If you’ve scrolled around Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest for any amount of time, you’re likely to have seen it.  There is always someone who posts a photo of their child in a car seat, buckled in wrong, or not tight enough, or sitting funky, or not in a car seat at all.  Then it happens.  The post goes viral, the photo gets shared, screen printed, and ridiculed from here to eternity!  I like to call the mamas who jump on other mamas for not having their child properly restrained “car seat nazis”.  And sometimes, I’m part of that crowd.

Not too long ago, we were driving home from a short road trip, and I noticed that my 6 year old son was falling over in his booster seat. The seatbelt never locked, and it seemed that the adjustable back on the seat kept sliding up as well.

Car Seat Safety

According to the State of Texas:

After age 4 and 40+ pounds, children can ride in a booster seat with the adult lap and shoulder belt until the adult safety belt will fit them properly (usually when the child is 4’9″ tall).

The key here is “fit them properly”, which the above photo clearly shows that this booster seat is either too big for him, or he’s short enough to really need to be back in his 5 point harness.

Since we’re going on vacation, and soon, we already took the vehicle for general car maintenance. We take safety on the road very seriously, and try to keep all aspects of this simple concept well at hand. This means we ensure the vehicle is safe to drive and that we’re all safe riding in it as well, so we are going to go ahead and put him back in his 5 point Nautilus seat, and we’re just going to have to deal with the fact that we may have to move the seat back and forth between cars.  I’m more concerned with safety than inconvenience, and he really feels safer in a 5 point harness.  He’s a big kiddo, but he’s still little at heart!

In the event that we decide to go ahead and grab another car seat for a second car on vacation, we’re going to shop the sale at Wayfair with up to 70% off of all kind of products, including car seats. These car seat covers fit my seats perfectly and provide excellent protection.

They have great deals on Britax and Radian as well as many others, and the also have free shipping on their car seats, so we can’t really beat that.  They even have those awesome Batman car seats in a 5 point harness, which I”m pretty sure he would LOVE.

Batman Car Seat

Disclosure:  This is a partnered post.