Brandon turned eight in August.  He weighs about 76 pounds.  He is approximately ten feet tall (as judged by my very scientific mom eye).  The law in Nevada says that kids have to be in a booster seat until they are six years old or sixty pounds.  However, the RECOMMENDED limit is eight or eighty pounds. I've kept Brandon in a booster seat until two weeks ago.

You guys seriously, this has made me the least cool mom on the planet.  Not just with my child but with other parents. You cannot believe how many parents have been annoyed when I told them if they wanted to drive my kid somewhere he needed a booster seat.  Not to mention the fights that have happened when their kid wants to sit in the back seat and they ask Brandon to sit up front and he replies, "no I'm not allowed to sit up front until I am twelve."  Because you know, that is an actual real live law here.  This poses a few problems.  First being that parents who don't keep their (much much smaller kids) in a booster seat automatically feel awkward in front of me because I do, as if they think I am judging them (I am). Second is that when other kids ride in my car and their parents tell me they do not need a booster seat this A: Makes me feel uncomfortable and B: Leads that other asshole kid to make fun of my kid for being in a booster seat.

I don't understand any of this.  It's a safety thing.  Booster seats aren't difficult.  They don't take up any space in your car.  They don't require you to buckle them in (at this point Brandon was out of the 5-point harness, and into the kind that uses the seatbelt). I don't understand why parents would not use something that is proven to be safer for your child.  Especially the children who might be eight years old but who are smaller then my six year old. 

I resisted letting Brandon out of his booster seat until I spoke to his pediatrician about it.  I actually made an appointment and went in there.  He was impressed.  He measured Brandon, and told me where the seat belt needs to fit for him to safely ride without a booster seat and then he gave me the seal of approval to remove Brandon from his booster.  I still waited another week.

I don't care how uncool that seat was, I think it's way cooler then being dead right?

Moving onto Codi.  Codi turned six in November.  He weighs about forty pounds.  He is maybe three feet tall.  Legally I could take him out of the booster seat because he is six.  I refuse to take him out because he is not sixty pounds.  He is still in a 5-point harness type seat.  All of his little kindergarten six year old friends have of course already come out of their 5-point harness AND their booster seat.  Again, I have become the uncool mom who makes her child ride in a safety seat. I did not take Brandon out of his 5-point harness until I think second grade.  I told Codi that until he is sixty pounds I won't even entertain the option.  I also explained why.  He was actually totally okay with it.  Codi is small.  I don't care what age he is, he weighs nothing and is as tall as a preschooler, why on earth would I take him out of something made to protect him? 

This has been very frustrating.  I watch kids smaller then Codi get into cars without even having a booster seat and I cringe.  Then I realize that I'm in the minority though and I just shut my mouth.  Tell me, when did you move your kids from a 5-point harness, and then when did you eliminate all booster seats all together?  Am I alone in wanting my kids to be as safe as possible or are their other parents out there who care about this?  I am feeling really lame and lonely in this car seat crusade.