People always told me I wouldn’t believe how quickly my child would grow, but things are getting ridiculous around here. My almost-two-year old has suddenly decided he’s a forty-five-year-old businessman. While his misconception can be entertaining, especially when he demands the car keys and shouts “Bye Mama!” while heading for the door with his dad’s briefcase, it can create tension at mealtimes. Because, obviously, grown-ups don’t eat their dinners off high chair trays. They like to be part of the flow of conversation. They want to pass the salt.
My son’s newfound maturity (along with Jackson Pollock-inspired food art projects I mentioned earlier) led me to search for a way to bring him up to the big kids’ table while keeping him contained, safe, and comfortable. It also wouldn’t hurt if the solution added to, instead of detracted from, our kitchen decor. I happened upon the idea of a booster seat, friend of small-kitchened families everywhere, and from there I found the Mutsy Grow-Up! booster.
The Grow-Up! (yes, that exclamataion mark is part of the official product name) is a step up from seats like the basic and ubiquitous plastic Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster. It has a sturdy plastic base with nicely padded feet to prevent chair damage, topped by a thick, foam-like seat. (The seat feels like the same kind of material as a Bumbo Seat.) An adjustable system of straps attaches it to a normal-size dining chair and works as shoulder and/or waist belts to secure the child in the seat.
My son loves the Grow-Up! It raises him high enough to reach his food and see his tablemates, while keeping him comfortable and secure. The soft seat is textured and not slippery and the waist belt holds him firmly in place. It also lacks the awkward assembly of its bigger sibling the EasyGrow, as it relies mainly on a strap/belt system instead of the problematic slide-in safety bar. Like the EasyGrow, however, this seat is very good-looking, and is one of the few boosters on the market that appears like furniture, not like we’ve dragged something from the toybox into our kitchen. The mod color choices are an added bonus. The price tag ($49.66 on Amazon) is on the high end of the booster seat market, but having sampled some of its competitors, I would say the quality and design of the Grow-Up! make it worth the higher cost.
On the downside, the Grow-Up! is not as portable as many other boosters, so if you’re looking for something that folds into a little cube every time you’d like to take it to Grandma’s house, this probably isn’t the product for you (try the Sack-n-Seat!). The shoulder straps are a bit awkward - they hang off the back and never seem to quite find a stable place to rest once they’re buckled - so we don’t use them, since my child is old enough to do without them.
Keep in mind that this booster is not a high chair subsitute for small infants, as it lacks the back and head support they require,and it doesn’t have a tray attachment. But that’s part of its charm - it’s designed with toddlers in mind, so it’s targeted to their desire to sit at the big-kid table.
So it seems I’ve found a practical way to make my kid happy at dinner time. Now if I could only get him to turn off his Blackberry while he eats.
We’re giving away a Mutsy Grow-Up! to one lucky MamasWorldwide reader!
Enter to win by:
-Leaving a comment on this post
-Linking to this giveaway from your blog, and then comment here with a link to your link
Each reader can enter twice - once with a regular comment, and once with a link comment. Do so by midnight (12am) Pacific Time on Tuesday, January 13th. Be sure to include your e-mail address in the comment sign-in section so we can contact you if you win. We’ll choose one entrant at random. We can only pay to mail this within the USA, so please enter only if you have a USA mailing address.
In addition, don’t forget that Goore’s online store is offering an exclusive discount for Mamas Worldwide readers - receive 10% off the purchase of any Mutsy products by entering code MWMU10 at checkout.
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I love this product. My godson would benefit from it!
THis looks great, can’t wait until my 10mo old is ready for one!
My son would love this, he is 19 months and has decided he is too “old” for his high chair!
My daughter wants a big girl seat, and this one looks really nice! quitecontrary1977@hotmail.com
this looks great - I’d love to win :)
blogged here: http://sweeps4bloggers.blogspot.com/2009/01/mamasworldwide-mutsy-giveaway-11309.html
Thanks for this great review! I attend weekly dinners with other moms in my local chapter of MOMS Club International, and each of the toddler moms seem to have some variation of the booster seat. With my daughter only months away from this milestone herself, I’ve started to compile a list of seats I’m interested in for when the time comes. I found your review extremely helpful, and I want other moms to know about it too! I’ve placed a link to your review on my newly formed mama’s blog: http://mamainloveland.blogspot.com/. Thanks for the information! ~Marcie W.
I would love to win this for my nephew.
Thanks for the chance to win.
this is great, i know of someone who would really benefit from this. thanks for the giveaway!
My niece could really use this. How neat! Thanks for the giveaway!
I like the ability to strap them in… my son is a wiggly one, and he’s fallen out of his seat before (more than once)— I know, hard to picture from an almost 4 year old….
I’d love to win this. I’ve got a 14-month-old girl who is pretty darn independent herself and has started wanting to sit in chairs because that’s what she gets to do (via a booster seat) when at Mom’s Day Out once a week. This would be great to have on-hand.
Michelle Cox newmomoldmom@gmail.com
I would love to be entered. I never bought a high chair for my older one. I just tied with her with a towel around a chair. I would love this booster for her and her sister. Thanks.
Oops, my e-mail is Lupita.vaquero@gmail.com
I would love to be entered! This is so cool.
e-mail: ncortes78@gmail.com
Looks very comfy, and we’ll need a backless booster soon!
Love this booster chair!
i want to be entered! :)
Love it!