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Tips for Keeping your Child Happy in His/Her Car Seat
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So you’ve pored over dozens of car seats, assessing their consumer-satisfaction ratings, checking their safety features, and shopping for the best price. You’ve gotten through the hard part, right? Well, don’t be so sure yet. The ultimate test of a car seat is whether or not your little one is content while riding in it. If Baby isn’t happy, Mama and Daddy aren’t happy either, and they will pull their hair out until they find what works.
Comfort is the place to start with keeping your child happy in the car seat: if he isn’t comfortable, he cannot be happy. He will squirm and whine and cry. Infants are usually easy to keep content if their basic needs are met: they are fed and warm—but not too warm—and the car seat is properly sized and correctly angled for them. Some parents have a hard time getting used to the fact that when they’re driving they can’t fully see the child in a
rear-facing car seat (the recommended method for a minimum of the first year); if possible, have the other parent or somebody else ride in the backseat with the child; this arrangement will ease everyone’s mind.
The motion of car travel and the hum of the highway can easily lull a child to sleep, but the timing doesn’t always work out the way the parent would like—for instance, on a short drive to the pediatrician’s office or the grocery store, when the child must then be woken up. If your tot is generally a fuss-budget in the car seat, try to schedule any necessary longer drives to coincide with her usual nap-time so that she might be more likely to sleep in transit.
Stay on top of the explanation for any discomfort your child exhibits while in the car seat; some kids just don’t like the restraint, but a parent should be aware if there’s more to it. Once you identify the cause you can work on the remedy. Aside from the basics (i.e., Is the child sick, hurt, cold, hot, or hungry?), here are some questions you should ask yourself if your tot seems excessively unhappy in the car:
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| Is the seat itself comfortable and properly adjusted? Are the clips and harness points sitting at the correct point of the child’s body?
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| Is the sun in his eyes? |
| Is she bored? |
| Is he simply in a restless mood? |
As children age and become more active they also can become more averse to the forced sitting-still that car travel requires. Their bodies are growing and their skills are developing; they need mental stimulation and occupation—and some just plain demand a lot of attention. Try attaching an age-appropriate toy (one that is specifically made to fasten, usually by velcro, to a child’s car seat) to the seat or keeping cloth books or other soft playthings with the child. You can also purchase a child-safe, non-glass mirror to amuse the child and help you keep an eye on each other. A CD of entertaining children’s songs can go a long way toward making car time a fun time, especially if the music is upbeat and good for singing along to.
Since they’re more able to participate in their own entertainment, toddlers and preschoolers are less of a challenge to keep happy within their safety seats. A child with verbal ability can ask questions, make up silly songs, and converse or even play a simple form of car bingo, where they point out certain objects they spot as the world goes by outside their window. On that note, a clear view out the window can be enough entertainment for some children, but it shouldn’t be a factor in determining where the car seat is placed—that depends solely on what location in the car is the safest.
If two parents are in the car, the non-driving one may choose to read to the kids (although most people get carsick when they try to do this) or simply tell stories. Other parents rely on backseat
Portable DVD Player or entertainment system, an increasingly popular option in today’s cars, minivans, and SUVs. Parental opinion on this subject runs to polar extremes, with many taking the “Over my dead body” approach, but it’s a matter of individual values and preference. Video entertainment could be a useful device on a very long road trip, or a rare and special treat, or an everyday fixture that gets turned on immediately every time the family pulls out of the driveway. It all comes back to this rule of thumb: It’s up to the parents to decide what works best for their family.
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