UH OH! What do you do when...

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ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Tell her not to. A chest clip is a pre-crash positioner; it's not great that she's messing with it, but it's not dangerous in the way undoing the crotch buckle would be. It's an opportunity to reinforce not messing with the car seat.
 

mamahen

Member
I can tell him not to mess with it, but he's 21 months so his retention is pretty low. And he does it after we get going so I cant say anything at the time.

So how do I put velcro on it? He might find that more interesting I think.
 

Jillybeans5

Active member
Get some adhesive backed velcro, cut to size and apply it to the chest clip, the prickly side only. Make sure it is on whatever part he has to mess with to get it undone, the prickles won't feel nice on his fingers and hopefully he will stop. I would really emphasize "No touch" on those parts when you are getting him in and out of his seat too. He is old enough to understand that, just too young to have good impulse control. Hopefully the velcro will help with that part.
 

AtownMom

New member
I agree with the posts about using this as a teachable moment.

Do you have a mirror in your car so that you can see him while you are driving if you have to sneak a peak? For the first week or so that you are working with him, tell him 'no touch' on the buckle while you are getting him in and maybe give him a soft stuffed toy or cloth baby book or some other fun and safe toy and tell him if he leaves it alone he can keep the toy. If you peak back and notice that he's un-done the buckle, try pulling over and again reinforcing the 'no-touch' of the buckle and taking away the toy. As long as he leaves the buckle alone he can have the toy; but if he takes it apart as soon as you can safely pull over or exit the HWY then take the toy away. At this age kids are really smarter than we tend to give them credit for and unless he has other obstacles, it should only take a few times of loosing the toy and being re-instructed in the no-touch before he starts to get it.
 

Meg

Well-known member
You can try a few things.. velcro like others suggested, put a shirt on him that will button or zipper over the chest clip, or try a new chest clip (ie. another seat). I know at that age my kids would enjoy the attention they'd get if I pulled over the car and re-did their chest clip every time they undid it, so I'd find a why to prevent him from doing it in the first place instead of battling with a willful 21m old little guy about car seat safety.
 

lpperry

Active member
Yikes--I almost posted on this the other day. My 26 month old can do the chestclip on the MR too. His normal seat is a Radian, but he likes to ride in the pink MR in the back of our van (daycare seat). My solution was to not let him ride in the MR anymore.

That chest clip is pretty easy to open. I don't know what I would do if it was his main seat. The velcro would absolutely not stop him--he'd just tear it off. Disciplining him for it would be a challenge. He has a one-track mind, so I'd have to have someone sitting with him to enforce that rule until it clicks for him.
 

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