5.5yrs old and still can't buckle/unbuckle??

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
My dd is 5.5yrs and in a FR90 and is still unable to buckle or unbuckle herself. I have never had to "teach" my kids....I was always fighting to get them to stop! And now I have one with ZERO interest in learning....and quite frankly, it's driving me bonkers!!! The only part she can help with is buckling her chest clip, she is unable to unbuckle it! If I hold the crotch strap, she can occassionally get the harness buckled, but not without whining/crying "I can't do it"...blah blah blah.

Please tell me I won't still be buckeling her at 6!!
 
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ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
My 6 year old can only half buckle and can't unbuckle. It's a tough buckle.

Her sister didn't learn to do the fr 85 buckle until 6 1/2- then she outgrew it a few months later.
 

NVMBR02

New member
My youngest will be 5.5 next month and is also in a Frontier 90. She can buckle herself about half the time. Generally, she gets the chest clip and one side buckled and needs help with the other side. Most of the time she can unbuckle by herself, but does occasionally need help.

My older two kids were in a Radian (dd1 and DS) or Frontier 85 (Ds) at around that age and we able to buckle themselves pretty much all the time by 4 1/2-5. I think the Frontier 90 just has a slightly harder buckle and some kids don't quite have the hand strength and/coordination that others do.
 

aeormsby

New member
I'm not sure my DS every really buckled himself in his Frontier. He sometimes did, I know he could, but he generally didn't. (I think it was harder for him). He moved to a booster full time when he turned 6 and it took him about 6 months to figure out how to buckle his booster (it is hard, the booster often slides too close to the buckle so now he just moves it over before he sits down).

I agree it's completely frustrating.
 

agave

New member
What is driving me nuts is my 6 1/2 year old has no interest in buckling her booster. My 5 yr old can buckle her Frontier if I don't have the harness too tight but she is highly motivated. I'm hoping when she moves to a booster she motivates her sister a little.


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Mom2Connor

New member
That would be really frustrating. My 4 yr old has been buckling himself in since he was late 3 yr old yr. he totally buckles and unbuckles himself and even adjusts the chest clip. He is in a frontier 90 but also can do his harmony defender and britax marathon 70.
 

gigi

New member
My son couldn't unbuckle at 5.5 when I moved him to a booster. He could buckle starting somewhere bet. 4 and 5, but his seat had an easy buckle! I bet he would have had trouble with a Britax buckle.
 

natysr

New member
My 10 year old struggles a LOT if he tried to unbuckle his 4 year old brother. There is no way he could have ever unbuckled himself when he was in a harnessed seat. My 4 year cannot unbuckle himself. He can buckle the chestclip. He sometimes tries to do the harness buckle, but he struggles. He might be able to do it if the harness is very loose, but then what's the point in him doing it himself if I have to loosen the harness first, wait for him to buckle, then tighten it again. I just do it myself.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
My ds was like, 7, before he could tackle un/buckling anything, booster or harness. And 10 before he could tie shoes. And he's not exactly special needs, just dyslexic :eek:. Maybe related...? Kids just all develop at their own speed.
 

tiggercat

New member
My 5.5yo is in a FRct and can unbuckle the crotch buckle, but not the chest clip, and can buckle up the chest clip but not the crotch buckle. I have my 9yo "free the beast" if she is in the car, and I always have to buckle him :/
 

Morganthe

New member
With her Regent, dd could only ever unbuckle herself. She finally got the hang of the chest clip around age 7. However, holding the connector & pressing firmly down on the two pieces to combine all three together just wasn't possible. She lacked the coordination, patience, agility, + the strength.

Within a week of transferring into her Monterey booster, she was able to buckle herself in on her own. Hasn't needed help since. She was 4 months shy of turning 9.

I found the few times I used a Frontier to be even harder to buckle (me trying to do it, not her)

. Since she was in a car & behind my seat, it really wasn't that big of a deal to quickly fasten her in. But she's an 'only' (so I don't have others neediness to worry about) and has experienced delays on gross motor skill tasks since she was a baby. I hoped for better, but knew from her history to not push her. She was so proud of herself for buckling her booster alone when she did start. It was a long time coming. :love:

Sorry. Wish I could have better news for you. :duck:
 

Morganthe

New member
My ds was like, 7, before he could tackle un/buckling anything, booster or harness. And 10 before he could tie shoes. And he's not exactly special needs, just dyslexic :eek:. Maybe related...? Kids just all develop at their own speed.

DD still can't tie regular shoes --- but she can wrap on & tie/knot-- then undo her pointe shoes + sew their straps on.

bizarre kid. :rolleyes:
 

Keeks64

New member
DS1 is 6 & has been unbuckling/buckling his FR since age 4, he can also adjust his chest clip properly. What's so weird is he has low muscle tone & usually can't do most strenuous things easily.

DS2 is 2 & can buckle his RF marathon with help if I hold the buckle tounge but he thankfully hasn't figured out how to unbuckle
 

kam1011

New member
My oldest started buckling herself right before she turned 6, finally. It really was difficult, even for me. We got a new car and all of a sudden she could do it. At that point, I became extremely patient to force her to do it in my husband's car. I would sit in the parking lot and give her all the time she needed (10 minutes?!?) and she eventually picked it up. Meanwhile, my younger kids learned around the same time as her, even though they're two and three years younger.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
My ds was like, 7, before he could tackle un/buckling anything, booster or harness. And 10 before he could tie shoes. And he's not exactly special needs, just dyslexic :eek:. Maybe related...? Kids just all develop at their own speed.

My kids were all over ten when they learned how to tie shoes, even the non-dyslexic one.

DD2 struggled with buckling the Frontier for a long, long time after she mastered the buckles on the Regent and Radian. She also frequently had troubles with buckling herself into a booster. Reaching down and to the side blindly was just not something she was coordinated enough to manage.
 
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Our 5.5yo can buckle her Radian harness pretty easily -- unless DH is in the car with us, in which case she screams at the top of her lungs that she can't do it. She likes to appeal to her daddy to try to make me get out and help her. Makes me nuts! But I'm guessing this stage will pass. She's a fairly coordinated kid but can't unbuckle the bottom buckle yet -- I think it still takes more strength than she has.

If you think it's a matter of motivation rather than a matter of coordination/strength, maybe try offering an incentive if she has it buckled or is trying within a certain time period? I used to carry goldfish crackers to the car with me and anyone who was buckled when I got there, or nearly so and trying hard if they were still learning, got a cracker. I thought that was a pretty lame incentive but they liked it and it worked.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Yeah, my 10 year old can unbuckle the 6 year old in the frontier, but can only buckle her about 1/5 of the time she tries. And it takes a while. (She buckles a booster fine.)
 

Morganthe

New member
Our 5.5yo can buckle her Radian harness pretty easily -- unless DH is in the car with us, in which case she screams at the top of her lungs that she can't do it. She likes to appeal to her daddy to try to make me get out and help her. Makes me nuts! But I'm guessing this stage will pass.

The buckling part or the appealing to daddy bit? Cause that won't go away unless HE stops responding. DH still has the automatic panicked response that he did when she was a preemie. That if he doesn't do X right NOW!, she'll be in danger.

Ummm, stop that, dh. It's taken years of constant work by him for her to not play on it. She's 11 now, and he'll still instinctively panic over her demands if he doesn't consciously slow down to say "wait a minute" to himself then turn it on her as HER responsibility, not his. Dads can be too easy going, especially in the face of beloved daughters' loud high pitched steady responses. ;)
 

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