Saturday, September 19, 2009

Things my kids lived without.

A few days ago, I went to the second baby shower in two weeks at my church. I certainly hope it's not in the water, because my baby days are long gone and I'm just fine with that. But I was struck today by the gadgets and doo-dads that seem to be a necessary part of parenting in the twenty-first century. Somehow, my kids survived without them.

1. A sleep positioner. More like a soft, foam, oversized taco holder. You know the things that you stand the taco shells up in to keep them from falling over? That's exactly what this looks like, only apparently you stick the baby in it to keep him/her on his/her side or back while sleeping.

2. A pacifier pod. This is a little pouch that looks like a cell phone case. It velcros onto the outside strap of the diaper bag, so you never have to go digging through the diaper bag looking for the pacifier. I personally think we're turning mothers into weenies nowadays. I believe searching through sticky, juice-soaked, stale animal cracker crumbs for a lint-covered pacifier that you suck the fuzz off of before you stick it in the kid's mouth builds character. And also helps the child's immune system.

3. A matching bear-adorned bathrobe, slippers, and hooded bath towel set. I am 48 years old and I've never had slippers that matched my organic cotton bathrobe or little bear ears on my bath towel.

4. A pregnancy belly cast kit. (This was not a gift today. I just happened to see it on the Web site I was looking at for gift ideas.) This is just what it sounds like—a kit to make a 3-D cast of the mom-to-be's belly. Here's what the Web site says: enables an expecting mom to create a lasting memory of her pregnancy in minutes that will be treasured for a lifetime and large fold-out color sheet with hundreds of decorating ideas. For real? Every woman I've ever known couldn't wait to get her old shape back. And do they mean decorating the belly cast or decorating the house with the belly cast? Either way, I can't imagine. And what if you had a lot of kids? Does Michelle Duggar have 18 (and counting) of these things? Do you display them like in an art gallery?

No wonder the cost of having children keeps going up. They have more "essentials."

Be thankful ~

Karen

1 comment:

Deb said...

I just got a visual of the Duggar's living room with 18 belly casts hanging on the walls. Nice!