5 Cool New Baby Products for Dads
October 29, 2010, By Christopher Ford 0 comments
Last month, I spent a few days at the All Baby & Child Expo in Las Vegas. It's the show where manufacturers of every kind of product related to children, babies and parenting show their stuff. Basically its two massive convention halls filled with every crib, stroller, diaper bag and bottle you can imagine. But among all of the bunny-clad, pink ruffled junk there were a few things that any Dad would definitely think was pretty cool. Here are my top five:
Baby Rescue
Baby Rescue is a flame retardant bag for lowering children to safety in the event of a fire in a high-rise building. The tether on it is five stories long, so a child can be lowered either to the street or at least to a waiting emergency worker. The goal is to get the children away from the smoke and flames and give them a fighting chance. A grim prospect to be sure, but something all high-rise parents should consider.
Em's 4 Bubs
Em's 4 Bubs are essentially earmuffs for small children and infants. The were developed by some pretty cool Australian parents who realized that sometimes you want to bring your kids to places that might not be best for their hearing (air shows, NASCAR, outdoor concerts etc.). The infant version has a headband that distributes pressure evenly across the entire head while the older-kid version looks like more traditional soundproof earmuffs. Check them out at http://www.earmuffsforkids.com.au/.
Temporary Bath Conversion Kits from American Standard
For all the Home Depot dwelling Dads out there, this one is for you. For about $1,500 you will soon be able to buy a kit that converts your normal, standard bathtub into a veritable bathing workstation for your kids. The kit raises the tub up to 37" off of the floor allowing you to bathe your kids while standing up. They say it attaches to any normal 60" square tub and takes about 30 minutes to install. The versions they were showing at ABC aren't up on their website yet, but I expect they will soon.
The Piggy Back Rider
Every Dad has that moment when their kids are too old to want to ride in a stroller, but too young to carry around with you everywhere. Now instead of some big backpack carrier, there's the Piggy Back Rider. It's basically a lightweight harness that lets them stand on a small platform behind you. Instead of sitting your kid stands, and stands at a position with their head above yours. And the best part about it is thing only weighs 2.5 pounds total. There are lots of other features too, but check it out at www.thepiggybackrider.com.
The Free Rider
By now you've probably seen what are called "wheeled boards" or "buggy boards" behind strollers. Basically they attach to the back of a stroller and your older kids can stand while you push your youngest in the stroller. phil&teds (the company that just bought the Mountain Buggy stroller company) has now made a wheeled board that looks (and acts) like a scooter. It's one of those awesome things that makes you wonder why no one has thought of it yet. The Free Rider works on the back of the stroller, and then comes off when you want to let your older kid scoot by themselves.
