February 10, 2012
Any parent soon learns to perfect the Reverse Shoulder Dislocation Toy Grab. You know the one – junior drops favourite plaything A into the back seat footwell and begins howling for it as you’re hurtling along the M4. You reach backward with your left hand and begin fumbling around blindly for the offending item, eyes fixed wildly on the road ahead.
No more – the Content&Calm Traykit Traveller Collection has come to all of our rescues.It’s an all-in-one carry-on backpack and play-tray that attaches to the back of your driving seat or sits in your child’s lap. Voila! An extendable play surface with raised sides that reduces the opportunities for the old dropped toy trick. It’s great for trains and planes too because you can strap it firmly onto a tray table.
The TrayKit contains coloured pencils, stickers and a handy journal including travel games, a photo library and a fold-out world map. So, no jumping up every two minutes to get something new and entertaining from the overhead lockers. Matching Traveller Passport Holder and set of Luggage Tags will give your junior traveller that sense of grown-up ownership that will stop them wandering off and abandoning it on a seat in Departures. For more information, take a look at www.contentandcalm.com.
Horrible Histories has a hideous hold on my two. Scarlett, 8, and Fin, 5, can’t get enough of the BBC series that dwells on the blood, guts, and general nastiness of times gone by that we adults usually prefer to skate over.
If your kids are similarly fascinated by the down’n'dirty details of the everyday life of our distant ancestors, then a visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre at York might be the half-term trip they are hankering after.
It’s part of an archaeological site where a 1,000-year-old Viking settlement is still being excavated by the experts. The remains of the Norseman’s homes are unveiled, household objects explored and the sights, sounds – and even smells! – of day-to-day Dark Age living are recreated.
Nifty audio and video displays will get your kids up close and personal with all the blood and barbarity they could ever want as they investigate they investigate oodles of information from the 5-year long dig at Coppergate and piece together the jigsaw of where the Vikings came from, why they came here and how they lived and died.
Pre-book (recommended during busy school holidays) by calling 01904 615505 or booking online at https://www.jorvikbookings.com/index.php
Baby-Friendly Boltholes nearby:
Yew Tree Cottage, Westow, Yorkshire
http://www.babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk/luxury_stays__yew_tree_cottage__yew_tree_cottage-child-friendly-accommodation-38790.htm
Here’s a way to make sure that budding baby swimmers stay trendy and accident-free in one cute package. Award-winning Bambino Mio have a new range of funky swim nappy prints for 2012.
No need for bulky disposable nappies as the little person begins to discover the joys of paddling in the swimming pool or the sea.
Elasticated waist and leak proof leg cuffs stop the sort of nasty leaks that tend to make you and the baby unpopular poolside. An adjustable waist band ensures a flexible, secure and comfortable fit, a lightweight cotton lining is soft on the skin, and super-stretchy swim fabric will allow even the most active tot to splash about without problems.
Completely reuseable and available in brown stripe, pink stripe, orange stripe, blue shark and pink daisy, the Bambino Mio swim nappy is available from stores and online for a RRP of £8.75.
For more info, take a look at www.bambinomio.com
February 6, 2012
We all know that new parenthood turns a walk in the park with baby into a military-style operation requiring roughly the same amount of kit as a marine takes into battle. It’s a shock at first, but we all get used to it on our home ground.
I don’t know about you, but I like a trip away to bear absolutely no resemblance to that everyday life. I want to be able to spontaneously set off for a seafront stroll with junior without taking my own bodyweight in nappies, wet wipes and changing mats along for the ride.
Baby.Go by Koo-Di is the answer to that particular dilemma. It’s an all-in-one emergency baby changing kit that you can shove into your back pocket.
It contains a disposable nappy, three large wet wipes and an antiseptic hand wipe for mum or dad, all wrapped up in a disposable changing mat. Once you’ve handled the inevitable messy moment, everything wraps up in the mat and the original cover becomes a disposable bag.
Available in four sizes, for babies from 3-18 kgs, baby.go comes in packs of five. For more info, take a look at www.koo-di.co.uk
February 1, 2012
It’s one of those ‘Doh! Why didn’t I think of that!’ moments. A neat little invention that’s so simple you can’t believe you didn’t think of it yourself.
Remember when yours were tiny and they’d (finally, mercifully) fall asleep on a blanket? I’d tip-toe over and try to bundle them into my arms and off to bed – and of course I’d wake them up in the clumsy process.
So, why not invent a blanket with handles? Too late – David Solomons has beaten every other travel dad in the world to the punch.
He dreamt up the Bundl to help his wife lift and carry their baby daughter when birth complications made bending down a no-no, and his own dodgy back put him out of the frame too.
It fits into car seats, pushchairs, cots and cribs and is ideal for the supermarket trolley baby seats. No more having to lay a blanket down before you lay your baby down. Now you lay blanket and baby down at the same time.
The Bundl has already picked up a business innovations award from Barclays Bank. Really wish I’d thought of it first….
For more information, take a look at www.snugglebundl.co.uk/
Any parent soon learns to perfect the Reverse Shoulder Dislocation Toy Grab. You know the one – junior drops favourite plaything A into the back seat footwell and begins howling for it as you’re hurtling along the M4. You reach backward with your left hand and begin fumbling around blindly for the offending item, eyes fixed wildly on the road ahead.
