by This question isn’t really a question but a tip that comes in thanks to Kim in Australia. She writes about overcoming some of the challenges we have as parents of twins trying to get all of our kids into the car that we already have without having to purchase a new vehicle.
Compact Car Seats
She says they own a Lancer and they’re able to put two compact-sized seats in the back seat. She says that she can even sit next to them in the back while her hubby drives.
This is a great arrangement, particularly if twins are going to be your first children, and you’ve already got a car and you don’t want to have to upgrade to a bigger car, like a minivan or an SUV, or even a bigger sedan. It really depends on the type of car seats that you get for your twins.
Kim got the Safe and Sound compact deluxe car seats. Those may be available just in Australia, and not in your part of the world. (You may want to consider the Diono Radian Convertible Car Seat if it is available.) The principles that Kim applied are applicable to all of us, as twin parents trying to get our kids in the back seat.
So, what you can do with your car seats is measure how wide your back seat is, and then make sure that you have those measurements in mind when you go to purchase car seats.
Choose the Right Car Seats
Don’t purchase big, massive car seats that are going to fill up the entire back seat, or your car may not accommodate two seats at once. And if you want to fit a third person in the back seat, maybe it’s another child or another adult, as Kim describes, then you need to make sure that the width of the car seat, plus the width of the person and the width of the second car seat don’t exceed the width of the back seat.
(RELATED: Still looking for the right twin gear? See my Twin Baby Gear Essentials.)
So, this may require that you do some trial and error with the car seats that you’re shopping for to see if they actually do fit in the back of your car before you commit to purchasing them. So, thank you, Kim, for that tip. That’s a good one to help us make the most of what we have, when we’re expecting twins.
You’ll find more information on traveling with your twins in Chapter 13 of my book, the Dad’s Guide to Raising Twins: How to Thrive as a Father of Twins.
This question was originally addressed on the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast episode 18: Twin Taxes, Car Seats in Small Cars, Mo/Mo Twins.
