Living / 7 July, 2026 / Ellie Thompson
There comes a point in every parent’s life when your child looks at you as though you’ve completely lost the plot.
For us, it was when I told my nine-year-old she was going back into a high-back booster seat.
“But Mum… none of my friends are in one.”
And she wasn’t wrong.
Nearly everybody she knows her age has been out of a proper car seat for at least a couple of years. While many have moved on to a low-back booster cushion, some are just belting up like us adults, with absolutely nothing else to keep them secure. There’s a huge amount of peer pressure, and as parents, it’s easy to convince ourselves that because everyone else is doing it, it must be fine.
I’ll admit, I’d started to feel exactly the same. Then I attended the Child Safety Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Axkid still recommends rear-facing travel until 125cm whenever possible. And after spending a day listening to the world’s leading child safety experts, crash researchers and engineers, I realised we’ve been rushing children out of the safest form of travel far too soon. Or being allowed to let our kids rush us, probably more to the point. Sounds ridiculous when you type it out.
One thing that surprised me at the Child Safety Conference in Gothenburg was the physics. About how an adult seatbelt is unable to properly fit a child’s body. And about how a few centimetres can make an enormous difference in a crash.
Children don’t suddenly become adult-sized because they turn eight or nine. Seatbelts are designed around adult bodies, and until a child is tall enough for the belt to fit correctly, they simply aren’t getting the protection they’re designed to provide.
That’s why I decided to move Maddie back into a high-back booster.
Did she roll her eyes?
Absolutely.
Has she got over it?
Also yes.
What helped enormously was choosing a seat that doesn’t look like a “baby seat”.
What really sold me on the Axkid Up™ was that it wasn’t just another high-back booster. It had clearly been designed by people who understand child safety inside out.
Unlike traditional high-back boosters that simply adjust the headrest as your child grows, the Axkid Up™ is the world’s only patented high-back booster with a height-adjustable seat. In other words, it raises your child, not just the headrest, helping to keep the seatbelt in the correct position throughout every stage of growth.
That might sound like a small detail, but it’s hugely important. Correct seatbelt positioning allows your car’s built-in safety systems – including side airbags, belt pretensioners and belt routing – to work as intended in the event of a collision.
Safety is where the Axkid Up™ really stands out. Its ProTecBase™ steel frame and integrated support leg provide extra stability, while Axkid’s internal crash testing showed up to a 25% reduction in crash forces compared with other booster seats.
Of course, it also ticks all the practical boxes. Maddie says it’s pretty comfy, especially when she nods off, and that’s thanks to its ErgoSupport™ lumbar support. It folds flat using QuickFold™ when you need to store or transport it, and its slim design means it’s possible to fit three seats across the back of many cars. It can be installed using either ISOFIX or your vehicle’s seatbelt, and the removable cover is machine washable. A feature every parent will appreciate.
As parents, we spend years teaching our children that it’s okay to stand out when it matters. This is one of those times. If your child is reluctant because their friends have moved on, I completely get it. Mine is exactly the same.
But after everything I learned in Sweden, I couldn’t ignore the evidence. For me, a few weeks of eye-rolling and a lot of backchat is a very small price to pay for knowing she’s travelling as safely as possible.
At the end of the day, our job isn’t to follow the crowd; it’s to keep our children safe.
The Axkid Up™ is available now from all good nursery retailers. RRP: £399.
For more information, please log onto www.axkid.com/uk.
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