Help please with my DS 2.3

[princesss]

Every time we go to get in my car my son refuses to get in his seat. i cannot lift him as i am three months pregnant. we can spend up to 25 minutes with me ignoring him, counting to ten, finally saying we are going back into the house until he will get into his seat.

He is not having as a tantrum as this happens he is laughing and thinks it is a game. But he will get angry and hit me (which i tell him off for) if i try to help him.

This happens every time we get in the car without fail and I am thoroughly drained and exhausted by my current pregnancy and out of ideas.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can get him to co operte and get into his seat when I ask him too?

break it down into smaller instructions i know this sounds stupid but it works, say put your coat on, pick up your school bags etc , open the car door, sit down, let me help you do your seat belt up, this usually works as it small instructions much rather than larger instructions also try a reward chart where he can put a sticker on once he is in the car.

Why can't you lift him due to being 3 months pg? Sorry, but even at 9 months pg I still had to hoist toddlers about. Do you have unusual issues?

If you really can't lift, one chocolate button each time he leaps in, only given out after he's strapped in.
Over time he will leap in without remembering to ask for his chockie, or you will find you don't have any & promise for later (he will forget, anyway).
He's just fallen into a bad habit (messing you about) & you need to nudge him back to good ones.
There are other ways to get him to cooperate without chockie, but they take time & patience you have enough on your plate.

I find getting into the driver's seat, putting the key in the ignition so the radio comes on and looking as if I'm getting ready to drive off helps in extreme situations.

Does he have a favourite cuddly toy? Sometimes dd (2.2) will cooperate if tiger does it first (she gets jealous). How about covering it with removable stickers so he 'owns' the chair. Then start calling it the big boy chair

thank you or everyones replies i have tried his "larry" lion doing it, and small steps but not a reward chart or rewards for getting into it so i will have a go at doing these.

lijkk i have siatica and uneven hips due to a car accident when i was pregnant with DS,and my c-section scar from where i had him is opening on the inside and lasserations have attached themselves to my bladder (sorry didnt want to go into a sob story but you asked) so i am not allowed to lift my DS or anything remotely heavy at all. I envy you being able to lift until 9 months!

Like cottonreels, we persuade DS to do things by getting his trains or cards to 'do' things first. It usually works for nappy changes, hand washing, potty trips etc.

Lots of positive praise about the little things he is doing right.

I'd also call his bluff a couple of times to snap him out of the habit of refusing, laughing then climbing in at the last minute when you need to go out and can't cancel the trip. Go out to the car and ask him to get in as normal as if you were going out. If he doesn't get in, calmly shut the door and go back in the house. If he does get in then go once around the block (looking at the Christmas lights at this time of year is nice) and then go back home.

I'm down to a quarter of a chocolate button for most bribes now. It has to be called a 'little tiny one' so she doesn't feel she's being short changed!