Taking the Car Back from the Kids: The 10 Things That Worked
A four-year-old, a one-year-old and a hatchback that was a disaster every time we left the house. One month of fixing it, one problem a week.
10 products8 min read
A hatchback with two car seats and no dignity
Our children are four and one. The car is a small hatchback that was tidy for about a week after the second car seat went in, and then it was not. The seat under the baby’s seat was dented and sticky. The back of the passenger seat was grey from four-year-old shoes. We could not see the baby, who was rear-facing and silent in the way that makes you look over your shoulder at sixty. The floor was a geological record of crackers.
In September we gave up fixing it all at once and did one week at a time: the car seats, the snacks, a long drive to grandparents, and the Sunday clean. This is what we bought, in the order the car needed it.
Week one — the car seat and the baby we couldn’t see
The first week was about the seats themselves. Two car seats in a small car is a lot of plastic and buckles pressing into upholstery, and a baby you cannot see is a small, constant worry at the back of your head.
The mat that took the dents
The Oxford cloth child car seat protector mat, about $9, is a padded, non-slip mat that goes under the car seat with a flap that runs up the seat back. The baby’s seat went back on top of it and passed the wiggle test as before, and when we lifted the seat out a week later the dents and the sticky patch were on the mat, not the car. The flap has mesh pockets, where the wipes and the spare dummy now live. Check your car seat’s manual first; a couple of makers say nothing should go under the base.
Oxford Cloth Child Car Seat Protector Mat (with Pockets)
$9.29
The mats that stopped the kicking mattering
The waterproof kick mats, about $9 for two, are large wipe-clean panels that strap to the backs of the front seats with one strap round the headrest and one under the seat. The four-year-old’s shoes land on them every single journey and we wipe them on Sunday. The pockets down each side are at exactly four-year-old height and hold a cup, a book and whatever is currently essential, which this month is a plastic dinosaur. The pockets are open at the top, so a cup without its lid on still ends up on the floor.
Waterproof Kick Mats with Side Pockets (2 Pack)
$9.15
The mirror that let us stop turning round
The SEAMETAL wide-angle baby view mirror, about $9, is a large convex mirror that straps to the rear headrest and shows a rear-facing baby in the driver’s mirror. Lining it up took a minute with one of us in the driver’s seat and one in the back, and after that the baby was there, upside down and asleep, every time we glanced up. It needs a rear headrest with posts to strap to, and in a small car it takes a slice out of the rear window.
SEAMETAL Wide-Angle Baby View Mirror (Convex, Shatterproof)
$8.89
By the second week the seats were protected and we could see both children. Which meant we could see what they were doing with the snacks.
Week two — snacks and crumbs
The second week was the floor. Snacks are how you get a four-year-old through a twenty-minute drive, and snacks in a moving car become crumbs, and crumbs in a car become a permanent feature of the carpet.
The tray that gave the snack a surface
The cup holder swivel food tray, about $10, is a tray on a stem that pushes into the rear cup holder in the fold-down armrest between the car seats and swings over towards whichever child needs it. The snack bowl sat on a flat surface at arm’s length instead of in a lap, and visibly fewer crackers reached the floor. Two cup rings underneath take a bottle and a sippy cup. It needs a cup holder within reach of the back seat; in a car with only front cup holders it ends up next to the driver.
Cup Holder Swivel Food Tray (3-in-1, Detachable)
$10.09
The bin that gave the rubbish somewhere to go
The hanging car bin with a press-button lid, about $10, hangs off the back of the front seat and opens with a press, which a four-year-old can do and likes doing. Banana skins, wipes and the wrappers from the snacks go in it instead of the door pocket, and the liner lifts out and rinses. It is small on purpose and fills in a day with two children; empty it every evening or you will find out why.
Hanging Car Bin with Press-Button Lid (Wet and Dry)
$10.29
Two weeks in, the car was holding. Then we drove three hours to the grandparents in the last warm weekend of the year, and everything that was tolerable for twenty minutes turned out to be intolerable for three hours.
Week three — the first long drive
The long drive was the test. It had a hot car park at a service station, a baby who needed a nap at noon with the sun on her face, and a four-year-old who fell asleep against the door and woke up crying every time we went round a bend.
The shade that kept the buckles cool
The Baseus umbrella windshield sun shade, about $22, opens like an umbrella and props against the inside of the windscreen in a few seconds. We put it up at the service station and at the grandparents’ house, and both times came back to buckles we could touch and a baby seat that was not an oven. Anyone who has strapped a hot child into a hot seat knows this is what ends naps and starts tantrums. It folds to the size of a rolled newspaper. On a very wide windscreen it leaves a sunny strip at each edge.
