I was just thinking about extended rearfacing and had some questions.
What do you do if it's snowy or rainy? Do you take off your childs shoes as you get in the car, or do you have a towel or something pinned up on the seat back for their feet to rub against? What about the regular dust and dirt from their shoes from everyday walking? Doesnt it make your car all dirty?
Also, does your child climb in on their own or do you need to lift them up and into it?
Ds2 was RF until 4yrs 2 mos, so obviously, we dealt with some shoe issues
. Most of the time, I just had him take his shoes off as soon as he climbed into the van. His shoes traveled right in front of the van seat his MA was on. Yes, it was sort of a PITB sometimes to have to put his shoes on every single time we got out of the car, but he pretty much did it himself, with help sometimes from any one of us. In reality, sometimes I'd wish the older kids had to take *their* shoes off, since they're tracking dust, dirt, rain, etc into the van, too LOL. I did have a towel up at one point when he was around 2.5, but if I remember right, it didn't want to stay put very well (the way that particular seat was in that van), so I just ditched it after a while.
Most of his shoes were velcro-based for time-saving reasons, or he had sandals he could just pull on in the summer. As far as climbing in vs. lifting in, it depended on how much time I had or on the weather. If it was pouring out, then he was getting lifted up and plunked down pretty quickly
, but for the most part, he climbed in himself and I buckled him (or dh, if he was around). Honestly, I didn't really ever consider these "inconveniences" to be a pressing reason to turn him FF full-time before he got to the RF limits of his seat. He was FF a few times and for a couple of short stints and when I had to turn him FF full-time, I dreaded it for the simple fact that he was much more comfortable RF and thus, much nicer to be around in the car
lol.