kids playing with seatbelts

[abacus2]

I would just lock the belt. And I would ignore potty training. Have her screened for medical issues and then just wait. She will get it eventually; just offer her the chance to use the potty every once in a while. It is not worth the stress to fight with a kid about pottying, even if it's a matter of won't rather than can't.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

it's possible she's doing this for the same reason my 4yr old pulls stuff like this (well, except the potty training, but she was the one who initiated it the last time, when she was no longer afraid of toilets and such and could do it for good... she wanted "pretties").... SHE LOVES being the baby... and LOVES TO ACT LIKE ONE.

Heck, do you know how much RELIEF (mixed with very little sadness because of her fun behaviors over the past year or two) I felt a few weeks ago when she told me... "Mommy, Mommy... I'm not baby Ruthie!!" (picture me trying to be composed and hide the shock in my mind) "I am BIG GIRL Ruthie!"

Further shock tonight. SHe has been calling her sippy cups (even straw ones) Baby's cups (as in Ruthie's cups... not that they are for babies) for as long as I can remember.

"Mommy, no more Baby's cups. I want GIRL cups. I'm BIG GIRL RUTHIE. Can I have a GIRL cup please?" Now, as I was too lazy to want to wash out her regular sippy, I got out a straw cup.... then she clarified that she wanted a "bottle" cup (cause it is more like a sports bottle of water... it's what she called them ever since she found out those types of water containers were bottles... when she wants to be clearer about what type of sippy she wants).

I could have dropped dead from shock... but I was sooo happy. She has been living on this constant belief (completely aided and fed by her brothers and Daddy) that she is this adorable baby, instead of the big, grown up girl she is becoming.

Of course, then I stupidly told her that, only because she was a BIG GIRL now, I was going to let her help cut out christmas cookies tomorrow... so she was getting all too excited to sleep and I had to put a movie on to get her to settle... but ah, well.

(I've told her only big girls get to make cookies, toast, anything she wants to help with)

 

[Sceason1972]

Maybe she plays with the seatbelt because she is bored in the car. Can you have her bring something with her, to keep her occupied and then she might leave the seatbelt alone?

You could even make it an incentive thing. Take her ot the bookstore and let her pick out a couple of car only books. (A couple of the paperback spinner rack ones - that are just a few $.) They may be enough to keep her occupied. If not, then you can say to her that she is not to play with the seatbelt - and that if she does it agin the special books will have to go away for some determined period of time - then she gets to try again. Hopefully with her picking the books they will be special to ehr and seh will have the motivation to keep them.

 

[christineka]

She is probably bored... We do have some books in the van, but only because I haven't taken them out yet. The van is so prone to becoming cluttered with junk that I try to keep junk out! I'll have to see about getting some books for dd. Especially now, she now has her little brother rfing also inbetween her and her favorite boostered sister.

I currently have the seat installed with the locked belt only, but it is really crooked. I want to go out and fix it sometime when the weather is better.

Dd claims to be a "big girl", but she does tend to try acting like the baby. She is very small (as evidenced by being able to rf at the age of 4). She competes with little brother on sitting on my lap. She is so small that she has to sit in a booster seat at the table. And worse- she can't sit still, so we have to buckle her in to keep her sitting properly. Sippy cups were out at age 2, but little brother is not allowed to have sippy cups any more. (He figured out how to open them and dump the contents.) Well, in six months we'll have yet another baby. Hopefully one of my "babies" will grow up in that time.

 

[LISmama810]

To help remedy the tipping situation, try this:

Install the seat as usual, but don't lock the seatbelt right away. Buckle it, get it nice and tight, THEN lock the belt and don't touch the shoulder portion again! If you find that you still need it a little tighter, grab near the buckle to tighten it, but stay away from the shoulder belt! A lot of times seats tip when people pull too much on the shoulder portion.

I can't guarantee how long that will keep the seat from tipping (if at all), but it's worth a try.