Getting toddlers into their carseats

My almost 17 month old has suddenly decided that he does not want to sit in his car seat AT ALL! He fights and fights and fights. Legs and arms end up hitting and kicking, back arches, he wriggles and squirms and he SCREAMS a blood curdling scream that makes people stare. I think I would have more luck trying to strap the cat in the car seat. I find it impossible to get to anywhere on time as it can take over an hour to get him into his car seat. This is making his big brother late to kindy which I feel is unfair.  I have also started to become quite cross with the whole thing! It has quickly grown old! I had to walk home from kindy today as my son would not get into his car seat and after an hour and a half I'd had enough so after his push chair was thrown down on the ground out of the boot , the boot door slammed and a word to the push chair about how "bloody sick of this" I was my son happily sat in his push chair and we made our way home with out the car. I know I am not modelling very good ways of controlling anger but I have honestly reached boiling point and I don't know how to solve this problem of getting my youngest son tosit in hi car seat. Has anyone had similar problems? Does anyone have any ideas about how to overcome this? I would be very greatful for any replies.

My neighbour used to have problems with her little on doing this. She bought some stickers and she used to put them on his hand whilst putting him in the car. Could be worth a try? Might distract him enough?

 

 

one word - bribery . Maybe try smarties or M&Ms as they are little.

The other thing I used for Amy when she started to play up getting in the car (a real problem when you need to get a baby in too) was to get her to climb in herself (with a bit of reverse psycology - I am sure that Amy is not big enough too do ...).

A friend told her DD that if she didn't get in/stay in her seat that the policeman would tell them off .
Have you tried concequences (sp?) if you don't get in to your seat then we can not do ....

Good luck - they can be SO challenging some times.

We went through this stage as well, I think most kids go through it. Do check his seat to make sure its not hurting him.

We did the boring cuddle, I would stand cuddling ds and tell him we weren't going to do anything until he was ready to get into his seat, and then I would just stand there next to the car and cuddle him on my hip & wait & not talk to him& avoid eye contact & yes I felt like an idiot lol

After about 30 secs I would ask him if he was ready to get in, if he said no i'd say thats ok we'll stay here until you are ready. Then we would stand there. I've never had to wait for more than 2 minutes before he was ready to get in and believe me I have the worlds most stubborn child. It also works really well for shopping trolleys :)

I tried the boring cuddle again and it worked a treat this time! No tantrums just a quiet toddler sitting in his seat!