What to do about a toddler fighting not to be strapped into car seat?

My son is 16 months old and for the past few mornings he's started struggling with me when I try to put him in his car seat. Any suggestions for helping to change this behavior? I try not to be in a hurry when the moment arrives and work up to it by including him in the process, but inevitably when it comes time to put on the seatbelts, he starts to cry and scream.
If you can share your experiences, I'd be really grateful.
Thanks!

oh man... my daughter is now 2, but she went through that phase also. the ONLY thing that worked for me was letting her help me buckle her in. i'd hold the straps out, and she'd put her arms through herself... then, i would hold the bottom part, and would let her hold the buckles and push them in on her own (making sure no fingers get in the way, of course!). i guess she felt like she was in control, and that made her feel better... she's still like that to this day! haha... good luck sweetie!

Both my boys have done the same thing. It's just a phase. I just force them in and buckled them up.

Your child is old enough to understand when you mean business. You need to let your child know this is not negotiable and no amount of crying, screaming, arguing will change your mind. When this happens with me about any items that is not negotiable I let me kids know my stance and they have a choice to willingly or unwillingly comply but the end result will be the same.

When my stepson did this, I just made where ever we were going sound like some place he'd really want to go to excite him. Then we'd tell him that we couldn't go anywhere until he was strapped in. Then he'd want to hurry up and go.

If it was grandma's, we'd make him excited about seeing the kitties. If it was the store, we'd tell him he could play with any toy he wanted... etc.

And typically at that age, we could get him excited about something and by the time we got there, he didn't even remember anymore.

a couple of games you can try are

i bet you cant get your arms in before i count to five

or get two seats the same age rating and let him chose which he wants to sit in.

Here are the things I try:
singing him a song
handing him a small toy truck
talking to him to tell him where we're going, like, "let's go home and see the dog" or "guess who will be at home? daddy!"
when these don't work, i just take a deep breath and try to end the torture as fast as i can

Maybe if you buy him his own steering wheel, he'll feel like hes helping mommy drive : )
And only let him play with it in the car. So then that way he'll look forward to playing with it every car ride.
Oh yea maybe put on his favorite song to help.

Hope this helps your lil guy enjoy the ride.

My daughter went through this too. I simply looked her in the eye and said, "Stop, now! Get in your seat!" I said it in a very firm voice. It only took a few times and she never had a problem again.

I have a 16 month old too, and this just started. Usually as we leave daycare, he is too tired to fight me in the mornings!

I tell him "don't you want to go home and see Daddy and the puppy?" and that ususally calms him down and then I tell him "we have to buckle up if you want to go see daddy and the puppy, okay?" it usually works. Try talking to him about where your going, especially if he likes where your going/who your going to see, etc. Good luck!

For trips that he doesn't HAVE to go on leave him at home, get a sitter, trade of child care with a neighbor. You can't avoid having to take him to day care if you work. But let him know that when you go shopping or anyplace else he isn't going to get to go until he learns to sit in his seat like he is supposed to.

I actually had a time where I was taking my daughter to one of her favorite places because she had been good all week (the zoo), she decided she didn't need to be in her car seat and unbuckled herself! I pulled over and told her the car would not move until she was back in her seat strapped in. We sat on the freeway for 45 minutes and once she was strapped in I went down to the next exit and turned around and we went home. The next time we had to go out she hopped right into her seat and buckled in and sat quietly until we reached our destination.