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September is Child Passenger Safety Month, and I am excited to say that I was asked to participate with Jacksonville Moms Blog, City Moms Blog Network & Britax to promote Child Passenger Safety Week with a review of the Britax Advocate ClickTight Car Seat with Anti-Rebound Bar (ARB). The Advocate ClickTight ARB is a convertible car seat designed for babies and children 5-65lbs.
That said, let me start off this blog post by saying that the right car seat for your child is the one that is (1) installed correctly and (2) properly used, no matter the brand. That said, the car seat itself should make those two main safety features extremely easy to achieve.
Jacksonville Moms Blog + Britax = Sweet Safety
On Wednesday, September 7, several northeast Florida bloggers were invited to the beautiful home of a Jacksonville Moms Blog founder to meet with Anna, the Britax representative who would highlight the safety features of the Advocate Clicktight ARB. Red balloons and a sign met us in the front walkway, and we were greeted inside by a gorgeous floral arrangement and food provided from Native Sun Jacksonville. The Jerusalem Wrap with quinoa, feta, and lemon tahini dressing was my amazing. I hadn’t stopped by there for lunch before but I will be taking my son there next week. I was very impressed.
Sweet by Holly never disappoints in their mini cupcakes and the hashtag detailing was too clever! I must confess that I am a big fan of the $1 mini cupcakes on Mondays at the St. Johns Town Center location, so it was fun to see their branding efforts and color-matching sugar crystals. Delicious!
Feature: ClickTight
After we had a chance to all meet, eat, and wrangle the little ones at the event, we had a good question and answer discussion featuring the innovative Britax ClickTight system. Since our seats in the car were both Diono Radian RXTs, I had been unfamiliar with how ClickTight works and why it is useful. The ClickTight system ensures the safest and easiest installation every time in every car. The seat literally clicks when installed correctly, as does the harness when adjusted properly thanks to the Click & Safe Snug Harness Indicator. Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) Anna demonstrated the ease of install (along with a helpful tip on what doesn’t work) on our Facebook Live video along with how to attached the Anti-Rebound Bar. The bar is designed to limit the movement of the car seat in a rear or front-end collision while in rear-facing position.
My Frustration: Seat Belt Installations
The car seat we had been using for our now 11-month-old is the second/duplicate seat we had purchased for our preschooler who was born in 2011. I love the brand (Diono), their seat, and their safety standards, but due to the fact that our vehicles are older (pre-LATCH standards), our seat belt installations are incredibly difficult. I am unable to install the seats myself, and since I am the car seat “expert” in our family, whenever we move the seats from vehicle to vehicle, my husband is the one who gets the installation privilege. We end up sweaty and swearing about all things in the blazing Florida heat due to tweaking belt paths, twisting buckles, and re-threading harnesses. This madness will no longer continue — the Britax Advocate ClickTight with Anti-Rebound Bar installation blew me out of the water. I am thrilled!
Feature: SafeCell Impact Protection & Anti-Rebound Bar
The Advocate ClickTight ARB has three layers of impact protection from the deep, energy-absorbing SafeCell shell and stabilizing steel frame. The headrest is EASILY (I cannot say this enough. EASILY, EASILY, EASILY.) adjusted by simply raising it from the top red lever. This raises the harness at the same time to adapt to your growing child. NO MORE uninstalling the seat and re-threading harness straps! The installation was almost too easy. I couldn’t believe it. You lift the cushioned seat, thread the belt, and click it in place. THAT IS IT. I immediately exclaimed, “This car seat just saved my marriage!” Imagine–no more sweating and swearing while rearranging seats in vehicles! The Anti-Rebound Bar is a padded steel bar that locks into place and braces against the seat in rear-facing mode. This bar is also sold as an accessory, so if you have an Advocate, Marathon, or Boulevard seat from Britax, add this on!
Feature: Reclined Seat
To be honest, I was extremely hesitant on even attending this event because our car is small, a 2002 Subaru, and I had assumed that due to the shape and size of the Britax Advocate that it would not fit in our car in the center position, and, if it did, that it would cause us to have to move the front seats up even more. My husband and I are tall, so finding seats that allow us full comfort while driving has been a challenge in our smaller vehicle. Surprisingly enough, the Britax fit right in alongside our Diono Radian RXT where our preschooler sits forward-facing. We may even have enough room now with the Advocate that we could adjust our configuration. It has been incredibly relieving. The Advocate will only give us more room as we can decrease the incline on our son’s seat as he maintains better head control as he gets older.
Passenger Review: A Happy Baby
In the past week of using the Britax Advocate ClickTight ARB multiple times a day, I can honestly say our son has loved it. He has napped easily, hasn’t protested buckling him in and out (though we do have to lift him more compared to the slimmer profile of the Diono seat), and we like how easily the straps adjust. Our older son loves being close to “his baby,” and stated that he likes the seat because “it looks comfortable and I can still squish his cheeks.” We are looking in to the Britax Frontier when we purchase a new seat for him.
We have one happy little passenger.
For more information on Britax, visit Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
If you have questions regarding car seats in general and are local in Jacksonville, check out the archives on Jacksonville Moms Blog for information or make an appointment with Safe Kids. In addition, I always recommend researching the detailed The Car Seat Lady and joining Facebook groups such as Car Seats for the Littles.
Store packaging for the blankets.
Little Brim. 