The Battle of the Car Seat

Megan’s refusal to sit in her car seat resurfaced again. While most of her fits of defiance are things I can ignore or live with until she complies, this one is not one of those because it is a safety hazard. The solution to the problem was a car seat with more restraint: a five-point harness. The solution was impossible because (not only are car seats extremely expensive) they only make gargantuan car seats these days, the smallest of which wouldn’t fit in our little Toyota with two other car seats. When James turns 6 and no longer legally needs to be in a booster seat, it still wouldn’t work because he’d either be squished between two car seats (or between one car seat and the door) or there might not even be enough room for him at all.

But when Megan begged to sit in Isaac or James’ seats, I decided I’d better start hunting for a new car seat again. I had decided that I had to be willing to spend upwards of $200 and drive the hour and a half to Babies-R-Us in hopes that they might have one that worked. Miracle of miracles, Target now carried a car seat that was very similar to the small one Isaac was using, only 16.5 inches wide! And better still, it was only $40! (It’s a Cosco Scenara 5-point Convertible Car Seat.) Better yet, she can still grow a little more and still fit it as the thing has one more wrung higher that the harness can adjust to. Megan was more than thrilled to get a new car seat. She loves it when we get things just for her, and she was happy not to have to sit in her old seat. Of course the novelty was short-lived and her need for control has renewed the car seat fight, claiming it’s too tight. But she can scream all she wants; there’s no safety problem anymore. The car seat works; problem solved.