If I were to ask how many of you use the seat belt while driving, I would see a lot of hands because it’s the law.
But if I were to ask you if you use a suitable car seat for your kids, majority of the hands will go down.
Road traffic accidents are the second leading cause of injury and death among Filipinos including children.
There are about 100 children ages 5 to 12 that are injured in a road traffic accident every day.
Kids are advised to be in a car seat until they are 12 or when they can wear the seat belt properly.
There are three kinds of car seats: the rear-facing car seat for those aged 0 to 24 months; forward-facing car seat for kids 2 to 4 years old; and the booster seat from ages 4 to 12 years old.
From experience, child car seats are so much of a hassle, so bulky, and so restricting.
I know because I have five kids, and three of them are below 7 years old.
Just going to the mall is a production number for us. We have a Toyota Grandia LXV which is a 10-seater van, and we still don’t fit because three of the kids are on car seats.
Imagine the amount of luggage we haul when we travel abroad.
In fact, I’m writing this inside an airport lounge en route to Vancouver. I have three of my five kids with me.
I started making car seat plans six months ago for my 6-year-old boy.
We are visiting three cities so this will require three arrangements. I was set to buy in Vancouver and just travel with it to Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Little did I know that I would be presented with the best solution for parents like me.
Mifold
Mifold is a grab-and-go booster seat that is 10 times smaller than a regular booster seat. It is compact and so portable that you can slip it in your glove compartment or your kid’s backpack.
Mifold falls in the booster seat category and becomes an all-in-one solution for your car seat needs for children aged 4 to 12.
Mifold grows with your child due to its patented design and high-quality materials. It’s made with aircraft-grade aluminum and a super tough plastic polymer made by Dupont. It meets US, Canada and EU car seat regulations.
You can easily slip Mifold in your kid’s backpack when he is carpooling, and due to the compactness of this device, the back seat of a compact vehicle can still fit three passengers.
The job of a booster seat is to bring the body up so that the seat belt would not fall on the kid’s face; what Mifold does is it adjusts the regular seat belt of the car to fit your child’s smaller frame.
Convenient travel buddy
Some models of the bigger and bulkier car seats have their own safety features, such as impact stabilizers and side bar features that give added protection to your child.
When accidents happen, seat belts are designed to keep the person in place.
The car seat does the same. It is designed to keep the body in place to lessen injury.
Mifold does not have the protective shell of the bulkier car seat but it makes the car’s seat belt work for you.
For me, Mifold would be best for bigger kids. If your kid is in the petite spectrum, it would be best that he or she uses the bigger counterparts.
But if you’re traveling or your kid will ride in another car, Mifold would be a good option and will give your child better protection than having adults use their arms as a seat belt or not wearing a seat belt at all.
Raising road safety awareness
Paola Loot Bronfman, the exclusive distributor of Mifold, launched the product to a group of mom bloggers and social media influencers.
She also launched a road safety campaign for kids called BuckleUpKidsPh. This campaign aims to create awareness on how children can take an active part in ensuring their safety on the road.
Chicdriven was also there to do a short talk on road safety and how parents can be safe drivers.
For comments and suggestions, please e-mail me at [email protected]; follow @chicdriven on Twitter and Instagram; like us on Facebook/chicdriven for updates on events and promotions.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.