Any ideas on how to fit 3 booster seats on the back seat of you car? HELP - im stuck

[kelli22]

You may have seen my previous thread about car seats, im not wondering if you can buy narrow ones so you can fit 3 in the back seat of your car, im also wondering if when the law changes so that children under 1.5m tall have to wear them, how will parents with 1 car and 3 children under 5 will cope? or 1 parent and 4 children... aswell as childminders?
I understand the government want children to be safe and im willing to comply as that's what i want too but HOW are we going to manage this? Am i missing something here..........

Not sure about buying narrow ones.

I can fit 3 booster seats in the rear of my Citroen C3, I have two seats which have the padded backs and one basic booster. I put the padded backs ones in the Window Seats and the basic booster in the middle. They fit - JUST. Tricky getting the seatbelts in to their sockets (hey, 4 year old called it that today, so I'll use that word - no idea what you are supposed to call the thing you fit the buckle into so that it locks).

Thanks for replying
sockets is a good word! clever 4 year old
I'm trying to become a childminder and im coming up against a few hitches - i've got to write and find out if i can have permission to childmind in a housing association house and the booster seat thing is an issue.....one thing after another hey i'll get there somehow. even if i do have to walk the kids to school and never take them anywhere

I was wondering this too, especially since you aren't supposed to use booster seats with just a lap belt. Britax/Roemer in Europe do a booster cushion which is width adjustable (Starriser iirc) perhaps something similar is available in UK.

When is the Law supposed to be introduced and presumably it would be as woolly as the existing one when you only have to use a seat from age 3 if one is available. Probably stricter for CM's though.

I'm a childminder and I can only fit two in the back of my Vectra (well the ones with backs on that detatch), so I have to put 2 mindees in these, dd in middle (she is 10) with just seat belt and ds in front in his booster when I have 4 to fit in.
My friend can get 3 in hers but she has a Picasso (still a bit of a struggle) which sort of has 3 separate seats in the back. Only other solution I am afraid is a people carrier or less kids.

kelli22, So you've taken the plunge then and have started filling out the CM1 form (if in England). Yes, you will need permission to childmind from the housing association, though I expect they get asked quite frequently and doubt they overly object, though will obviously depend on your circumstances.

Walking the children to school is not a bad thing, it's very good for them and may be the only exercise your minded school-aged children get, apart from Gym/PE class at school. Do remember the costs involved of driving minded children around all the time - can get expensive, so make sure you charge the parents when you do it.

Thanks for all your replies.
Jothorpe, i've got to ask for permission first and then fill in all the forms and im booked in to start the ICP in may so im just beginning and im planning on starting in november, when i will have a 2 month old baby my dd will be 6 and a 3 yr old mindee who's mum has already asked me (which is a good start) i used to walk my dd to school before i had a car and it took ages simply because she didnt want to do it and she dawdled all the way, crying and screaming so it took even longer so i don't relish the thought of having to do this with 3 or 4 children in tow :/ the excerise would do me good tho as i'll need to get the weight off from just having a baby but as the cold weather and snow sets in it will be tricky. i just assumed if i had to go somewhere i would have to get them in the car somehow, also what about if there was an emergency and i had to take one of them to the doctors or hospital.......
the government havn't really thought this through have they........
i'll keep thinking of a plan if push comes to shove i will have to get a second hand ppl carrier..then it will have cost me about £2,000 to start up this business not what i planned when i started out