Toddlers and seatbelts

My niece was an absolute horror for doing this when she moved into her booster. My mum was always having to pull over suddenly to tell her off and put her back in the seat.
Hopefully seeing you that upset and angry about it (completely understandable btw) will have shocked him out of doing it again.
With my niece, we got my friend who works as a police officer to come and visit her in uniform. He had a friendly talk to her about safety and how she had to keep it on so that Grandma and Daddy didn't get into trouble because she wasn't wearing it.
We also taught her the words to the Macdonalds song and sing it in the car a lot. (Click goes your seat belt click click click)
Don't be too hard on yourself Gaye, its so easy to react like that when our kids scare the bejesus out of us by doing something dangerous.
Also, I'd give him a cuddle and talk about what happened so that he remembers what he did wrong as well as the smack.

You did what you had to do... hopefully he won't do it again.

And I very much doubt the police are going to come round.

I know theres all this anti-smacking stuff around at the moment, but to be honest I think you did what I would do. Have you read Toddler Taming? His ideas around smacking are that the only times it is appropriate is when they have done something dangerous - if you only smack then, they know you mean it and may remember the consequence. Not sure about the actual seatbelt thing tho as we haven't encountered it yet. Dont beat yourself up about it, you did what you did cos you love your kids and dont want anything to happen to them.

aimeejoy wrote: I know theres all this anti-smacking stuff around at the moment, but to be honest I think you did what I would do. Have you read Toddler Taming? His ideas around smacking are that the only times it is appropriate is when they have done something dangerous - if you only smack then, they know you mean it and may remember the consequence.

I agree. Maya went thru a stage where she kept getting out of her seatbelt and I smacked her which seemed to get the message across pretty promptly.

Do you think maybe a booster seat would work better with Jack? I know it's easier to get out of, but maybe the thought of being in a big boys carseat (and of having to go back in a baby carseat if he plays up) might be good motivation to keep him sitting down.

Quinn undid his seatbelt once while I was driving, and seeing me absolutely lose the plot and growl at him obviously scared him enough and he has not done it again.

Hey to all of u who have replied so far, thanks so much for sharing your experiences, ideas and support.  I'm not going as crazy as I felt I was.

I told Vince about what happened when I got home and he said he would have done the exact same thing I did, but I still felt awful.  Makes me paranoid now everytime I put him in the car, what stunt is he going to pull on me this time.

My oldest son Daniel played with the seatbelt on the Auckland motorway once and swung it around cracking up laughing, Vince caught him in the act, pulled over to the side of the road, smacked him, expalined to him what he did wrong, Daniel cried, he calmed down, gave him a hug and all was forgiven but he never did it again, but Jack just doesn't listen or learn.  We've sung the Make it Click song over and over again to him to no avail, I have read the Toddler Taming book (thanks for that advice) but he may just learn the hardway (and I have no problem pulling over for 1/2 hr to read or feed the baby!!!!) until he gets the message.

So, thanks again!!!

Gaye

jdjz... copy and paste this into your signature instead of what you've got - Take out the space before IMG though.
[ IMG]http://www.tickercentral.com/view/8bpd/1.png[/IMG]

Cute choice btw!

A good tip for kiddies that arch their backs when you go to put them in their seats is to tickle their tummies, which by the very nature makes them hunch over so you can whip their belts on. And there arent may kids that can resist a good tickle, it keeps the mood light, and can help stem the frustration of a wiggly kiddy.

Re the escaping the seatbelt while driving, I can understand the fright it must have given you, and I think your reaction was perfectly ok. I would have done the same thing, I cant imagine how scary that must have been.

I hope this helps in any way!

ohh thanks for the tip regarding kids arching their backs-i never thought of tickling!!!