Is there a product to prevent older children (in booster car seats) from unclicking their seat belts?

[saadia]

Just wondering as I'm afraid ds might do this.

There is a plastic thing that you can buy to fit over the buckle of the seatbelt. No idea what it's called though, but think we bought it from Halfords. Not expensive at all.

Yes, it's called a good beating.

There is one safeclip but there is also concern that such gadgets may make releasing in an emergency more difficult - your call as to which is more vital I suppose and whether he is actually too immature for that type of seat anyway, 18kgs is the minimum recommendation.

lol secondhandrose, yes that looks good LIZS. I agree about emergencies so will have a think.

lol secondhand rose, I was going to say its called parental control

Ds can undo his seatbelt, but yesterday even when he wanted something that was in the boot (we have an avensis verso and he was in one back seat - so could have climbed into boot) he stayed where he was. Never even occured to him.

The safeclip is useless for older children (ds1 is 7 and it took him all of 2 seconds to work it out, in the end he broke it becuase it was annoying him I think).

There is a guy on the US ebay site that sells like a plastic thing that goes over the top (somewhere I have instructions for a home made one). Also in the states there is something that looks really good- it needs a credit card to release it though- I found it on google about 4 months ago. You can also buy knives that will cut through the seat belt in an emergency if you're worried about that (crelling harnesses sell them). . In the UK there is crelling harnesses but they didn't have anything that was quite right for our needs, it was more about positioning the child rather than securing them, although they do have some "houdini straps" (I thought our houdini would get through them).

I've been meaning to look at this again - ds1's just started up with it again having given it a rest for a while. If I find something I will let you know.

knew I'd written it down somewhere:- here the results of my research a few months ago (am hoping to stock something UK based at some stage).

Crelling harnesses

www.crelling.com/index.htm We?re particularly interested in the walking reins and belt ? and some sort of Houdini harness. ds1 keeps on getting out of his seat belt at the moment.

Seat belt guards

OK this is on ebay, but something similar would be very good: snipurl.com/um2c
If we can?t find anything I can talk to ebay guy. Oh here?s ebay guys proper shop: www.gadjits.com/Buckle%20guard.htm

Hmm similar sounding home made device:
www.eparent.com/technology/mobility/practicaltips.htm

An alternative:
www.buckleboss.com/

Incidentally these: snipurl.com/um2n which are the only ones I?ve seen in the Uk are useless, took ds1 all of 2 minutes to work out.

The gadjit one looks good, as does the other one where you need a credit card to release. Crelling sell seat belt webbing knife cutters for use in an emergency which might be needed, especially with the credit card one.

Most products of this type will not stop an older child undoing seatbelts, if they do it would take too long to undo them in an emergency as has been said. Sorry but I agree parental control. My kids scream at me if I move of and they don't have belt cliped in yet.

DD did have a habit of faffing about before clipping belt in. Made the point of belt first by driving off and braking suddenly so she shot forward and got a fright, not enough to hurt her (honest).

What age is DS?

When I read this I thought of Jimjams ... parental control won't work in some cases (hey Jimjams?) but if your child has no SN issues then yes, I would say parental control.

I don't smack my children as a rule ... BUT, the one and only time DD tried this I did (I stopped the car and smacked her leg) ... She hasn't done it since.

Sorry I should have added SN's might be a different issue where parental control is not the answer.

the only time my ds did this despite being told not to, I immediately pulled over and stopped the engine. didn't say anything. when he said "what are you doing?" I said "well we can't go anywhere without your belt on. I'm waiting her for a policeman to turn up and tell you off"

He hasn't done it again

actually I have to confess it's not for my ds but for a friend (who may or may not browse MN and may not appreciate my looking into this). There are SN issues and she has decided to not drive alone with dcs because of this which is why I was doing research but am now concerned about the safety aspects. But thanks to everyone for ideas as I will at least be able to offer some suggections for the problem.

Hmmm tricky one saadia. I found having someone in the car didn't really help- ds1 would just launch himself into the front seat in one swoop. Or he would launch from the boot into the middle row of seats head first and kind of lie there with his legs in the air.

I'd really recomend one of the US sites, or checking out crelling harnesses. They're very much a SN company (not sure from your message whether that would be a problem), but extremely helpful, very good customer service.

ghosty ghosty my love- I have to email you I know. Will do it now.

thanks jimjams, yes it is a bit complicated and there are other issues. I think the dcs will be alright if there is another passenger in the car but obviously this can't always be arranged. Thank you for the website you mention I will have a look at it and then perhaps suggest it to my friend.

securement vest american site.
Buckle Guard perhaps keep a belt cutter handy for emergencies.

saw the thread title and thought ----yes, a baseball bat and a naughty chair.

Thanks Skribble, those look interesting.

That buckle guard is the same as or is very similar to the ebay one (5 dollars I think) and very similar to the home made one. The harness is the type of thing that crelling do, although that US once looks easier to fit (although says for buses only so maybe that's why- different seats or something, or maybe that's just a disclaimer).