Climbing Out

C

chrispat19114

Guest
My two year old son keeps climbing out of his car seat. We have two different kinds and he does it with both. The first car seat just has the head piece that goes over his head. With this one he pulls his arms up through the middle and he his free. The second one (which is the one used most of the time) as a plastic buckle on it. He quickly figured out that if you push both buttons the buckle comes undone. After he does that he just pulls his arms up. I have looked for other ideas on the web but I have only found one, Show him how to sit by example. Well, the whole family wears a seat belt. Since he has started doing this I will have one of my girls sit next to him and they have a seat belt on too. My son knows how to escape from anything I put in front of him. I am hoping someone out there can give me a suggestion on what to do . I have quickly learned that the second worst fear ( the first not seeing where your child is) is looking in your rear view mirror and seeing your child standing in his seat behind you as you are driving.

Thanks for any help you can give!! :)
 
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Jewels

Senior Community Member
Is he in a 5pt harness (sorry couldn't tell by your description)? Is the harness tight enough?

My 2yr old doesn't get out of his seat (he barely moves in there as the straps are very tight) but he does want to sit in the front seat or a seat without his carseat. I just tell him that "it isn't safe and if we were in a accident and something could happen and you could get hurt, this would make mommy and daddy very very sad and we would cry". This seems to affect him and he then willingly sits in his seat. You could maybe try explaining something like this to him!?
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Make sure the harness is tight enough. You should not be able to pinch a fold in the harness horizontally at the shoulder and he should never wear bulky clothes.

Some seats have stronger buckles than others, so you may need to try several different seats.
 

twokidstwodogs

New member
I don't know what kind of seat you have, but doesn't Britax make something that fits over the main buckle that prevents a child from unbuckling it? I vaguely remember it, but it was several years ago.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
"But my child won't stay in the carseat!" ... from SafetyBeltSafe > Parents' Corner > click "Helpful Handouts" > Item # 635

At this age, I would take the carseat out of the vehicle -- name the parts of the carseat with him & play a crash scenerio comparison game: pretend to drive (you're really on the couch) with him unbuckled when *ACK* you have to slam on the breaks: flip his carseat so he falls off on the floor & act VERY scared (pretend to call 911 for help, wrap him up with bandages, etc.) then do it all over again but with him properly buckled & celebrate celebrate celebrate about how safe he was correctly buckled! Have him "help" you reinstall the carseat (remember there must be less than 1 inch movement at the belt path) & have him show YOU how he should be buckled....

Also, while used seats from Freecycle/CraigsList/etc. are not recommended for use with real children, I would use one as a means for encouraging proper use by letting children buckle in their own favorite stuffed animal :) Always remind your child when buckling in that the harness keeps him safe & you love him so much, the rule is to never unbuckle & rules keep him safe. Keep it simple & fun with lots of repetition, repetition, repetition ;)
 

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