that I would not have thought to include on a booster — adjustable thigh support, adjustable sidewings, rigid lower anchors, and shock absorbers. Those features contribute to the awards that this seat has won.
The original Graco TurboBooster has been a CSFTL favorite for quite some time. It’s lightweight, fits smaller children well, and is almost foolproof to use properly. When Graco showed us a sneak peek at the updated TurboBooster LX during the ABC Kids show last fall, we had a hard time imagining how they could possibly improve such a solid seat until all was revealed.
The Lil Fan Box Seat Premium Slimline No Back Booster Seat is a little seat with a very long name! It also goes by the much shorter name “Box Seat,” so we’ll use that name. When we met the Lil Fan Club Seat earlier this year, we were impressed with the great belt fit on our models, the seat’s easy to follow labels and instructions, and the seat’s light weight. Oh, and the amazing sports-themed covers if you’re into that sort of thing.
While there’s no set time or age for moving your child from a high back booster to a backless booster, we tend to suggest making this move when the child is able to sit properly all of the time.
Since not all big kids are ready for the responsibility of sitting properly without the reminder that the shoulder and head sections of the high back booster can provide, members of our Facebook group ask which boosters might last the longest or be the best value.
Is the big Little in your life ready for a backless booster? Maybe your 8 year old is too tall for their high back booster or your 7 year old needs something more portable for carpooling. There are many choices when it comes to backless boosters. How do you choose which booster will work for you? Let’s narrow the options and look at some boosters that cost less than $20.
Parents want to keep their kids safe, and as CPSTs it’s our job to help them do just that. Parents often ask us to point them to the safest seat on the market. There’s no simple answer to that question: the safest seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and that you use correctly every time. Age, height, and weight all matter when choosing a seat that fits your little. Research shows that children under age 2, no matter their size, should be in rear facing seats, and older children need boosters until they pass the 5 step test.
When it comes to child passenger safety, the evolution of caregiver knowledge and state laws has been a slow process. However, more and more caregivers are learning that children need to ride in booster seats longer than they may have originally thought.
