Next chair after Tripp trapp

[Tianp]

We have 2 wonderful stoke tripp trapp chairs for our 4 and 8 year olds, very stable and easy to clean. Now expecting another baby and would be a stretch to afford another Tripp trapp chair. Our 8 year old doesn’t mind the baby having her chair and we don’t mind spending up to £100 on the new chair. Just wondering what chair did your child progress to after their Tripp trapp?

There used to be a shop in London that sold Trip Trap chairs that had over sized furniture that adults could sit in to see just how much more difficult it is to do anything at a table if you are too small to touch the ground, reach properly etc.

i appreciate that a trip trap chair is not within everyone’s budget but please don’t sneer at them. If you want your children to happily sit at the table to work, eat etc then it’s beneficial to make it as comfortable as possible.

My DC happily used the chairs for years & their friends always wanted to sit on them. (They adjust so that they look like a normal chair, but one that is adjustable so that your child is at the correct height & has a footplate to rest on)
I sold mine on, after probably 10-14 years of use for the same price I paid for them originally. Huge fan here!!

I've got one, I actually find it quite annoying, but I agree kids love them.

They are often on Facebook or eBay and flatpack really easily so you'll be able to get another very easily

And that would be a perfect rationale if she were 3. But she's 8!

Ia hev 2 tripp traps, both second hand to us. We also had a newborn to 9 month set and a baby set, which meant the baby could sit at kitchen table with us and found it very helpful in a small flat as nothing to store/fold between meals.

My children are 2.5 and nearly 4, but both quite small for thier age. The chairs just look like normal chairs once you remove the baby set, but there are about 6 settings for seat height and foot plate height, which mean my 2 year old was able to climb up and down themselves once the baby set was removed. They use the kitchen table for drawing, jigsaws, playdpugh as well as eating. The table gets used a lot because the children can access it safely and find it comfortable to sit at. It has saved us needing to have a toddler sized table and chairs as well in a small space.

Adults normally sit with thier feet on the ground, children normally have dangling legs on standard chairs and have difficulty getting up and down safely themselves. Tripp traps are really adjustable with about 6 settings for seat and foot plate. I'm quite short and can adjust it as a work from home chair in 2 mins with an Allen key. I know quite a few people using them as kids desk chairs in bedrooms now. It's so comfortable, as I can reach the floor. I might not buy another if your child can reach the floor for sitting down but if their legs are still dangling they might appreciate a second hand one which you can probably sell again when they are taller.

My 11 and 9 year olds are still in their Tripp Trapps.

You can usually pick them up on eBay.

There are lots of things that for children of any age ‘are not essential ’ as a child of the 1980s and having bought up children 20 years ago also on a very tight budget I am well aware of that. I’m simply looking for a chair that offers similar advantages to the chair she has at the moment. Whether you think this should even be an issue or we should enjoy those advantages is completely irrelevant to my original post. This isn’t the AIBU section in case you hadn’t noticed?

Ha yes our only issue is stubbing our toes on them 🤣

I've just given our two away to an expectant friend with a toddler. DD's are 13 and 11 and tall for their age. There are quite a lot on the local Facebook site, I didn't look at eBay.

For all the sceptics, the Tripp Trapp adjusts completely so that the seat becomes normal chair height over time. Just massively stable due to their design and reasonably quick to adjust for visiting small kids. Plus wipe clean. We regularly used them as adults though the lack of cushioning makes them uncomfortable for a leisurely dinner imo.

