What age did your kid start buckling self?

sb518

New member
At what age was your child able to climb in their seat and buckle themselves without assistance? I am counting down the days!!!
 
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flutie128

New member
My DD is 4.5 and just started buckling everything by herself. She has been able to buckle/unbuckle the chest clip for a year or so. She rides in a Nautilus with the original buckle and a Frontier 85.
 

EmmaGrace'sMom

New member
I started training DD1 at 3.5, when I found out I was preggo. By the time she was 4 she could buckle herself completely. She was in a FR and XTSL. Occasionally I had to untwist something or tell her to move her chest clip up. I always did a visual check that nothing was twisted and her chest clip was in the correct spot. We started booster training at 5 and she was mostly able to buckle the booster, by 6 she could always buckle.

Her fine motor skills have always been very good, she just enjoyed fine motor activities.
 

kathysr98

Active member
Dd could buckle her XTSL by 4y7m, but rarely does so. I think many times its because she's tired or just doesn't want to do it.
 

agave

New member
My 4 1/2 yr old will get in her frontier straps and do the chest clip, she can do the crotch buckle but has no motivation. I think she can buckle in a booster but she hasn't had many rides.

My 3 yr old needs help getting the straps on her XTSL and is very prone to twisting them, she is highly motivated to buckle herself but I have to loosen the harness a lot, she also wants to tighten it herself. I'm sure she'll do better when I let her FF and stick her in a Frontier.
 

aeormsby

New member
DD was probably 3. DS just turned 5 and will sometimes buckle himself in (he can, he just won't). But I think the Frontier his harder for kids than the Marathon, DD was able to buckle the MA and when we switched her to the FR it took her a while to figure that one out.
 

Brianna

New member
J is 3 and won't even try. All he'll do is pull his arms out of the harness after he's unbuckled. He doesn't even want to do up his chest clip any more.
 

3BoysMommy

New member
My oldest was able to fully buckle himself shortly after he turned 3, I just had to check the tension on the harness. He started fastening the chest clip around 18 months. He's huge and very technically minded. When he outgrew the harness at 46 months, it took him about 10 tries to learn the regular seat belt.
My middle son is 37 months. I'm lucky if I can get him to put his arms through the straps on his own. He will fasten the chest clip once in a while, but rarely tries. I'm hoping our new car seats will motivate him to try.
 

christineka

New member
The average age for my kids is 5 years to buckle a harness. My older kids could buckle a booster at 5 as well, but younger kid is 8 and can just barely buckle a booster in the van. In the car, she could buckle at 6 or 7.
 

HappyHoo

New member
I think my DD was 4 or so when she started buckling herself some. Maybe 5 - the main seat she did it in regularly was the Nautilus with the old style crotch buckle. By 5 or so she could unbuckle herself completely too.

She did need help tightening the harness (we loosen each time).

DS is 3.5 and hasn't shown any interest beyond the chest clip and that's only sometimes. He has a newer Nautilus too so I can see it taking longer with that crotch buckle.
 

sb518

New member
Cool, looks like sooner than later! Dd can do her chest clip but doesn't quite have the motor strength to do the crotch strap when the harness is tight (in a MA70). She tries though. So the frontier is harder? That was my planned next seat for her.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Kate was able to buckle her nauti as soon as we got it, which was at 3.25, with like a week or 2 of practice time. Alex is *just now* sort of maybe able to buckle it sometimes, and he turned 5 in december.
 

glockchick

New member
When they moved to boosters. So 4 for the older kids (before I knew better), and 5-6 for the younger ones. I still have to untwist with Caleb most of the time.

In his harnessed seats he can do the chest clip but not the crotch buckle. I don't loosen harnesses to get him in and out and I bet he could if the harness was looser.
 

ceruti82

New member
My daughter (in her frontier85) can buckle the chest clip, but can't quite buckle the crotch buckle.
However, She can unbuckle the crotch, but can't unbuckle the chest clip.. Lol
 

kam1011

New member
6 for DD1 (three across then)

3.75 for DS

2.5 for DD2 - She buckles the harness completely then reaches forward to grab the strap and pulls! I usually have to tighten a little more, but she does a better job than most adults. Ironically, she cannot unbuckle alone. My other two could unbuckle themselves way before they could buckle.
 

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