She's getting out of the MA!

[jd11365]

No matter how much I say no, she does it. She's pushing the clip part down and pulling her arms out. So, she's still belted in on the bottom, but her torso is out of the harness. She's also able to pull up on the latch at the bottom to loosen the straps to do this more easily. Any suggestions?

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I wonder if you put some rubber bands below the chest clip if that will prevent her from pushing to down? Or maybe duct tape?

I have heard of people using duct tape to prevent access to the release lever too.

[Joolsplus2]

Pretty big no-no to put things on the harness, because the chest clip actually is supposed to slide down in a crash :(. The release lever flap, yes...tape, pins, whatever it takes (they were even beta-testing some gadget to keep kids from fussing with it, but I don't know what happened there...).

I'm thinking *extreme* positive reinforcement (keep your harness right till we get to the ice cream store!...that sort of thing) and allowing her to help out when it IS time to unbuckle might work better than reprimands (though primal screaming does work, it's not something I like to actually recommend...I think my son is still nervous from a time on the freeway he unbuckled himself :( )

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Splash]

When our older daughter started doing this, we stopped the car. Immediately. We would pull over, take her out of the seat, and make her sit on the floor of the van in time out. EVERY time. Then after that we went home. Period. No matter if we were headed to the zoo or to a meeting or to Christmas dinner. Yes it was a headache and yes we occasionally had to pull over on the highway (safely of course) and yes we missed some things we wanted/needed to do, but it worked.
No treats. No bribing. No pleading. It isn't something that is negotiable.
She learned her lesson. It was inconvenient, but it worked.

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

pin the flap shut so she can't get to the metal piece.

just route the harness adjuster down under the cover and lift the cover up to pull it tight.

Kat

[ShayleighCarsensMom]

My son was leaning down to loosen the harness as we drove. I tried to safety pin it, but he still did it...
So this is what worked for us.
Everytime he so much as touched down there, I grabbed the harness adjuster and pulled it as tight as I could (so that it was very very uncomfortable and "too tight")
A few times of doing that and he never touched it again ;)

[Joolsplus2]

Well, shucks, that means we won't be seeing an episode of Supernanny filmed at your house :(... you've already got that loving-and-firm parenting stuff down pat!

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx