Shoes On or Off?

My car is pretty new and I want to keep the upholstery cleanish. Winter is coming soon and now that my kids are older, they wear shoes (last year, they just wore footie pajamas all the time, so it wasn't an issue). I can't install a seat protector on the rear of the seat since I had to remove my headrests to install the car seats. So, it's either messy upholstery or constant removing and replacing of shoes [by ME cause they cann't yet].

If your kids rear face, how do you deal with dirty shoes?

 

Well, they're in car seats and their feet don't even touch the car upholstery, so no issues there.

 

Mine usually took their shoes off on their own. LOL
But since I didn't have a new car, I really didn't worry about. Just cleaned it up from time to time. What about putting a towel or something like that on there?

 

My guys feet definitely reach the seat back! I can't put a towel on the rear of the seat since I don't have headrests so I can't attach it to anything, KWIM. It would just fall right off.

 

I see what you're saying. They are still rear-facing that's why I was misunderstanding. I would just tack them off once we got into the car. At that age, my girls wore Robeez and they are easily removable and aren't a pain to put back on.

 

:FIFblush: And I thought your girls just had really short legs :FIFblush:

I did just get them Robeez so that should work well when they wear those. But not sure what to do about their boots (which they will need soon).

 

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=535744&parentCategoryId=85184&categoryId=85218

I am ordering those but if your head rests are gone, they will not work. You could buy booties for over their shoes for in the car.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Shoe-Covers-Disposable-Anti-Skid/dp/B000EP7J4G

 

Maybe I'm confused, but are the kiddos rear or forward facing??

 

They are both rear facing in convertible seats.

 

Mine take them off the second we sit down in the car so I've never had the issue... I guess I'll stop being upset that they do that since apparently it's saving my upholstery. Never thought about it before now.

 

Meh, my car is so trashed we don't even worry about it now. <_< But if I was concerned about the upholstery I would put their shoes on the floor of the car and put them on when they reach their destination. :good:

 

I am pretty sure my kids' feed touch the seat. They do wear shoes in the car most of the time. I haven't noticed the seat getting dirty, but I'm probably just not paying attention. In your situation I would remove their shoes and put them on when you reach your destination.

 

Are they walking yet?

 

I have leather seats in my car so it's not an issue, but when we just borrowed my dad's car while out of town, we took their shoes off and put them behind their seats until we got to our destination. It's kind of a pain in the butt!

 

I really don't remember this ever being an issue. No way would I take their shoes on and off every time we're getting in and out of the car. Maybe you could keep a towel in your car to wipe their shoes with before putting them in their seat?

 

why wouldn't you be able to reinstall the headrests? I can't visualize that.

anyway, I have the Sunshine Kids full seat protectors and they are great! will work now for RF feet on the backs of the rear seat and then FF for protecting the seat bottoms.

ultra mat

 

oh btw... for the most part we keep the shoes on unless they take them off... but if you're trying to get anywhere it just takes too much time for me to undo shoes and put them back on just to save upholstery.... but saying that I need to get those mats for my husband's car, I haven't done that yet!

 

This is exactly why I was asking which way they were facing. I don't quite understand why you can't put the headrests back on so that you could use a mat to save your upholstery

 

Sorry....I see why everyone was confused. I have a Ford Escape and the owner's manual prohibits the use of the headrest when a carseat is installed. :headbang: :headbang: I haven't been able to figure out *why* Ford thinks this could be a danger, but I wanted to play it safe and follow the vehicle manual. :headbang: As you can imagine, it is incredibly annoying. I do have a headrest in the middle (no carseat there) so maybe I can hook something around that? I did get two of the Sunshine Kids mats so maybe in my free time (ha ha) I will see if I can rig something up.

 

That's strange, but I guess whatever the manual says. Both of our cars have their headrests still on, but that doesn't really matter since my boys are forward facing anyways!

 

Mine had the headrests on as well - on the front and the back seats. Weird.

 

I don't know why... if the kids shoes are dry I never worry about them having them on in the car (I have black seats) but if the shoes are even a little damp I feel like they're going to get more "cooties" on their hands and stick them in their mouth. For that reason I take their shoes off if they're messy Dry shoes stay on the feet

 

I would call your car's manufacturer and speak with someone in person. I had to call on something on my car, and also called the carseat manufacturer about something too. they are pretty knowledgeable, and I think that they will find answer for you. hopefully you can put the headrests back on. that seems like an odd request.

 

we had an Escape and never took the head rests out...we threaded the latch under the head rest and up to the ceiling for the back latch hook...

 

My 22mo olds are still rear facing. This summer wasn't a problem with shoes as the twins promptly took their sandals off as soon as they were in the van. This winter, I am not sure what I am going to do. I can carry them to the car to begin with but they will be walking around when we are out of the house. One thought I had was to get some hand towels, make some button holes in them and take the headrests off, thread the posts through the button holes and put the headrests back on and lay the towel down the seat and tuck in between the carseat and seat. Not sure how effective it will be.