Car Seat Postions

Joanna's advice is right on target! By law- a child can not ride in a belt positioning booster until at least the age of 4. Height and weight are also a factor- but it is also age. This is because your child's spine needs the right amount of time to develop regardless of your child's size.
Take that little angel out of a booster and keep her safe in a 5-point harness where she belongs.
Your 10 year old can be responsible for buckling/unbuckling when she is with you. Otherwise you'll just have to walk back there and secure her yourself. You'll be glad you did if you ever had an accident.
The two younger children can go in the two captain's chairs in rear facing seats. That way you can have easier access to them.
SO many people make mistakes when it comes to the safety of their children when in the car. There are a lot of crazy drivers out there- no matter how safely you drive- you can't control the other drivers on the road.
Also- don't be the mom who leaves the handle on the infant seat up!! That prevents it from working properly in an accident. Please move it down once the seat is clicked in.
I hope this advice is helpful. We moms need to stick together and watch out for each other. Without advice from moms who have been there before- we could never know it all ourselves!
Good luck with the new little one!
-S.

What about the booster and car seat in the way back, infant seat in one captain chair and the 10 year old in the other captain chair. That way, you can fold down one captain chair to get back to the 3rd row to buckle car seats/seat belts for the 3 and 1 year olds. If your van is like ours (sienna) the captains chairs fold up and forward, making it easier for an adult to get way back (without a car seat in one of these chairs, they fold up, but don't fold up without it). Does this make sense?

It sounds like until your 3 your learns to buckle herself you will be climbing back there to buckle her. My 3 (almost 4 year old) can buckle himself into his seat but could not unbuckle, so I gave that job to my 5 year old. They are all the way in the back and whenever we get somewhere it is his "job" to unbuckle his brother. It works for us (usually!)

Good luck!!

H. Z. (SAHM 5, almost 4 and 16 month old boys)

I have three children and this is how we work it, my children are 2, 4 and 6 years old (we also have a baby on the way). We have a minivan and took out one of the captians seats so that I can get to the back of the van to get my 2 year old in and out more easily she is still in a five point harness. the four yearl ol is in the captinas seat in his high back booster and the six year old in the booster in the back with my daughter. So they do not touch or hit and fight we seperate them with the empty middle seat. But you may not be able to do that seeing as you have four. I would suggest the new baby in the back middle seat since it is the infant seat if you keep the base installed you can just put her in without having to reach back and strap her in..you could probably teach your daughter to do this as well (although she won't be with you while she is in school so you want to make sure that this is comfortable for you) and the 10 year old sitting with her to help with toys etc...then I would have the one year old in one captian's seat and the three year old in the other captain's seat with the 5 harness belt until he is four years old and forty pounds. That is just my suggesiotn. If you want to take out one of the captian's seats which opens up the back seats for you to be able to get in and out easier than I would put the two older children with the baby in between them and the 1 year old in the captain's seat. GOd Bless You! We adopted two children after fostering them and it is amazing and joyful! Good for you!