DD keeps messing around in her booster

she's going to be 7 in just a few days. she is NOT new to the booster. she has been in it since 6yo full time. the occasionals around 5yo. always did pretty well. Recently she is all over the place in the booster. i've reminded her over & over & over again to sit up nicely, not fidget so much & not bend over to pick anything up. she's even unbuckled herself during a ride & she's put the shoulder belt under her arm. I have no idea why, everything is adjusted well. the belt s NOT on her neck. I just don't understand this at all. I've threatened i'd find something that will keep her sitting as she should if she couldn't control herself. i just don't want to actually do so since i KNOW she can sit nicely plus i homestly don't want to spend the money.

thinking i might show her some nasty pictures/videos of what can happen if she continues & we crash.

oh what would be my options to restrain her....she is about 51 in & 60 lbs. her torso....i'm nto sure but she was close to outgrowing the regent last year. the regent is DS3 seat & i have no other harnessed seat for him anyway.

I don't have advice, but I can sympathize. DD was very mad awhile back because she didn't get her way about something, and she realized she could get a rise out of me by leaning all the way side-ways in her booster. I was hoping it was a one-time event, but any time she got mad afterwards she would do the same thing. I couldn't stop her. I had to buy a Frontier. Grrrrrr!

86Y?

Your sig indicates Regent/Turbo for your almost 5-yo -- can you let him ride in a booster a time or two and put her in the Regent, if she still fits? If she doesn't, yes, 86y is going to be your only option. And if she needs the Regent back full-time, then maybe something less expensive for your youngest... a Maestro if he's less than 50lbs, maybe a less-expensive HWH seat off of swap?

I really like positive reinforcement and talking to the kid to figure out why they are REALLY doing this (but that's because that is the only stuff that works with Ruthanne... and then the threat of NOT getting that positive reward)

the boys, all I had to do was get mad, raise my voice, and threaten something, and they toed the line... my daughter is just a different child.

I would suggest taking her aside when you can focus on just talking with her... and say.. "you know how, in the car, Mommy keep having to tell you to sit right, to wear your seatbelt", blah blah, blah.... and when she says yes, then ask her why she isn't sitting still, why she puts the belt under her arm, etc.

With each one, talk about why it's dangerous, and ask her what she can do instead of that to get what she wants or communicate what she is trying to communicate.

Ruthie's tough one was not picking up a toy while in her booster. It took a lot of short trips and practicing and the firm rule that if she DID Bend over, whatever she was bending over to get was then given to me until we got to the end of our car trip... and we had to stay in the car (sometimes while brothers went inside... if they were with us and we were going home, I'd let them go in the house and do what they needed/wanted while we did what we had to do) and practiced using a calm voice, words, and waiting until I could pull over or until we got there (depending on the length of the trip) and not playing with toys in ways that would have them falling on the floor... and on taking a bag/backpack with to keep her things in and keeping it where she could reach it without being out of position.

We also really concentrated on the safety aspects... what could happen in a crash, how the "police will get mad" if she breaks the rules and possibly give Mommy a ticket or even take me to jail (like if she weren't buckled up right in her seat and we got in a crash and she got hurt and I got charged with negligence, but I didn't go into all that, I kept it simple)

good ideas! thanks i'm preparing for a chat with my DD...i'm waiting for the right moment like the next time she's being a PITA in the car to bring it up. hoping it will just fade away instead.