Do kids annoy each other

...when sitting 3 across. I remember back when my two daughters, then an infant an a toddler, where fine next to each other in the car. Then when the older one was 2.5-3 she began bothering the little one and I eventually had to split them.

Now that I'm thinking of doing 3 across in my Camry I wonder if I will eventually feel the need to separate the kids and need/want a bigger vehicle for this purpose.

While it makes more sense to buy new carseats over a new car, I rarely see parents of 3 children in a sedan seated 3 across. I also use to be a school teacher who stood outside with car duty opening car doors for children so I think I saw plenty of 3 child families.

How many of you eventually upgraded vehicles (though didn't plan to) for this reason, to give children more space between each other and to minimize sibling squabbles in the car?

Depends on the kids?

BIL's kids have to be separated. He bought a minivan and the kids are as far apart as they can be.

SIL never had that problem. Since the 2nd one was born, the older one knew to hold back and otherwise take care of the younger.

DS seems to be that way too. In the car, he holds her hand. However, we may end up separating them cuz DD does seem to swipe at DS. Could just be cuz she's curious and is simply uncoordinated while learning how to move her limbs (she's only 7 months).

I only have one kid, but... yes. Yes, they do. My daycare kids are guaranteed to be in an argument if they are in the car for longer than 10 minutes. But maybe it's just them?

Yes, siblings annoy each other.

Sitting 3 across is one of those times. As is sitting in different rows. And sitting in totally separate rooms in the house.

Shoot, my brother is sitting 2000 miles away from me at the moment and he is still managing to annoy me.

Depends on the kids.

You can always slide poster board between the seats as a "wall" .

Yeah, mine do. But it doesn't matter where they're sitting.

My big girls (6 and 3) were in the 3rd row. Bickered like crazy. So I moved one to the second row and they still manage to annoy each other.

Well, maybe I should've clarified, but the issues I had a problem with weren't verbal. It was physical annoyances...poking in the eye, pulling hair, hitting. Don't get my wrong, nothing severe or even persistent, but it's really distracting when driving and I never wanted to stop the car to stop it.

It depends on the kids. Ds1 is an instigator. He loves to have fun, play, and get riled up. He never hurt anyone, but I did keep him harnessed till 7 because he'd just get too carried away with having fun. Ds2 will hit, kick, pull hair, and whatnot. I've rearranged the seating to put an older, "boring" kid next to him and I ended up getting him a seat with deeper sides. (not for this purpose, but it sure helps) The other 4 kids (all girls, wonder if it is related to gender) are fine to each other in the van.

Thanks, you just jogged my memory (They've been separate for so long). Your son sounds like my older daughter everything is fun and she never hurt the younger one but she did make her cry. I remember her flayling/kicking her feet trying to reach the younger one.

...still contemplating a bigger car or keep the Camry and do 3 across.

Depends on the kids and their ages. I can't put C & A next to each other. Heck, they annoy each other with space in the middle of them! But, I can put any other child (preferably younger) in between them without a problem (which I do often when we do respite). Or I can put C in between 2 younger kids (the MR was great for keeping hands and feet out of each others seats this weekend!) When the baby comes, I am really hoping that the Coccoro will fit in the middle so that A & C are separated. Really, really, really hoping.

I don't have a three across yet but my two sit next to each other and don't bother each other in the car. I hope it stays that way. I could see possibly having to do some rearanging of seating when the baby gets here but hopefully not. I don't plan on getting another vehicle any time soon because I love love my TDI Jetta Wagon.

Definitely depends on the kids. I have two three acrosses, and even when all full, I very vary rarely (I'd almost lean towards never) have problems. I don't always have siblings sitting next to each other, so that may have something to do with it, as might the ages (sibling groups are 8-6-3, 5-1, 4-almost 2.)

I actually prefer to have my kids side-by-side; I had the 5 & 1yo brothers in the same row but with any empty seat between them today and it made me so sad seeing them try to play and not being able to reach each other. I also love having the opposite-direction kids alternate, so that they can interact and entertain each other.

My guess regarding not seeing other sedans in a 3-across is (a) that the automatic assumption is 3 kids = minivan, and/or (b) the parents tried to fit three across, and their current seats didn't fit, so they went the larger vehicle route, without trying to find the seats that DO fit.

When I first started doing daycare in '03, I had a 3-across in my '99 Grand Am with a Graco-Century Breverra-Ascend/Cosco Touriva/Evenflo Express. I was far from carseat geekdom -- all three kids were between 1 & 2 and FF, yipes! -- and little did I know it, but I'd discovered how to puzzle. They were in there tightly (although I don't know about indepdently, lol) so we rolled with it. So, you would not be totally alone in having a 3-across in a sedan (I know there are some other posters on here who do it, too.)

ETA: How old are your kids? Can you put the babe in the middle, and are they both old enough to know not to mess with the baby? You can always change the car if it becomes problematic after a time, but that way you could start with the less expensive solution?

Depends on the kids and the parents.
Our children are not permitted to vex each other in the car.
They are all basically neurotypical, so we can and do punish them for misbehavior.

In the case of children with special needs, it might not be reasonable to expect them to behave properly in the car.

We now have a van.

Depends on the kids and the parents.
Our children are not permitted to vex each other in the car.
They are all basically neurotypical, so we can and do punish them for misbehavior.

In the case of children with special needs, it might not be reasonable to expect them to behave properly in the car.

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Ditto.

I used to have DD1 (FF) and DD2 (RF) in the 2nd row, with DS in the 3rd row. DD2 would kick and pester DD1 so much that when I got a Nauti for DS I decided to put him next to DD2 since he is a teeny bit more tolerant. If anything he encourages her to be a pest by playing with her feet, taking her shoes...etc. The older two still annoy each other verbally from different rows, so I could only imagine what they would be like in the same row!