Car Seats

After almost eight long years of strapping children into car seats, I have come to loathe them greatly. We, of course, did our research and purchased the safest seats on the market. This does not mean they are the easiest to use. Bentley, Jake, and Viva can all get themselves strapped into their car seats, but Viva and sometimes Jake cannot unsnap the bottom buckle. (Kara's van has newer models of this same seat and they can undo those.)

The real problem is the two year old's seat in Kara's van. He sits in the back left corner of the van. Although Kara's van has sliding doors on both sides, Evan's rear-facing car seat makes it impossible to get into the van from the driver's side. When I have to strap Lincoln in his seat, I have to go to the opposite side of the van, climb in, and work my way back to the corner. Until just recently Lincoln's car seat was rear facing which made it even harder. Now that his seat is front facing it's easier, but still a challenge.

The older children are supposed to strap Lincoln into his seat, but if he doesn't sit with his butt all the way back in the seat, it's nearly impossible to accomplish the task. When I have this problem, I carefully push him back in the seat. Bentley, Jake, and Viva cannot easy scoot their two year old brother back in his car seat. We've tried to get him to help us, but he doesn't understand what we are asking. *sigh*

There have been occasions when I get myself strapped into the driver's seat and then the older child in charge of Lincoln tells me that they cannot get him strapped in. Sometimes I try to coach them through the process, but about half the time I have to give up after ten minutes and get out of the car, go around, crawl over the kid in the middle aisle seat, and then wrestle Lincoln into his seat. Oh what fun. NOT!