Need Help with "parental decision"

Okay I am the one with the gigantic 3.5 year old. 46" tall and 60lbs. I have a situation where I need my mother to drive him about two miles for 2 days this coming week then hopefully never again. I am taking my son to a babysitter in the mornings but the babysitter isn't available in the afternoons so my mother is going to go pick my son up and keep him at her house for me until I can get there. My mother isn't strong enough to carry the Regent let alone install it correctly. Time doesn't really allow me to drive him to the babysitter then drive to my mom's and install the Regent get to work and back and then uninstall and reinstall in my van and get back to pick up my older kids from school. So that is out right now.

I have a graco nauti that he has outgrown the harness height by a little but isn't to the weight limit. I can install it in her car with the harness or without. Truth be told I am much more comfortable with her doing the harness than with her trying to get the seat belt fastened around him and the booster correctly. Plus he isn't booster trained. I am seriously thinking about using the harness so I can use a seatbelt install and know the seat is in correctly and she won't get frustrated and decide to just put him in the seatbelt only. What would you do?

If he's right at the harness slots or maybe a hair above, I'd probably be more comfortable with that than a 3.5 year old in a booster. Make sure you shove the seat back with your knees as you install it, and put the recline in. The more upright he is the more torso height it'll have and he may fit under the top slots in her car.

Wendy

I wouldn't use the outgrown Nautilus with harness. That's the one scenario where you know that the seat is being misused, guaranteed. If he uses the Nautilus as a booster, there is at least a chance that it will be used correctly.

Put the Nautilus in her car in booster mode. Show your son where the seatbelt should go (on the red) and have him see if he can "catch" you doing it wrong. Try to purposely do it wrong so he can catch you. Make a game of it. Then tell him he can try to catch grandma doing it wrong. Also, show Grandma and booster train her.

If the booster is already adjusted properly for him, and the seatbelt routed through the shoulder belt guide, I'm not sure how she could buckle it wrong, really. Also, when you put it in her car, buckle the empty booster. That will both take care of the projectile issue and she will have to look at it right before she puts him in, which should help her remember.

What about going to your mom's the night before you need her to drive your son and installing the Regent in her vehicle? Have him ride in the Nauti as a booster with you instead of her. Then you know he's properly secured in both vehicles and you'll be there to keep an eye on him and remind him to sit properly. Depending on how far apart the two days are and how much driving you'll be doing with your son, you could let her keep the seat for the second day or go get it back and then return it to her.

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Have you installed the nautilus in her car before? the reason I ask is I have a 6.5 yr old who out grew his harness by height but when I moved it to a different spot in my car, I gained about an inch of harness height and he can now use it again.

I would not booster a 3.5yr old especially if I am not there to oversee him. I would not leave that to someone else.

I don't want him in a booster in my van because we travel undivided highways where the speed limit is 65 but a lot of people go 70+ and it is a fairly long drive. I haven't tried any seat in her car before. I think he will be a hair above the highest slot hopefully just at. When I got my new van he went from being almost at the top slot in the Regent to being just above the slot below it so I got a lot of room then I am hoping it will be close in the GN with her car.

She is always complaining about the seatbelt retractors in her car and how it is easier to just not wear a selt belt than do deal with seat belts. I know she will do the harness if it is available I am not sure she will do the seat belt if it gives her the slightest bit of trouble.

Thanks for letting me work it out here.

Mysweethoneybee said:

She is always complaining about the seatbelt retractors in her car and how it is easier to just not wear a selt belt than do deal with seat belts. I know she will do the harness if it is available I am not sure she will do the seat belt if it gives her the slightest bit of trouble.

Thanks for letting me work it out here.

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If there's even the tiniest possibility that she would do this I would harness him.

wendytthomas said:

If he's right at the harness slots or maybe a hair above, I'd probably be more comfortable with that than a 3.5 year old in a booster. Make sure you shove the seat back with your knees as you install it, and put the recline in. The more upright he is the more torso height it'll have and he may fit under the top slots in her car.

Wendy

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I completely agree with Wendy.

Does she buckle her own belt?

Wendy