We also have a white plastic booster chair from Ikea which is great but the seat level will possibly be too high for an 8 year old and it's not adjustable. Would work for your 4 yr old giving you a bit of grace to move the 8yo to a normal chair in due course? They are great for outside eating in the garden too as obviously totally weather proof.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/urban-junior-chair-white-00165213/

Well it’s a good enough rationale for me, I’m not going to make my life more difficult on the basis of some judgey MN poster 🤷🏻‍♀️if I didn’t feel it would make our life easier then I wouldn’t be considering anything but switching to our other dining chairs and wouldn’t have bothered starting the thread. It’s not like I haven’t got experience of parenting children to adulthood completely without Tripp Trapp chairs either so I doubt your opinion is going to enlighten me otherwise 👵🏻 🥚

@Tianp Good point. I have no idea why I'm so invested in this. 😂

My kids love their Tripp trapps because of the footrest! So I'd suggest a normal dining chair but one with those horizontal reinforcing bars between the 4 legs, to act as a footrest, a bit like an adult would use on a bar stool. That would give the advantages whilst still being a normal chair.

At what age are you planning for your 8 year old to use a regular chair?

Tripptrapps hold their value! I bought a second hand one for 40€ and 5 years later I sold it again for 40€.
No reason why you shouldn’t buy a second hand one…

Theoretically they can be used until 18, but when my eldest turned 12 he began to find it less comfy. I love the design and the colours, it just looked lovely at our dinnertable.

The trip traps are great. Ignore the people who say its crazy for an 8 year old to use a high chair, it totally isn't. My oldest 11 soon only just stopped using it as he's now too 'cool' for it. Youngest almost 8 and still uses it. Definitely look for a second hand one and just sell it on in a couple of years.

Also yes to the newborn seat I only had it for my second but was great used it a lot. You can also buy this second hand and resell.

Thank you @AnnaBegins @DutchCowgirl and @NoKnit ☺️ the newborn seat definitely sounds worth buying, will keep looking out for a 2nd hand Tripp Trapp but at least a few other ideas to go with with now

There are plenty of knock off versions, though all the ones I looked at had a lower weight limit.

Might be better off looking at those for your 4 year old if you don't find a Trip Trap on marketplace.

Whenever she wants to or it stops being convenient, the fact they are designed to be used to adulthood if so wish is great. Never imagined we’d get so much use out of it when it was bought for us 😊 to be honest, although I was grateful for the generosity, I wasn’t that excited about it as I’d managed with all my other children without them. Now I think they’re great!!

Don’t forget to store the baby part of your Tripp trapp safely so you can add it back on when grandchildren arrive - that’s what we have done!

My tall 13 year old loves her Tripp Trapp! We had the newborn set when she was a baby and that was fab, really useful. Definitely try and get a second hand one and the newborn set.

They are indeed brilliant and the sneery posters don't know what they're talking about. My 8 year old still uses hers - it's set up so that the seat is about 10cm higher than our normal chairs, which is just right for her, and then the footrest enables her to sit comfortably without dangling legs.

It's way better than sitting with the table halfway up your chest or balancing on cushions with your legs dangling. She looks so awkward and uncomfortable sitting on adult chairs. Granted mine is a short 8 year old, but I don't see us putting it away any time soon.

I'd get another second hand one too! And save them for grandchildren, great point 👍

Yes we were so glad kept it as already have grandchildren 🥰 so brill when they come round as perfect highchair got one and perfect booster chair for the other one (and for babies/toddlers of friends too) luckily older grandchild will be ok in normal chair by the time baby needs a highchair. Never imagined we’d get so much value out of them and to think they scrub up to look like new so if we every did pass them on/sell them would hopefully still be in good condition

www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/junior-dining-chairs-45815/

We love ours 2&5 year olds will be in them as long as they like. Who wants to eat with dangling legs!

The Agam looks perfect, thank you! Just a compromise on the colour as would have to choose between the black and white and not that keen on either colour, but think we might go for this if don’t find 2nd hand Tripp Trapp (and just hope they bring out out one in natural wood colour before baby!)

The Ingolf comes in a wood colour OP, I ended up choosing it as the seat is solid pine wood whereas the Agam isn’t, it has solid beech legs but fibreboard seat and plywood back. (pics in thread here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5005845-junior-dining-chair-ikea-agam-or-ingolf )

Surely your 8 year old can just sit on a normal chair. They don't make high chairs for that age group.