Fresh Air High Chair

With spring in full swing, now is the perfect time to enjoy being with your kids outdoors.  Here in Queensland winter is already a fading memory and summer will be bearing down on us before we know it.  Lately I have been taking my son’s highchair outside quite often.  Admittedly ours is a fairly simple highchair (small, wooden, and without wheels and whistles) so it’s easy to take upstairs and out into the back yard.  I do know of a few mums who have either picked up second hand highchairs, or purchased something like the easy care Ikea Antilop highchairs to serve as outdoor seating for older babies.  If you haven’t thought about using a highchair outside here are 5 good reasons to give it a try!

1. Fresh air is important for babies.  Taking the highchair out is a very low stress way to make sure you get outside together.  There are different sights, smells and sounds in the garden.  (Be careful though.  Even though sunshine is important for baby’s development, don’t put the high chair in the sun as baby can’t move away if the sun is burning them, and the chair can heat up too.)
2. When little ones start self feeding, the mess can range from hideous to indescribable!  Eating outside eliminates much of the regular cleanup.
3. Supervising back yard play is often challenging when you have a baby and a toddler.  Occasionally I sit my son in the highchair outside, and give him a few interesting things (bark, leaves, etc) to fiddle with while I help my toddler with whatever activity or adventure she is in the middle of.
4. Thanks to the elevation of the highchair baby can get a different view of the yard.  Everyone likes to see things from a different perspective at times.  I find that rather than exploring what is on the ground around him, my son is more interested in birds, trees and clouds when in the highchair.
5. There are jobs that parents just have to get done outside at times.  Either they get done while baby is asleep, or you have to take bub out with you.  An outdoor highchair can be oh-so-useful while you’re hanging washing, pulling weeds or washing the dog.

Of course, until your baby is actively crawling and getting into mischief, I still think you’re much better off putting them on a bunny rug on the ground.  But if, like me, you have an older bub who you have to keep your eyes on EVERY second because they are into absolutely EVERYTHING absolutely ALL of the time – taking the highchair outside might be a good trick to have up your sleeve.

PS – leaving bub for long periods of time strapped to the highchair outside will not win you any parenting awards.  Just saying.

PPS – leaving the highchair outside for long periods of time without wiping it out will attract ants.  Lots of them.  Just saying that too.

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Click here to enter my giveaway to win a copy of Small Fry Outdoors: Inspiration for being Outdoors with Kids!!  Closes this Friday 9th October.