Harness or no harness for small 5 yr old

[kelli701]

I love our Evenflo Sureride for extended 5-point harnessing! My DS is 4 1/2 yo and the size of an average 6 yo. He's got lots of time left in this seat, which is only $90 to $100 at WalMart, Target, Amazon, etc.

[twowhat?]

You're definitely not paranoid! Mine are almost 6 and only 39 pounds and 42-44 inches tall. They will stay harnessed in their Radians for a while. We do plan to get HBBs for our secondary car which they ride in rarely, to use for booster training and then to move into our primary car once they outgrow the Radians. But I am only comfortable with thinking about booster training them because they are very compliant in the car, and because the boosters would be in a car that they seldomly ride in (and they will ride in it for quick errands like getting bagels with DH, or taking the car through a car wash).

[arivecchi]

I switched my smaller ds2 to a britax parkway sgl. It fits him really well. I would not buy a harnessed seat for a 5 year old.

[Fairy]

DS was harnessed until he was 8, then he spent a year in a booster only (Parkway). Last summer before school just before he turned 9 we removed the booster entirely. He has never been a small kid. I was very happy keeping him harnessed, then in a booster, and so was he. If he were a small kid, I'd have no reservations. Especially at age 5.