emandbri
Well-known member
Here are my kids stats right now.
Elizabeth turns 3 on Sat, 36 lbs, 38 inches
Benjamin almost 6, 48 lbs, 48 inches
Daniel 10
Jacob 12
Right now Elizabeth is behind me in a my ride, Benjamin in the center seat in a radian, Daniel in the back in a backless monterey, and Jacob sits in the outboard center row because he fits better there than he does in the back, in the back he needs a booster. It kind of bugs me that Daniel is in the back all by himself though he seems fine with it.
I posted before that Elizabeth starts preschool next week and the school has a drop off and pick up where the teachers get the kids in. She is going tue/ thurs mornings. Benjamin is starting all day kindergarten and Daniel starts next week as well, Jacob starts in Aug.
I need to figure out what to do, I have lots of options and things to consider. My plan was to move Elizabeth to the center, keep her rear-facing, and hop out of the van to make sure the teachers get her in right. There are a couple of problems with this. First the my ride is very wide and it is very hard to flip center outboard seats to get to the back row. This actually isn't that big of a problem because I can slide the captain's chair up and Daniel is skinny enough to slip in between the captain's chair and the door.
I could move out a captain's chair so that Daniel can get to the back easily. I am afraid this might make it harder to get Elizabeth in her seat but I haven't tried it so I could be wrong. She will enter the van on the passenger side to and from school but it is faster for me to get her in on the driver's side. I will also have Jacob for the next month since he doesn't start school yet. My friends and I have been walking at a nearby lake and I have been flipping the back seats down to have room for the bikes. With the captain's chair out Jacob would have to sit in the front when we do this.
I'm also wondering if it will be hard to get her in her seat and buckled in the center with the radian in the way and again the teachers would do so from the passenger side and I would like to get her in from the driver's side. Like taking out the captain's chair I haven't tried it so I could be wrong.
I'm also a little uneasy about the lack of side protection on the radian. I was fine with Elizabeth being outboard in it since she was rear-facing but Benjamin will be forward facing. I do have side curtain air bags so maybe I shouldn't worry about this at all.
I'm wondering if I shouldn't go ahead and move Benjamin to the monterey and only put the seat in when he is in the van, since he will be in all day kindergarten he won't be in the van much, it will mostly be only Elizabeth and myself. This would leave Daniel in a booster without latch.
I could also move Benjamin to the back of the van. He can buckle himself in and is even good enough about getting the straps tight. The problem with this is I would want him and Daniel both outboard and my latch and tethers are outboard and center. To keep them both outboard I would have to install the radian without a tether or the monterey without latch.
I could also leave the seats where they are and let Elizabeth use the radian to and from school. The seat would be set up for Benjamin and wouldn't have the safe stop and the straps would be a little high but they are not too bad.
All my choices leave one child less protected than they are now.
Elizabeth turns 3 on Sat, 36 lbs, 38 inches
Benjamin almost 6, 48 lbs, 48 inches
Daniel 10
Jacob 12
Right now Elizabeth is behind me in a my ride, Benjamin in the center seat in a radian, Daniel in the back in a backless monterey, and Jacob sits in the outboard center row because he fits better there than he does in the back, in the back he needs a booster. It kind of bugs me that Daniel is in the back all by himself though he seems fine with it.
I posted before that Elizabeth starts preschool next week and the school has a drop off and pick up where the teachers get the kids in. She is going tue/ thurs mornings. Benjamin is starting all day kindergarten and Daniel starts next week as well, Jacob starts in Aug.
I need to figure out what to do, I have lots of options and things to consider. My plan was to move Elizabeth to the center, keep her rear-facing, and hop out of the van to make sure the teachers get her in right. There are a couple of problems with this. First the my ride is very wide and it is very hard to flip center outboard seats to get to the back row. This actually isn't that big of a problem because I can slide the captain's chair up and Daniel is skinny enough to slip in between the captain's chair and the door.
I could move out a captain's chair so that Daniel can get to the back easily. I am afraid this might make it harder to get Elizabeth in her seat but I haven't tried it so I could be wrong. She will enter the van on the passenger side to and from school but it is faster for me to get her in on the driver's side. I will also have Jacob for the next month since he doesn't start school yet. My friends and I have been walking at a nearby lake and I have been flipping the back seats down to have room for the bikes. With the captain's chair out Jacob would have to sit in the front when we do this.
I'm also wondering if it will be hard to get her in her seat and buckled in the center with the radian in the way and again the teachers would do so from the passenger side and I would like to get her in from the driver's side. Like taking out the captain's chair I haven't tried it so I could be wrong.
I'm also a little uneasy about the lack of side protection on the radian. I was fine with Elizabeth being outboard in it since she was rear-facing but Benjamin will be forward facing. I do have side curtain air bags so maybe I shouldn't worry about this at all.
I'm wondering if I shouldn't go ahead and move Benjamin to the monterey and only put the seat in when he is in the van, since he will be in all day kindergarten he won't be in the van much, it will mostly be only Elizabeth and myself. This would leave Daniel in a booster without latch.
I could also move Benjamin to the back of the van. He can buckle himself in and is even good enough about getting the straps tight. The problem with this is I would want him and Daniel both outboard and my latch and tethers are outboard and center. To keep them both outboard I would have to install the radian without a tether or the monterey without latch.
I could also leave the seats where they are and let Elizabeth use the radian to and from school. The seat would be set up for Benjamin and wouldn't have the safe stop and the straps would be a little high but they are not too bad.
All my choices leave one child less protected than they are now.
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