If there's one area of raising children that leaves me struggling to keep up more than any other, it would have to be keeping up with and understanding car seat legislation.
Since my first son was born four years ago it feels as though there have been changes made at least 3 or 4 times, and I find myself feeling confused about how much I truly understand.
No matter how many times I google it, no matter how many guides I read about it - I still feel unsure about it all.
And it seems that I'm not alone, as a recent survey by Halfords found that over 65% of parents felt confused by car seat legislation.
Since Tyne turned 4, I had been wondering about whether or not he should be changing from his car seat with straps to a booster seat but I found it all totally confusing - until I read this helpful blog post on understand car seat legislation - it focuses in particular on changes in the law regarding booster cushions and high back booster seats.
A recent change to the legislation in March 2017 meant that newly manufactured booster cushions are now only suitable for children in Group 3 - weighing more than 22kg or over 125 cms in height.
Halfords continue to recommend a highback booster for any child who is between 15kg and 22kg. They are also making it much easier for parents to make the jump from booster cushion to highback booster, by running a booster cushion trade in event where you can bring in your old booster cushion (from any retailer) in return for 20% off a high back booster!
Having read the new legislation, we realised that Tyne was now able to make the transition to a high back booster seat and so, to help us out with the transition, Halfords gave us the chance to try one out.We were sent the Recaro Monza Nova 2 - to be honest I expected very little from it, as I have seen plenty of high back booster seats before and always thought that they looked as though they probably wouldn't offer all that much protection.
But when I saw this one, I changed my mind - the Recaro Monza Nova has special advanced side impact protection as well as fixed armrests giving added protection to the hip area too.
The headrest has 11 different adjustable positions and the Recaro air circulation system to ensure your childs comfort, as well as their safety.
And what's Tyne's favorite thing about his new seat?
This snazzy thing has speakers in the headrest so that you can plug in an audio/mp3 device for your child to listen to!
Tyne was blown away by this and thinks it's the best invention ever - we travel quite a lot and until now the journeys had always been quite dull for Tyne, but now he is allowed to listen to music or watch My Knight & Me on my phone while we travel for a while and this has made all the difference.What is really great is that nobody other than Tyne can really hear what he's listening to, which means no distractions for the driver!
We think this high back booster seat is absolutely fantastic, and worth a much higher price than the £134.95 it retails for - I will not hesitate to purchase these for my other boys when they're old enough!If you'd like to take a look at the specs, please see below:
Recaro Monza Nova 2 High Back Booster Seat Extra Info
- Groups 2 and 3 car seat suitable from 15 - 36kg, 3 to 12 years approximately
- Easy to install with the vehicle 3 point seat belt
- Adjustable cushion in the head rest gives added comfort
- Integrated speakers in the headrest connect to an amplified MP3/audio source
- Secured with the cars own 3 point seat belt
- Do not fit a car seat in a vehicle seat where there is an active airbag present
- Check the seat fits your car correctly– Free fitting and demonstration at your local store
- Complies to ECE R44/04 regulations
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