On Thursday April 21st I attended the Graco Press Event in London along with my fellow ambassadors and the new Fusio testers. It was wonderful to put faces to the names and eventually meet my virtual friends in person! It was an interesting and informative meeting that focused on the interaction of parents with their babies. Experts Emma Kenny and Suzanne Zeedyk gave entertaining and thought provoking presentations.
Psychologist Emma Kenny
Babies are born connected. They thrive when given the stimuli of attentive, loving parents who communicate with them from birth. Many years ago, all babies were proudly wheeled around in the high Silvercross prams facing their parent or Nanny. Over the years, efficiency and engineering took priority over the designs of products for the nursery industry, and pushchairs became the efficient, forward-facing, swivel wheeled creations we see today. But in striving for this design, we are neglecting the element of interaction between parent and child.
In the first three years of the baby's life, its brain grows at its most rapid rate. Interaction plays an enormous part in its growth and development. Babies are born connected to others. A newborn baby will instinctively try to mimic us and will respond to familiar stimuli from the womb. The baby can differentiate between voices and recognise music that was listened to in-utero. Babies respond to attention and this love and nurturing helps form neural pathways in the brain, helping the baby to make sense of its environment.
It is this interaction that is at the forefront of Graco's latest pushchair designs. The Fusio and the Symbio both have the rearward facing feature, allowing babies and toddlers to enjoy communicating with their parents when out and about. Mum and Dad can chat to, sing with and have eye contact with their precious little ones. This reduces baby's stress levels in the face of life's hectic environments and helps them feel safe and content. This aids their mental and emotional development and helps the neural pathways develop. It also releases Oxytocin into the bloodstream which is the "feel good" hormone which will help our babies feel happy! Giving our babies this start in life can help them become more confident as they grow up.
I am proud to be an ambassador for Graco, a company at the forefront of innovative designs which help secure the bond between parent and child during these all too important formative years. Giving children the best start in life, may give rise to the next generation being more secure, loving, empathic, happy and well rounded. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try and make the world a better place!!
As a Graco Ambassador I have been incredibly fortunate to have both the Symbio and the Fusio in my pushchair collection. I regularly use both of them and genuinely love them both. Here's an overview of both pushchairs.
Symbio
Positives:
Flip over handle to allow for interaction with baby at anytime. I loved this feature!
Really soft snuggly material for the seat and cosy toes.
Excellent hand operated braking system.
Smooth handling with pneumatic tyres, suspension and good size swivel wheels. The Symbio could handle different terrains with ease.
Good height for tall parents and lovely to push!
Really stylish design and has an attachable matching baby bag.
Considerations:
The storage basket is OK for everyday essentials but you can't fit bulging shopping bags underneath. Nor can you hang them from the handles, so you need a helper willing to carry your bags for you on a mammoth shopping spree!
The Symbio pushchair chassis folds down separately from the seat so although this is perfect for transporting it by car, you couldn't carry the folded down Symbio, the seat and your baby singlehandedly.
Fusio
Positives
The Fusio is a lightweight stroller with the benefits of a travel system and with the option of fitting the seat in either a forward or backward facing position.
Big storage basket and separate handles perfect for lightweight bags, which allows for maximum shopping!
Easy to manoeuvre indoors...perfect for shopping centres.
Really simple to use raincover...genius!
Folds down easily and can be carried one handed.
Excellent for public transport.
Considerations
The small wheels make it less adaptable for off roading. Bumping up kerbs is easy though, if you use your foot on the back to tip the Fusio up.
It is quite a narrow seat...so may not suit a chunkier toddler until they are 3 years old.
I use both pushchairs regularly. Both are well designed for functionality and style. The Fusio is great for shopping trips. It fits well in the car allowing extra space for shopping bags. It also has the capacity to carry quite a lot of shopping (but remember to take care not to tip the Fusio by overloading it!) It is easy to use and Freddy is comfy and snug. I took the Fusio to Central London for the Ideal Home Show and it was a real asset to have it on the trains and tubes and at the show itself.
The Symbio is a delight to push when out and about. I love to use it when I'm going for long walks, on the school run or on days out. It handles obstacles with ease and it feels safe and secure. It is a dream to handle and is ultra comfy for Freddy.
Graco really have scored top marks on both pushchairs. Freddy is equally happy in both and sleeps beautifully in either. I'm glad I don't have to choose between them...they are both brilliant and I consider myself incredibly lucky to be a two pushchair family!
As the Graco competition draws to a close, I set my 14 year old Ella a challenge. I asked her to write me a little jingle-esque song like the ones used in adverts, extolling the virtues of the award winning Symbio. Bless her for indulging her mother, but she came up with a fabulous little ditty worthy of a Saatchi and Saatchi TV ad campagin! Not only did she write the words and music, she also agreed to perform the aforementioned song on video with little brother Freddy as her backing dancer (whilst seated happily in his Symbio of course!!)
Without further ado, I give you my daughter Ella and her Graco Symbio song!
2011 is a mere 7 hours away. This means there is only 17 more days in the reviewing period for the Graco Symbio. Over the last few weeks, this pushchair has been like the 8th member of our family. It's gone everywhere we go, it's been the subject of photo shoots and videos and it's even joined in with family singsongs!!
The going got a bit tough with some of the reviews I had planned. The unprecedented snowy weather scuppered a few ideas. Then we all got struck down with the dreaded Christmas flu which hampered things somewhat. However, over all, I've given the role of Symbio Tester some serious effort, because that is how I take on new challenges! I am a bit full-on, buzzing with ideas and over excitedly throwing myself into the project in hand! It's been fun and I know I will look back on the photos and videos of Freddy in his pushchair with such fondness in a few years time, when he'll no longer need pushing around when out and about! I have documented a period of time in his life in a way I would not have done without the ideas generated from being a Symbio Tester. I've loved this "job"!
One of the things that my children always do at school this time of year is an acrostic poem. It's one of those poems where each line begins with the letters that make up a word, which is the subject of the poem. So, after hearing yet another Christmas one, I decided I'd give it a go for the the Symbio. This lovely pushchair has become a big part of our life...I take my reviewing very seriously! Trying and testing the pushchair, and seeing how it fits in with my family life! So here is my ode in acrostic form! I had some fun with it.
G is for glad I'm reviewing...so pleased.
R is for raincover that fits on with ease.
A is for Awards...a well deserved gold.
C is for cosy toes, so snuggly if cold.
O is for options, carrycot or carseat.
S is for safety, these brakes work a treat.
Y's for our youngsters who travel in style.
M's for manoeuvrable, mile after mile.
B is for bag that attaches with hooks.
I is for interaction...towards Mum baby looks.
O is for original and thoughtful design.
I've been fortunate enough to have been picked by Graco in their competition to win the chance to review their fabulous new award winning pushchair the Symbio! Over the next couple of months I'll be putting the Symbio through its paces with help from my one year old son, Freddy! We've got lots of ideas up our sleeves we'll be blogging, tweeting, videoing and Facebooking about our adventures!
I hope everyone will get behind us and share in our fun and games as we see how the Symbio copes with life Inside the Wendy House!!!
