RF Buckling difficulties

Michi

Member
Not with the carseat - with the kid!!!:rolleyes:

Ugh - Ever since we turned Annabelle RF she is such a pain to buckle!
She pitches the biggest fit when I buckle her lately, and goes 'stiff' so I can't get her in her seat.
When she was FF i used to just keep pushing her middle down with my elbow while I wrestled the straps over her and quickly buckled, but now that she's RF she is using the seat back of the car for leverage and 'pushes' so that I can't even get the straps over her arms!

I was so ticked' with her yesterday...it was pouring rain and we were at the grocery store and she decides to pull that stunt! She was screaming so loud as I tried to wrestle her into her seat...and I'm getting mad...(and wet...:mad: )
It sounded like I was torturing her! We were both in tears before I finally got her buckled!
 
ADS

becca011906

Senior Community Member
it's a phase... promise!!! :) Till then try giving her some control... like asking her to help with buckling the chest clip, give her a job to do, or give a special/favorite toy she gets in the car only and she can only play with that toy if she buckles up properly and nicely for you...
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
Mikkel has only done this once or twice to me, but what I do is cradle him into a V and push his bum into position. His legs are stuck straight up in the air and I am able to keep my elbow on his tummy and buckle straps around him. Once he's buckled, he calms down and I can tighten the harness.

Hope that helps, and it will get better... they just really like to test us and see what they can get away with.:rolleyes:

Once I got Mikkel to start buckling the seat himself, it was much easier. Now, his biggest thing is climbing into the seat by himself... he does not want my help, thank you very much!:rolleyes:
 

Suzibeck

Active member
Yes, it is a phase, not a fun one, but a phase none the less. I'm sorry it is so hard right now.

While reading your description, I got a clear picture of about a year and half ago. My older two were attending a local charter school and I had to go pick them up. My youngest, who was REALLY into pretending insisted that she didn't have any sisters and she WAS NOT going to pick them up. Man, was it a struggle to buckle her that day! I had to recline the captains chair back to get enough room to wedge her in rfing, then cranked it back up after I buckled her. I took away her freedom to pretend AT ALL for 2 weeks and then she got it back on a limited basis until I was sure she wouldn't lose touch with reality again. Leave it to me to have a kid who takes pretending to such an extreme. :rolleyes: She still loves to pretend, but she comes back to reality when asked now.
 

Morganthe

New member
My youngest, who was REALLY into pretending insisted that she didn't have any sisters and she WAS NOT going to pick them up. Man, was it a struggle to buckle her that day! I had to recline the captains chair back to get enough room to wedge her in rfing, then cranked it back up after I buckled her. I took away her freedom to pretend AT ALL for 2 weeks and then she got it back on a limited basis until I was sure she wouldn't lose touch with reality again. Leave it to me to have a kid who takes pretending to such an extreme. :rolleyes: She still loves to pretend, but she comes back to reality when asked now.

I have a daughter too that's very much into a pretend world a lot of the time. She's had a 'baby brother in her belly' for the last 5 weeks. As long as it's her carrying & not me, I don't mind. :shrug-shoulders: But I'm really curious to know how you 'took away her freedom to pretend'. How did you enforce it? Especially when she was on her own? I can see down the line I might have the same issue with dd's world interfering with car safety too. So I'm very interested.

Was she not even allowing her sisters in the vehicle with her?
Apologies if this is considered OTT. :eek:
 

Niea

New member
I'm here sympathizing as well. We go through this struggle often!

But lest you think it's because you turned her RF I offer you this: My DD does it all the time and she's always been RFing. So it would happened no matter what.
 

teekadog

Active member
It is a phase. It is a phase. It is a phase.

I know it's true, and I keep telling myself because 2yo dd is going through this right now. A few days ago she kicked her legs out hard to fend me off... and I was leaning over her, struggling to buckle... her foot made contact with my nose... yep, my 2yo gave me a bloody nose in the grocery store parking lot.

It's just a phase. It's just a phase. It's just a phase.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Yep, they all go through it aroundthis age - it has NOTHING to do with which direction they're facing and everything to do with not wanted to be tied down.

next time, try tickling her. It's kind of hard to do "Board Man" (kidlet stiff as a board) when you're being tickled. :rolleyes:
 

Suzibeck

Active member
How did you enforce it? Especially when she was on her own? I can see down the line I might have the same issue with dd's world interfering with car safety too. So I'm very interested.

Was she not even allowing her sisters in the vehicle with her?
Apologies if this is considered OTT. :eek:

If she started to pretend I told her she needed to stop and say "Yes, Mommy, I will not pretend." If she had not stopped, I would have spanked, but she never took it that far. I guess I don't know if she pretended when she was alone, I suppose she could have and I never would have known.


She never refused to let her sisters in the van. It was her absolute refusal to accept that she had any sisters to pick up, and thus she would not allow me to put her in the van to go pick them up. She was also screaming at me if I forgot to call her by her pretend name and that was disrespectful and not allowed as well. I started with gentle correction, telling her that Mommy would not always remember to call her Annie because I named her Linnea and I had been calling her Linnea for 3 years. When her screaming escalated if someone didn't play along, it was time to stop for a while.

If she had kindly shared her pretend world and nicely asked us to play along, that would have been totally different. I never would have removed her freedom to pretend then.
 

ThreeBeans

New member
If she started to pretend I told her she needed to stop and say "Yes, Mommy, I will not pretend." If she had not stopped, I would have spanked, but she never took it that far. I guess I don't know if she pretended when she was alone, I suppose she could have and I never would have known.

You have to be freaking kidding me. Sorry, but that's sick. :mad:
 

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