For children, even the best desk chair is no substitute for movement, no matter how ergonomic it is. Sitting for a long time is unhealthy, but you can’t always spare your child from time at a desk. However, you can influence how he or she sits. The right desk chair for your child should have good ergonomics and have height adjustment to easily adapt to children’s growth spurts. Moreover, when buying a chair, you should pay attention to its materials, because there are some hazards to consider — especially for small children. Here we have collected a few tips to remember when chair shopping.

 

When it comes to children, safety must be written with a capital S. The German consumer report magazine Öko-Test believes this too, and for this year’s October issue they tested 10 desk chairs for children and teens. Of the 10 chairs tested, only two received the top grade. One of the two is moll Maximo.

Moll Maximo Chair

 

Three of the chairs tested didn’t even make the cut, receiving an overall rating of “unacceptable”. In addition to handling and ergonomic properties, the chairs’ materials were also inspected and subjected to practical testing. Naturally, a child’s chair must also be safe from tipping over — a good chair for kids should be built to wobble a little with no major catastrophe. So Öko-Test performed a tipping test.

 

Tip 1: When buying a chair, make sure it is safe from tipping over. You can check this by looking at the chair from above. If the castors are clearly visible, the star base is big enough and the chair will stand securely.

To score well in the Safety category, the chairs also had to be tested for pinching hazards for fingers and feet. Can fingers get caught when adjusting the seat height, and is the chair easy to adjust? When shopping, simply have your child test that. A desk chair for a child’s room also needs to be durable, because things can get crazy there when kids are playing and roughhousing. This aspect must be considered in developing kid-friendly furniture. “The lowest possible risk of injury is always top of mind when we develop furniture for children,” says Martin Moll, moll’s CEO. That is why moll’s height-adjustable swivel chairs — including the test winner moll Maximo 15 (grey/red) — are designed to prevent fingers from catching during operation.

 

Tip 2: Make sure there is no severe pinching hazard for hands and feet.

Based on the test results, Öko-Test’s October 2015 issue gives advice on buying quality products. Physiologist Dr. Dieter Breithecker, head of Germany’s federal society for posture and movement, says it’s no surprise that the cheaper chairs flunked the tests. Dr. Beithecker himself has worked for decades as an evaluator. According to his experience, it is very expensive to produce (child) safe products that are also ergonomic. It costs money for a chair to meet those requirements.

 

Tip 3: Keep your eye on ergonomics.

To allow healthy sitting, a chair has to be ergonomic. With swivel chairs, it is important that the backrest be height adjustable and the seat be height and depth adjustable. This is the only way for the chair to adjust to the user’s body size and proportions. When it comes to height adjustability, you should also make sure the height adjustment range is variable enough that your child can also sit in the chair as a teen, as is the case with the moll Maximo 15 (grey/red).

 

The bottom line: Buy quality and you buy for life.

Now the question is whether it’s worth it to invest in a premium chair when there are cheap alternatives. When it comes to quality, health and safety, there is no question about it. The tests showed that the cheap products don’t meet the requirements in any of these three categories. And when you pick a high-quality product, you opt for both safety and long-term durability.