Hellobee Boards

Get a bucklebee to help unbuckle! (Also useful for grandparents with arthritis etc.) That’s what got my then 5yo to do the frontier for preschool carpool. They just need to be mature enough not to do it while driving which doesn’t sound like an issue.

ETA it’s also easy to put on and off since it just slides on the bottom, so you could take it away at times if needed.

My son is a little under 2 1/2, he can clip and 25% of the time unclip the chest clip, and he can buckle the crotch part sometimes but has never unbuckled it.

my daughter could do it at 4 (in a britax frontier).
It's useful bc she's way in the back (3rd row)

Mine could buckle up a Britax pioneer. Unbuckling is still too hard. Have you tried twisting backwards and unbuckling while you are still in your seat? It’s not that hard of a reach from the driver seat to the back passenger seat in my SUV. Another option, if you think she is mature enough not to squirm and fool around, is to use the car’s seat belt. We’ve started practising using it for short trips with my almost 5 year old and it’s quite easy for her to unbuckle.

DS was able at 4 to buckle himself completely. But obviously an adult still had to tighten it. In February, at 4.5, we moved him to regular belt positioning booster. He met all the requirements (4 years old, >40lbs, >40”)and it’s been great. He completely buckles and unbuckles the seatbelt. And he does surprisingly well at sitting the way he’s supposed to.

I’m not sure if your DD meets those requirements, but if she does you should consider it. It’s so nice only having to do one car seat.

ETA: forgot to mention he could never undo the 5pt harness. It was way too hard for him.

Both my older girls (now 4 and 6 ) have been buckling themselves since around 3.5 (though I always had to check to make sure the chest clip was slid up) HOWEVER - DD1 turned six at the end of June and honestly just learned to UNDO her chest clip a few months ago, after a fair bit of practice. Her hands just aren't very strong. My 4 year old also learned to undo her chest clip around the same time; neither can currently undo the crotch buckle (or is even close, tbh). I thought maybe I could unbuckle my 6 year old (who sits in the middle) and have her undo the 4-year old's crotch buckle, since it's a different angle, but nope! Sh'e's managed the baby's bucket seat once or twice for me. I'm a little frustrated by this, but have heard horror stories of friends pulling over every three blocks because a two or three year old kid unbuckled themselves, so I guess I won't complain TOO loudly! I will say that it's not very cumbersome for me to just twist around and undo the crotch buckles myself in the drop off line - their seats are in the middle and passenger sides. Were someone behind the driver, it would be more difficult.

@bhbee: Cool! I've never seen one of these and might look into it.@Foodnerd81:

My son is still in a 5 point harness in my car and he has been able to buckle himself in since he was about 5 reliably.

Our car has weird seats and no matter what I do with a belt positioning booster, he has more of a struggle to buckle the belt than it is worth for me right now. We have tried!

@Foodnerd81: DD was 7 - It was always really hard for her!