Baseus Umbrella Windshield Sun Shade (Hemmed Edges)
$21.75
The curtain that let the baby sleep at noon
The blackout car privacy curtain set, about $11, is blackout cloth on elastic cords that hook across the rear side window, with a bigger panel that can hang behind the front seats if you want the whole back to be dark. We hooked the small one across the baby’s window at the first stop, and she slept for an hour and forty minutes through the brightest part of the day. It ties back when the sun is on the other side. It needs grab handles or headrest posts to hook to, and the driver’s side has to stay tied back for the mirror.
Blackout Car Privacy Curtain Set (Side Window and Divider)
$10.69
The pillow that stopped the crying at every bend
The children’s seat belt travel pillow, about $15, is a plush animal with long arms that wrap round the seat belt and fasten with hook-and-loop, so the four-year-old, who rides in a high-back booster on the car’s belt, had something soft to lean a sleeping head on instead of the door. He chose the pig, slept for most of the second hour and did not wake at the bends. The cover unzips and washes, which it has already needed. It is for children on the car’s belt only, not a harnessed seat or a baby, and it adds bulk the child has to be happy with; ours was.
Children's Seat Belt Travel Pillow (Plush Animal, Washable)
$15.05
We came home with two children who had slept and a car that looked like it had been through three hours with two children in it. Which brought us to the fourth week.
Every Sunday — the clean-up
None of the above stays fixed on its own. The mats and the bin stop the mess spreading; something still has to remove it, every week, or the car goes back to how it was.
The vacuum that does the footwells
The cordless handheld car vacuum with blower function, about $26, is a hand-sized vacuum with a crevice tool and a brush head that does the footwells, the seat creases and the kick mats in about ten minutes on a Sunday. Switch the nozzle to the other end and it blows, which clears the gap between the seat and the console that no nozzle has ever reached. It charges over USB during the week. The bin is small; with two children we empty it halfway through every clean.
Cordless Handheld Car Vacuum with Blower Function
$25.79
The blower that cleans the car seat itself
The turbo jet electric air duster, about $25, is a cordless blower that fires a hard stream of air into the parts of a car seat a vacuum cannot get into: the harness slots, the buckle, the gap between the seat and its base. The first Sunday we used it, a quantity of crushed cracker came out of the baby’s seat that we would rather not describe, and the buckle, which had been sticking, stopped sticking. It also dries a rinsed seat cover in minutes. It is loud, and it blows everything out rather than up, so we do the blower first and the vacuum second.
Turbo Jet Electric Air Duster (Cordless, Rechargeable)
$24.99
A month in, the car is not clean; it has two small children in it. But the seats are protected, we can see the baby, the rubbish has a home, and ten minutes on a Sunday starts the week with a car we are not embarrassed by.
What we’d leave at home
Everything in this story
Oxford Cloth Child Car Seat Protector Mat (with Pockets)
$9.29
Waterproof Kick Mats with Side Pockets (2 Pack)
$9.15
SEAMETAL Wide-Angle Baby View Mirror (Convex, Shatterproof)
$8.89
Cup Holder Swivel Food Tray (3-in-1, Detachable)
$10.09
Hanging Car Bin with Press-Button Lid (Wet and Dry)
$10.29
Baseus Umbrella Windshield Sun Shade (Hemmed Edges)
$21.75
Blackout Car Privacy Curtain Set (Side Window and Divider)
$10.69
Children's Seat Belt Travel Pillow (Plush Animal, Washable)
$15.05
Cordless Handheld Car Vacuum with Blower Function
$25.79
Turbo Jet Electric Air Duster (Cordless, Rechargeable)
$24.99
Everything here comes to about $146. Prices in USD; they move a little from week to week.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need in the car for a baby and a toddler?
A protector under the car seat, a kick mat on the back of the front seat, a mirror to see a rear-facing baby, and somewhere for the rubbish to go. Those four cost us about $37 together and fixed the daily mess. The vacuum and the blower are what keep it fixed.
Is it safe to put a protector mat under a child car seat?
Usually, but check the car seat manual first; a few makers say nothing should go under the base. A thin, non-slip mat like the one in this story does not change how the seat sits, and the seat still has to pass the wiggle test — less than an inch of movement at the belt path — with the mat in place.
How do I keep the car clean with small children?
Ten minutes every Sunday with a cordless handheld vacuum and, honestly, a jet blower for the car seat itself. The blower clears the harness slots and the buckle that a vacuum cannot reach, and the vacuum collects what it blows out. Doing it weekly means it never gets bad enough to dread.
What helps on a long drive with a baby and a four-year-old?
Shade and sleep. A blackout curtain on the baby's window and a soft pillow the older one can lean on bought us two hours of quiet on our first three-hour drive, for about $26 between them. A windshield shade for the stops matters more than you'd think, because hot buckles end naps.
How long does this take to arrive?
Most of it ships from overseas and takes one to three weeks, so order the car-seat items first and the long-drive items a fortnight before you need them. Nothing in this story needs tools, so fitting it all is an afternoon.