Munchkin veering off the beaten path
As I swept the floor for the 80th time this week and gazed at the toy sets yet to be reassembled,I fantasized about gadgets parents would likely sell their soul--or maybe their firstborn--to have. I'm not talking light-weight stick vacuums or micro-fiber cleaning clothes, I'm referring to gadgets so cool that they don't even exist. Yet.
1) Toy Vacuum & Sorter Even though the kids are learning to put their toys away, I often find myself using a broom to fish out toys that have rolled under the couch and picking up toys that Munchkin has earnestly scattered around the house. I also spend a ridiculous amount of time sorting through toys to group them properly. Wouldn't it be better to have a vacuum that picks up all the toys, sucks them into a toy box and then automatically sorts them? The shapes would be put into the shape sorter, the plastic vegetables would join their brethren plastic fruit and the cars and trains would once again blissfully reside in the garage and train station respectively.
2) Spilled-milk Purifier My kids may not be geniuses but they are brilliant at throwing sippy cups at precisely the right angle to get them to split open and pour their contents onto the table, chair, and floor. Even though you're not supposed to cry because of spilled milk (it's such a pain to clean up!), I would get less teary eyed if there was a gadget that could suck up the milk and purify it so it was suitable for drinking again. It'd probably be easier to get a cup that doesn't spill but no such luck yet.
3) Stain Remover I know that the detergent industry has created more varieties of soap and bleach than you can shake a stain removal stick at, but I'd like someone else to use them instead of me. Since my little one is still in diapers and adept at removing every bib known to man, woman and toddler, I spend a lot of time rinsing out outfits, spraying stain remover and hanging them in my bathtub until I can throw them in the washer down the hall. I'd rather have a robot do all the stain removing and--why not?--do the laundry as well. Ideally, the robo-laundroid would even know which delicate clothes to hang dry, but that may be asking too much. Instead I'll settle for one that folds the stain-free clothes and matches socks.
4) Swing Pusher We all love taking our kids to the park and gazing fondly at them as they run around (read: get tired enough to take a nap) and pretend to be pirates, but when it comes to swing time, things get a little boring. I'd like to find a gadget that keeps the kid swinging while I take a nap. Just a little one, I promise. If the gadget applies pressure similar to a parent's hand and keeps saying, "Yay!" every 30 seconds, the kids won't even notice!
5) Toddler-Walker Since I daydream of the day I won't need to own a stroller, I encourage Munchkin to walk home often. Unfortunately, she's not familiar with the idea of walking in a straight line and prefers to wander towards the street or towards dirt, neither of which is ideal if I'm trying to avoid more stain-removing. If someone could design a gadget that projects boring scenery on either side of Munchkin, it'd be great for her to skip the dirt and stick with the sidewalk for once.
1) Toy Vacuum & Sorter Even though the kids are learning to put their toys away, I often find myself using a broom to fish out toys that have rolled under the couch and picking up toys that Munchkin has earnestly scattered around the house. I also spend a ridiculous amount of time sorting through toys to group them properly. Wouldn't it be better to have a vacuum that picks up all the toys, sucks them into a toy box and then automatically sorts them? The shapes would be put into the shape sorter, the plastic vegetables would join their brethren plastic fruit and the cars and trains would once again blissfully reside in the garage and train station respectively.
2) Spilled-milk Purifier My kids may not be geniuses but they are brilliant at throwing sippy cups at precisely the right angle to get them to split open and pour their contents onto the table, chair, and floor. Even though you're not supposed to cry because of spilled milk (it's such a pain to clean up!), I would get less teary eyed if there was a gadget that could suck up the milk and purify it so it was suitable for drinking again. It'd probably be easier to get a cup that doesn't spill but no such luck yet.
3) Stain Remover I know that the detergent industry has created more varieties of soap and bleach than you can shake a stain removal stick at, but I'd like someone else to use them instead of me. Since my little one is still in diapers and adept at removing every bib known to man, woman and toddler, I spend a lot of time rinsing out outfits, spraying stain remover and hanging them in my bathtub until I can throw them in the washer down the hall. I'd rather have a robot do all the stain removing and--why not?--do the laundry as well. Ideally, the robo-laundroid would even know which delicate clothes to hang dry, but that may be asking too much. Instead I'll settle for one that folds the stain-free clothes and matches socks.
4) Swing Pusher We all love taking our kids to the park and gazing fondly at them as they run around (read: get tired enough to take a nap) and pretend to be pirates, but when it comes to swing time, things get a little boring. I'd like to find a gadget that keeps the kid swinging while I take a nap. Just a little one, I promise. If the gadget applies pressure similar to a parent's hand and keeps saying, "Yay!" every 30 seconds, the kids won't even notice!
5) Toddler-Walker Since I daydream of the day I won't need to own a stroller, I encourage Munchkin to walk home often. Unfortunately, she's not familiar with the idea of walking in a straight line and prefers to wander towards the street or towards dirt, neither of which is ideal if I'm trying to avoid more stain-removing. If someone could design a gadget that projects boring scenery on either side of Munchkin, it'd be great for her to skip the dirt and stick with the sidewalk for once.
RSS Feed
