Here are some of our picks to help keep all the children riding with you safe:

Smart Seat

Perfect for both Little Kids AND Big Kids
Smart Seat™ All-in-One Car Seat: If you’re driving both younger and older children, this seat makes transitioning from little ones to bigger kids SO easy. You’ll just install the stay-in car base one time, and then the car seat can be easily switched from rear-facing for little kids (starting at just 5 lbs.) to forward-facing for older ones (up to 65 lbs. in the harness and up to 100 lbs. as a belt-positioning booster-just remember not to use the base anymore once your child has graduated into the belt-positioning booster).  This seat also features a one-hand height adjustable headrest with no-rethread harness, which makes proper fit to your carpooling child quick and easy. If you’re sharing carpool duties with another parent, consider purchasing an extra stay-in-car base for even more convenience.

Argos

Harness Up—with Ease
Argos™ 70 Car Seat: We know that sometimes carpool can be a whirlwind—filled with pickups, drop-offs and hectic mornings. So, the forward-facing only Argos—which is weight-rated for children from 20 – 70 lbs. in a harness, 30 – 100 lbs. as a best-positioning booster and from 40-120 lbs. as a backless belt-positioning booster—is a seat that will fit a lot of different sized children, making carpool a bit less chaotic. One of the best features on the Argos is the no re-thread harness (dubbed the Simply Safe Adjust™ Harness System). It’s a huge asset, because it means that when you need to adjust the fit, you don’t have to pull the harness out and re thread it from the back.

Always Keep a Spare: 2-in-1 Value
TurboBooster: Big kids may want to “graduate” out of a booster seat, but it’s important that they remain in a car seat or booster seat until they’re able to fit your vehicle’s seat belt properly (see if your child passes the Seat Belt Test: http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-resources-by-risk-area/car-seats-boosters-seat-belts-/booster-seats-and-seat-belt-safety-tips.html). The very cool (seriously – kids love this seat and features like hideaway cup holders!) TurboBooster® with Safety Surround ™ offers the best head and body protection at each stage. This booster seat converts from a high back booster (30-100 lbs.) to a backless booster (40-100 lbs.), and both modes help position your vehicle’s seat belt for a proper fit. The backless mode of the booster is so compact; you can keep extras as a spare in your trunk for last-minute passengers.

Here’s to riding safely—and getting to school on time!

Graco has also received accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for our booster seats: the Nautilus 3-in-1 car seat, Argos 3-in-1 harnessed booster and TurboBooster youth booster seat (both the highback and backless models).  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducts these studies to help parents decide which booster is best to help protect their older child. They test the boosters based on this criteria:  most likely to provide good lap and shoulder belt fit in a range of vehicles.

As a parent myself, I trust Graco car seats for my kids–PP rides in a high back TurboBooster & Pinkie Pie loves her Nautilus car seat, so it’s great to see Graco recognized for its true commitment to keeping children safe.

Congratulations, Graco toddler car seats!

When I found out the new Signature Series™ Smart Seat™ was being introduced, I quickly asked if they were looking for volunteers to try it out. I was so excited when they told me they would be giving me a seat to test out with Jed! I was even more excited when they told me they would install it for me too. (Little did I know how easy it was going to be to install!)

There are so many things I love about this seat, simply as a parent.

First, this seat has a weight range of 5-100 lbs. You could essentially bring your newborn home from the hospital in this seat and never need to buy another as your child grows, since the expiration date is 10 years. (Yes, car seats do have expiration dates, see here for more details.) It’s definitely a heavy duty seat, but being reinforced with steel tends to do that, and makes it pretty awesome.

Second, the seat has a detachable base feature that can stay in the car. It was very easy to install the base. We all know sometimes getting a toddler seat tight enough is tough while maneuvering in the back seat. Face it, sometimes there is not that much room between your head and the ceiling of the car. From a mom who has hit her head more than once, installing this base was much easier. The base can either be installed using LATCH or the seat belt lock off. It’s your choice.

We tested the Smart Seat out rear-facing in our Honda Pilot and Jed fit quite comfortably, even showing off his I’m so tired this cookie is NOT helping tears. We did have to move the front passenger seat up quite a bit though, not leaving a ton of leg room there.

Another awesome parent-friendly feature is the no re-thread harness, which means you can move the head rest up and down easily to adjust the height you need while the child is in the seat. I think this is a great feature, especially if you occasionally have other children using the car seat that are a different size than your own.

After a few tickles from Mommy, Jed was his usual happy self smiling away in the new seat and ready to go for a test ride. Too bad it was actually bed time. Yes, those are footed pajamas he is wearing.

But rest assured, we will soon be getting some major mileage on the new seat come the weekend!

Are you looking for a new seat for your little one?
The Smart Seat is exclusively available at Babies “R” Us, and you can order yours now.