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My Mom used to have the chest buckle wayyy too low. I told her "at the carseat safety clinic we went to" they told us it is safest like this (and then I show her).

That way it's a "we" learned too, and not "you're doing it wrong" type message with the focus on "safest for baby"!

I dealt with this with my parents, they were worried by pulling the straps tightly, they were making it difficult to breathe.

So one day, I was putting my son in the car, in the seat they would be using, and I showed them that if they can pinch the straps together, it was too loose and they needed to go tighter. When you say chest strap, do you mean the buckle, or what? I showed my mom that as well, that she has to put it further up.

@locavore_mama: I'm so sorry. It is so scary.

I would just say "Hey, I read this great article the other day on carseat straps. I learned a lot and thought you might enjoy it!" And send them an article.

If someone was going to be regularly driving my kid around, Id definitely make sure they had it right.

i agree with @Mrs. Polish: i would be very direct and firm, feelings be damned. she needs to know how serious you are and how important it is. to me, there is nothing casual about carseat safety.

now i'm not saying you have to offend her but i would not skirt around it at all.

@locavore_mama: Thats what I would do. if it doesn't change anything, then go like @Mrs. Polish: for sure.

I thought of another thing, it might be too late for this, in this case, but if you think about it, you (general) didn't know how to work the seat when it came out of the box, you had to play around with it a little to determine the correct tightness on the straps, so what if you both learned how to use it together? Kind of like, here's the new seat, let's see how it works?

I am a fan of being direct, all these suggestions for videos and articles are lost on my parents, in all honesty!

If I was doing it incorrectly I would rather someone be direct vs sending me an article, which would leave me wondering if it was pointed at me anyway. I would not be at all offended if someone stopped me from putting a baby in an unsafe situation, but I guess for that kind if stuff I'm not easily offended.

Could someone link to an example of an article you would send? I'm still worried I'm not doing it right myself!