Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What to do?
I am desperately seeking suggestions on keeping Madison in her car seat. She doesn't actually climb out, but she pulls her arms out of the shoulder straps so that they just go down the sides of her body and meet in between her legs. If we were in an accident, she has a high probability of being thrown from the car. Steve won't let me put pins in the nylon straps beneath where the chest buckle is, because he says it compromises the nylon. I have tied rubber bands around the straps beneath the buckle, but one of them broke off and she just pushes and wiggles the buckle until it goes down anyway. I know that the idea is to make it adjustable so that it lasts longer for a child, but I am beginning to hate the fact that the buckle slides up and down to accomodate growth!
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9 comments:
I would have their be some punishment every time she does it, depending on how you and Steve have chosen to discipline your children. Or you could come at it at a different angle and reward her every time you guys drive some where and she stays in her seatbelt like she should. I haven't had that problem with my kids yet so I am just completely guessing as to how I would handle it!
Actually, that's a really good idea. I had been coming at it from a perspective of making it so that she can't, but you're suggesting that I make it so that she doesn't want to. Hmmmm...
That's a tough one, especially since it involves her safety. Positive reinforcement sounds like a good idea to me. I wish I had a better suggestion.
I tried rewarding Josilyn and it didn't seem to work. We were driving one day and were about to go through a check point on the interstate and she got out of her seatbelt. We stopped at the nearest exit to fix it and a police officer pulled up behind us. I explained to them the situation and they talked to her and it scared her. It was a very long time before she did again. They even offered to write her a ticket and told her that Mommy, Daddy and Grandma could all go to jail if she didn't stay in her seat belt and that she could get hurt very bad. Walmart does sell a thing so that kids can't unbuckle or loosen a regular seat belt but I don't know about the adjustable straps. Maybe you could look at babies r us or something.
Yikes! Is it pulled tight enough? I wish I had some amazing advice, but I haven't had that problem--WOW!
OK, I am just guessing too, since I haven't had to deal with carseats and belts for quite some time. Can you sew a button on the strap, high enough for it to hold her in. It should make it so the sliding thing won't slide down, the button would stop it. Other suggestion would be to call the carseat company and explain the problem to them, Maddi can't be the only two year old that has tried this escape method. They may have made something to put on the strap.
Rachel - it has nothing to do with how tight it is. It's a standard 5-point harness so it comes out of the seat over her shoulders and goes straight down on either side of her legs, buckling across the chest and in between her legs. All she does is push the buckle across her chest down the straps (towards the other buckle) until she can pull her arms through.
got it! Sorry to sound so stupid! I will be thinking on that one!
We took travis to see the teddybear in action at the independence police. They have a machine that is like a seat in the car and they place a teddy bear in the seat once with a seatbelt and once without. It freaked travis out so much we never had problems since. So maybe call or go down to the station and see if they still have it and they could show her what happens. It worked on my kids, it could help you.
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