The day arrived and we received C's new Britax Parkway SGL from the UPS man. After getting it assembled, I decided to let her try it out. We headed out to the van for the first install. It sure was pretty, but I was nervous about how well she would fit in it and how "protected" she would look.
It turns out that while it doesn't hug around her quite like the infant/toddler convertible seats do, it still does look pretty protecting - much better than my own front driver seat! Of course, it is side impact tested, so I trust it will do its job if we are ever in a crash. Although, I definitely hope we will never have to test this assumption.
I immediately noticed that when you thread the seat belt through the "slot" above her upper left shoulder and buckle it in below her right hip, the seat belt is unable to retract back if she leans forward to get something or when she simply hops out of the seat. The seat belt just hangs there. It looks as though the slot is too narrow to allow the seatbelt to zip back up into the holder on the side of the vehicle. I checked at Target and it looks like most of the booster seats have this very narrow slot though, so maybe this is a common problem with booster seats. BUT, being the smart innovative mom that I am, I decided to just buckle her in nice and snugly, and then just pull out the remaining seatbelt portion and let it retract back (click, click, click). I don't know if that makes any sense, but essentially, I just made the seatbelt "lock" so she can't bend forward anyway. At least not more than an inch or two. This has solved the issue and makes me comfortable when driving that she is not sitting there with a bunch of seatbelt slack hanging around her torso.
To make sure this was a proper way to use the seat, I did call Britax and they informed me that this was an acceptable way of using the seat and possibly even the preferred method. It really holds the child in place and doesn't allow them to bend all out of proper seatbelt form. It makes sure that they stay protected at all times.
So, here is my big girl in her new big girl booster seat. She loves it. I love the safety. I LOVE the strap between the legs that holds the lab belt down properly over her upper thighs. That is a GREAT feature. I also love the head wings. She fell asleep in it today by simply resting her head back and to the side. She looked cozy and safe. I couldn't ask for anything more. Thanks, Britax!
And just one more time, here is a picture of my little girl a little over a year ago in the seat she has now outgrown...sigh...at least my little man is still in his same seat and will be for a very long time!
Our booster has the same issue and we do the same thing you figured out with pulling the belt out all the way and letting it click back. I'm also in the process of teaching that trick to Elle so that when she moves to the rear bench seat in May she can make it lock on her own since I won't be able to climb back there to do it myself!
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