This is something that I wondered about when we started talking about having more kids. It was something that caused a lot of worry, and anxiety for me. How was I supposed to get two kids in and out of the car safely?
I’m actually wondering how you go about getting multiple kids in and out of the car? I’d love to hear how you do it. I’ll be sharing later this week what we do as a family, and what we do when it’s just my husband or I out with both the girls.
I think this is something that we probably all just do, but it’s not something we ever really talk about. I so wish someone had said something to me sooner, and maybe I would not have worried so much.
Can you clarify the question for me? I have 4 kids, the youngest is 10 weeks. I remember trying to figure out how i was supposed to get my 2 year old and my baby into the apartment when both were sleeping and it was just me with them. I wouldn’t leave one in the van while i brought the other up, for sure! Now we live in a house in a quiet neighbourhood so it’s not a big deal to carry one in at a time and leave the others in the van for a minute.
When we’re out my kids know (they’ve done this since they could walk) to put a hand on the van and not to go into the parking lot without a hand. (You can buy hand print magnets to stick on your vehicle to train your kids to do it but I never needed them) That way it doesn’t matter who you unbuckle first. It’s the same getting in; everybody waits with a hand on the van for me to get doors opened for them and then it’s straight to their own seats.
I have two kids, one is 3.5 years old and the other is 8 months old. From home it goes something like this: Open the garage door, hold the 8 month old in my arms walk to the passenger side and open the door to the back seat so the 3.5 year old can climb into his seat. Then I walk to the other side and load/buckle the 8 month old into his seat (he’s in a convertible seat now). Once he’s buckled in, I walk back to the other side and buckle the 3.5 year old in (also in a convertible seat, rear facing). When I had the youngest in the bucket seat still, I did the same, but just had to snap the bucket seat in so it was faster.
When out, I often have the 8 month old in a baby carrier (baby wearing). So I hold the 3.5 year old’s hand, open the passenger side back door, 3.5 year old climbs in and I buckle him up right away, then go to the other side and load the 8 month old in. If the 8 month old is in the stroller, I open the hatch/trunk door and lock the stroller with the 8 month old in it under the hatch door against the car (or if we are parallel parked it gets locked on the sidewalk beside the car). Load/buckle the oldest in first, then load/buckle the youngest, then don’t forget to load/put away the stroller. 😉
Sometimes when it’s particularly cold or raining (and we aren’t in the garage at home), I let the 3.5 year old climb into his seat first, then I close the door, run to the other side and load/buckle the 8 month old. Then I run over to the other side again, open the door, buckle the 3.5 year old, close the door, and run to the driver’s seat. 🙂
When getting out somewhere, I always unload the youngest first so the oldest isn’t running around while I sort the youngest out!