2 Year Old Escaping from Car Seat!

When my son tried this, I explained that a police officer would stop our car and give him a ticket. Also, Dora and Diego have the mantra something like "We use seatbelts so we can be safe." And, Lou and Lou on the Disney channel are the safety patrol, who discuss various helpful safety information including seatbelts in a car.

My son did that too - he unbuckled completely and would stand up in the car. This behavior started on a long driving trip last summer when he was 2. We were out of town for a couple of weeks so didn't have time to think about the police officer strategy (brilliant idea!) so I'll tell you what we did do, although I don't think it was terribly safe, but we were at wits' end and it wasn't like we could just stay where we were or keep rebuckling him every 20 minutes on an 8 hour drive. And nothing we said or any consequences we could think of made any difference. Since we had our dog and luggage in the folded-down back, there was no space for a parent to sit back with the kids in the second row.

We used plastic ties (the kind like you use on a lint filter - they go through the other end and fasten) to prevent him from unbuckling. I made sure there were scissors in the glove box in case of emergency, but I didn't like the idea of having him trapped in case of an accident. (His father's strong enough to break the ties, though.) But it was better than having him standing up in the back of the car at 70 MPH! The good thing was that he hated being restrained so much that he quickly agreed to stay buckled on his own.

What kind of seat is it?
I know that is a HUGE problem with the Britax Marathons. Parents love how easy it is to adjust the straps, but kids quickly learn to pull the little lever and lean forward to loosen the straps. People I know who have this seat have sewn the flap down. That makes it impossible for the kids to undo, but parents can still do it with a little bit extra effort.
That is one of the main reasons I went with the Britax Decathlon over the Marathon. My DD is such a little monkey and I just know she'd be one of the ones to figure it out.
Good luck, that is scary!

My son did the same thing and no matter what I tried or told him he still took it off. Then I got smart and went to the local police station with him and a very nice but playfully stern officer had a little chat with him! That got him! He hasn't done it since.

My daughter is not that clever yet but my friend used duck tape. It is cheap and can be cut with the human hand if an emergency occurs. It might be a little tedious at first but she used it for 2 weeks and then her son stopped opening them. Good luck. She also had to duck tape his diaper to him (ped said it was the best route) because he was playing with his diaper with the nice number 2's in them.

I have a 2 and a half year old who would not stay in his car seat. He was constantly taking off his seat belt. Finally I took him to the Oswego police department and had one of the officers explain to him why he must keep the seat belt on. It was a very nice officer who spoke with him so not to scare him but at the same time stress the importance of the seat belt.
The officer told my son that he has little helpers everywhere driving around in cars watching to see if all the children are wearing there seat belts.
It worked for my son he now puts his belt on and says mom the officer says so and everytime we see a police car he says mom,
there is a helper.
good luck