[iamahunter]

Kids usually watch and learn.

Me and my wife have the habit of buckling up as soon as we sit in the car, and so does my little one now.

At times, there are other family who are not accustomed to the seat belt, its their decision; however if its front of my kid, I have to tell them to buckle up, else not travel in the car.

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

You mean literate people and not educated people. There is a difference - right?

You are right. I was mentally translating "padhay-likhay log" literally.

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by subhro1988

My son is 5 years old and he is ok with wearing a seat belt. But the upper belt strap goes across his throat, which is uncomfortable and so he is using it like a lap belt where the upper portion goes behind him and thus the safety is compromised. Is there any way this can be addressed?

If he weighs more than 10 Kgs. a booster seat is relevant for him. It merely raises his height by about 4 - 5 inches and this ensures both the lap and chest belts fit correctly.

WARNING
Do not put a seat belt on a child without an age / height / body weight appropriate child seat or booster seat ESPECIALLY if the belt goes across the throat. In a severe impact there may be severe damage to the tracheal tube.

[SwiftSD]

It did take some effort to have my daughter wear the seat belt but eventually the efforts paid off. The following worked for me:

1. Me and wife always wear a seat and I make it a point to call it out as a check before I start the car to make sure all are wearing the seat belt.

2. A couple of times I showed the functioning of the seat belt and how it helps to my daughter. I felt the learning process was fun and it also generated some excitement to try wearing the belt.

3. We also tried this game initially as to who is the 1st to wear the seat belt and that also helped to continue the practice.

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by enj0y_ride

Can you please share your experiences around these and tips that worked in your favour?

Like most have quoted above, the key is start young and stay firm.

As a child, I was abroad. I recall my dad being very firm about two things.

1. Seat belts all the time
2. Don't even ask about sitting in the front seat.
3. No fiddling with the controls of the car.

This was way back in the 80s. I don't recall either my sister or me breaking those rules.

On a more recent timeline, my BIL had visited me in the US around '17 with his sons aged 7 and 4. I got car seats for them. The younger one would make a ruckus to sit in it. I was just very firm that I am not driving anywhere, until he was buckled in. Period.

While driving from NY to Pittsburgh past sunset, the kid was crying. Without my knowledge, my BIL released his son from the car seat and took him on his lap. The minute I saw this in my rearview, I just pulled over a plaza and refused to drive till the kid was buckled.

Bottom-line, there is no compromise to safety. Do not succumb to family pressure. Be firm.

[Gansan]

My son was 9 when I bought my car. At that age he was imitating whatever I was doing, so he buckled up whenever I did so. Now it has become a habit for him.

[Night Raven]

I have two kids, the elder one is a 4 years old girl and the younger one is a boy going to be 3 years. I bought the rear facing seat when my girl was a newborn. At that time it was not only for safety, but also for convenience because my wife was finding it difficult to sit for longer times holding the baby in the lap. Till around 1 year of age my daughter was comfortable in the car seat, then there was a brief period where she used to refuse to sit in it. Once we changed to a front facing reclinable car seat, she started enjoying it again. We had absolutely no problems with the younger one because he grew up seeing all 3 of us being belted up. Now they both sit in their seats at the rear, talk and play with each other, sometimes have their naps too. When it is a longer drive and they are bored, let them watch YouTube or play with some learning apps.

I think I will just summarise what worked for us in a few points.

1. Start using the car seat early, preferably right from the newborn period so that it becomes a habit.
2. Buy a car seat that is comfortable and age appropriate. Seats with proper base allows the kids to see through the window and both my kids used to enjoy it.
3. Lead by example. Most important.
4. Make sure they have things to keep them entertained in their seats. We keep Books, small toys, snacks and water bottles in the seat back pockets.
5. We allow some screen viewing when we are on longer drives. I actually have two cheap tablets only for this purpose.
6. We try to engage them in conversation. I sometimes tell them stories when we drive at night and nothing else is left to do.
7. We always take short breaks after driving for an hour or two so that the kids will get to stretch themselves.

Hope this helps.

[impala]

My kid really hated child seats till recently. She felt very constrained in 'Luvlap Premier' car seats. Now she has a Graco Junior Maxi booster seat and is pretty comfortable with that.

While I understand the risks of front airbags for kids, how bad is it if I switch the airbag off. While I almost always put the booster seat in the middle row, for ~5km trips around my house, I let her sit at the front on her booster seat, with front airbag off. While I understand the risks associated with dashboard and windscreen are higher as compare to sitting in the middle row, are there any other risk I am overlooking once the passenger airbag is switched off?

Also, how safe are curtain and side airbag for kids, while sitting on a booster seat with minimal head protection?

Seat belts - as many said, do not start the car unless everyone is buckled up. Couple of occasions where I have let this go is with my colleagues on short city commutes.