There is a saying: Necessity is the Mother of Invention. No where is this more evident than the One Step Ahead catalog. It is a catalog of children’s products, many of which are boasted to be parent-invented. I stumbled upon this photo.
It is a nasal aspirator designed to remove gunk from your child’s nose by having the parent suck it through a long tube. The description promises it is “impossible to draw goop up the tube.” Nevertheless.
It got me thinking about all the crazy inventions moms and dads (and siblings) have stumbled upon over the years based on sheer necessity. Another of my favorite magazines, Real Simple, has a section called New Uses For Old Things. For example, they recommend using lifesavers candy to hold a candle in place without putting holes in your cake or an empty tissue box to gather those annoying grocery store plastic bags. I thought it would be fun to merge these ideas and take a poll about your own crazy inventions or New Uses For Old Things.
It didn’t take long for me to come up with some examples of my own.
My sister and I recently took a road trip to Michigan with our combined 5 kids crammed into the back of my Honda Pilot (my husband still adamantly refuses to join the millions of soccer moms toting their toddlers around in a mini-van). It was next to impossible to reach the 2 kids in the third row and I started to panic as I envisioned the passenger seat person attempting cirque de soleil-style maneuvers to meet their requests (more snacks, a juice box, switch the DVD, etc). So as I was perusing the dollar section at Target….it came to me. I bought a caddy and a key clip which I fastened to a bungee cord that spanned the distance from the passenger seat coat hanger to the one in the third row and bottaboom bottabing…..our own personal snack distributing zip line!
Not all of my inventions or New Uses For Old Things are as patent-worthy as this one but in no order, here they are:
Not all of my inventions or New Uses For Old Things are as patent-worthy as this one but in no order, here they are:
Cereal box as dividing wall at kitchen table for 2 arguing toddlers.
Ceiling fan as mobile for fussy newborn when you just don’t have the time (or energy) for another game of goochy-goochy-goo!
Your finger as a makeshift toothbrush for your child when you are running late and have the toothpaste but can’t find that missing toothbrush (a piece of gum works well if you can’t find either).
Cup and spoon as bath toys when you are on vacation.
Car heating vent on full blast for drying wet clothes when unable to go home to change.
Car heating vent on full blast for drying wet clothes when unable to go home to change.
Cell phone backlight as makeshift flashlight to negotiate your way safely to bed or help re-navigate little ones back to their own beds when you don’t want to turn on the light.
Pillows on the floor next to bed as safe landing spot when transitioning child to “Big Boy/Girl Bed”
Articles of clothing held in place by a rolled up window as a poor man’s sunshade when the beating sun threatens to wake a sleeping child on a long car trip.
Jump rope as lasso for long-range carseat rocking (courtesy of my 4 year old).
Kitchen tongs as retriever of matchbox car that sank to the bottom of a toilet full of….. (recommend throwing away immediately afterwards)!
So, here’s the poll question: What have you invented, been meaning to invent in your “spare” time, or what New Use For an Old Thing have you come up with??? Comment to this blog and you will be entered to win this super fun bracelet that I spotted at a boutique in Naperville. It is a stretchy beaded bracelet with a funky broach pinned on (pretty nifty invention, huh???!)
P.S. I have 1 spot left in the next Prenatal Pilates session which will take place on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9:00 PM starting August 10th and ending Sept 21st (skipping Aug 31st). If you or someone you know may be interested check out my website for more details. (http://www.pilatesbycarrie.com/)
P.P.S. My next Postnatal session will tentatively be held on Saturday mornings from 9:00-10:30 AM starting Aug 20th and ending Oct 1st (skipping Sept 3rd).
Hilarious post!!!! LOVED all your inventions. Patti told me about the zipline snack sender. Too funny! My "invention" is that after a load of laundry, I'll sometimes use the Bounce dryer sheets as a dust rag to "quickly" wipe off the dust bunnies on my bedroom furniture and then throw away.
ReplyDeleteMy invention would be one that I think any parent of a picky eater would appreciate. I would like a pill or better yet a chewable pill that tasktes like candy (like the Flinstones Vitamins) that would be a meal replacement for kids. When you are on the go or just when you are fed up trying to get your toddler to eat you simply give them a candy pill that is equal to one serving of meat and two servings of fruits and vegetables. Now that I think of it, let's just go ahead and invent that for adults as well. Eating is such a formality...
ReplyDeleteI would love to invent a toy organizer machine. It would be similiar to a cash machine where you dump all your coins in and it counts them up and dispenses your cash. You would dump a bin of toys into the machine and it would automatically organize them all for you: all the matchbox cars would be perfectly placed into one bin, all the correct puzzle pieces AND the correlating puzzle would be matched together, all the legos would be put in one box.... An absolute dream come true. What would I do with all my free time?
ReplyDeleteBesides inventing the remote control used in the movie "Click" where I can pause, fastforward and rewind real time, I would like to invent some sort of wireless power source in lieu of batteries. We have wireless phones and internet, so why not have a similar wireless enabling device affixed to toys that runs up your electric bill from a newly designed ComEd energy router. I'd pay double the cost of batteries for this technology to avoid changing them ever again. How many times have you smashed your fingers or even broken the battery cover on a toy trying to change the batteries? How many times have you had to deal with a meltdown because of toys / mobiles / swings operating at 10% capacity? How many times have you heard your kids' toys make noise at midnight, scaring the crap out of you thinking that there was an intruder in the house, all because the batteries were low? If ComEd, Duracell and Babies R Us dont want to step up to the plate, then an unlimited energized battery comprised of the element Unobtanium from the planet Pandora is my next option. Let's get it done.
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