Hi mommas,
My daughter will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and I would like to get her a booster seat that she can buckle and unbuckle by herself. Her hand strength is a little weak, and right now she cannot push the buckle button hard enough to release the latches. (Not the top buckle, but the bottom buckle.)
I'm sure she could use the regular seat belt button if I put her in a regular booster seat, but I want one with a 5 point harness. I'm thinking of getting the Britax Frontier, but it I'm not sure if it will be exactly the same as the car seat that she has now (Sunshine Radian).
Can any of you recommend a booster with a 5 point harness that is relatively easy for a kid to operate? Thanks!
Thanks for the input. It's a shame there isn't a booster seat category for children who are school age and old enough to know not to unbuckle themselves when the car is moving. During pick up and drop-off for school, I'm going to have to get out of the car and unbuckle my daughter until she can manage the button herself. I might try to fashion some kind of tool that she can push into the button to release the buckles.
I wouldnt want my grand daughter to be able to unbuckle herself. I just wish I had a car seat that wasnt so hard for the grama hands to unbuckle.
Sorry to say, but they are actually passing laws to make them HARDER on kids to use because lots of 1 year olds can undo them.
In fact my 1 year old can buckle and unbuckle from all the floor models so we have to have my eldest sitting next to the baby to distract him or rebuckle him.
Because of the increasing awareness and incidents of children unbuckling themselves from car seats and boosters and the dangers associated with this behavior, manufacturers are currently devising systems that are more difficult for children to unbuckle, and car seat/booster seat laws are currently being revised to reflect this.
Jennifer G-Children are far, far safer the longer they can be in a 5 point harness. She's a wise mama to be looking into the Frontier. It can carry her daughter in a 5 point harness up to 85 lbs. and then convert to a high back booster up to 120lbs.
I agree with the other moms that you probably aren't going to find one that's "easy" to unbuckle and that's a good thing.
Safety wise I sooo would get the Frontier, but it's not the easiest to unbuckle. I would have her start doing hand exercises. I'm sure you could google some.
Not sure why you're not looking at a booster seat. One of the reasons kids should not be in booster seats when they are younger has more to do with maturity than anything else. A less mature child will try to wiggle out of the seat belt. If you trust your daughter to not unbuckle herself when the car is moving and only when you say it's ok, they you can probably trust her to sit in a booster seat with the seat belt on without unbuckling or trying to wiggle out. I do understand wanting her to be able to unbuckle herself. I love it that my son can do this. So nice!
if you already have a 5 pt one just take it inside for a few days and have her keep practicing, she will get it.
Otherwise you can take her to the store, buckle her in and see if she can unbuckle. Target and Baby's R Us both have displays that they can do this on.
My 4 yr old can't unbuckled the bottom one but he can buckle himself into just fine. We have a nautilus. If you want something she can buckle and unbuckled take her with you to test out some floor models.
We have a Graco Nautilus that my just now 4 year old can usually unbuckle by herself. We all love it! She does a great job of not unbuckling it while moving, and freaks out if I start the car before she's completely buckled in. Great call on the 5 pt harness, btw!
I have both the Frontier 85 and Graco My Ride 65. My 5 year old can buckle/unbuckle both. I practiced with him with the straps L. when the car was off. It only took a few times before he figured it out.
