The first tip on the proper use of a booster car seat is to buy and use it. The car's safety belts will not fit a 4 year old even if he's tall and stocky.
The second tip is related to the previous one - make sure that your child is ready for a car booster seat. Some parents make the mistake of putting their child in a booster seat before he's truly big enough to use it safely. Children should continue using the car seat with harness until they reach 40 pounds, especially if the child tends to be active in the car. Children who have outgrown their car seat should ride in car booster until they are at least 8 years old and 4 feet 9 inches tall.
How would you know if your child is ready to move into a car booster seat? Make him sit in it and see if he's sitting all the way back against the seat back. His knees should bend at the edge of the seat cushion. The child's legs will stick straight out and he may slouch or slide forward in the seat if he's too small for the booster. While he's still in the booster, check the position of your car's lap belt. It should cross the hips, not the stomach, and touch the top of the thighs. The shoulder belt should land on the shoulder, not her neck or upper arm, and cross the center of the chest. The shoulder and lap belts should be on the places where they should be.
The third tip is to check your car's rear seats before buying booster car seats. If your rear seat has a low back, buy a high-back model. This will provide your child with head and neck support in case of a rear collision. If your car's rear seats are high enough to support the head and neck but are deeply contoured, a backless model will fit better on the seat and be less likely to tip over compared with a high-back model.
Make sure that the car booster seat is in the correct place. The safest place for most booster seats is in the center of the rear seat. This best protects the child from a side-impact crash. Unfortunately, the most cars do not have a center shoulder belt, only a lap belt. You should not rely on the lap belt to secure a booster seat. If your car doesn't have a center shoulder belt, it is wiser to position the booster on the right side of the back seat. An added benefit of this is that you can check on your child through the rear view mirror from time to time than when he's directly behind you. You can always have shoulder belts installed if you car doesn't have a shoulder belt at the center of the rear seats and you want to put the booster in there.
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