Went to my first baby shower in many, many years. Will be a "great" Aunt in May. Always thought I was a pretty good one and am looking forward to being great. My four sisters and I have children ranging from 26 on down to 3. The most surprising and maybe weird gift of the shower was a peepeeteepee. It's a tongue twister and a strange little thing you put over his, you get the idea, while you are changing diapers! Who'd a thought somebody would pay money for that? We all decided that we could write a book about raising a baby! Parents are willing to spend their money on anything!

Kristin, I love love love your blogs! Please don't ever stop! I was holding my sides laughing at this one.

Kristin - Tell your sister that I have been coveting these Seven jeans for months: www.shopbop.com
My plan is to reward myself with this pair when I get back into pre-pregnancy shape. So, if buying them means I'm not chic then, well.... And yes, I am still going to purchase them despite their unfortunate name. P.S. I can already fit into my Joe's Jeans. That alone is worth the title of cool jeans.

I am cracking up over this entry too! I think the only thing I ever bought "safety" wise...was electrical outlet covers. Always had good intentions to do some of those other things, but turns out, both our kiddoes made it! We did have baby gates all over our house it seems up until last year! It felt like a new house when we took them all down! I have to admit, sadly, I do have a kid leash...but I can proudly say, it's still in the package :)
My Mom laughs at all the things we do these days and feels very fortunate to have 4 healthy grown girls...that slept on their tummies, ate jarred Gerber baby food and played on much dirtier floors, I'm sure! Wish I could be more like her!

You don't need 90% of the stuff at Buy Buy Baby or Babies 'R' Us. The only safety things I bought were outlet covers and those little disks you put behind stove knobs (and my daughter never went near the stove!). Never bought a toilet lock or even one of those side things for my daughter's bed - and she never fell into the toilet or out of her bed. Bottle warmer? We used a bowl in the sink to warm bottles - right out of the beer six-pack holder! Those wipes for the shopping carts? Never used 'em. No healthy person who washes his/her hands on a regular basis will catch any terrible disease from a shopping cart. This is why we have immune systems.

As for jeans: Mine don't fall into either category, as I refuse to spend more than $40 on a pair of denim pants; I don't care how cute they are. Basic dark stretch denim boot cuts suit me just fine!

My original post got lost - but I wanted to say that first of all any woman who fits into Seven Jeans after 3 kids deserves a round of applause.

Second, last week while I was in Babies R Us I almost passed out. And I don't even have children. Who lets their 2 year old alone in the bathroom to play in the toilet? Keep the bathroom door closed, make mommy a cocktail and be done with it.

Cheers!
http://superiorhabitat.wordpress.com

Joe's Jeans may be the "in" jeans but clicking on the the link to the web site was a bit of a shock! Interesting marketing strategy! And not a single photo of those cool jeans (at least not on the home page). I must be turning into an old fuddy duddy!

So so so much of this safety stuff is a waste of money! And it makes perfectly nice people into such freaks. The human race has survived for thousands of years without safety gear; I think our kids can handle the store floor germs and the mud puddle "germs", and bumping their head a few times. Mine have done just fine without outlet covers or cabinet latches and all the crazy things you see in the stores. You are NOT a bad parent if you don't use this stuff!!!

In regards to Anne's comments below: You are awesome!

I agree. No jeans over $40.00. (I guess Levi's are no longer in, but they are still my favorite.)

And all the safety items are just a waste. We use outlet covers and a few baby gates to keep toddler son out of kitchen when I am not in there. Really no need for most of the stuff they try to get you to buy.

oh, well. my kids play in the dirt, and my 3 year old son crawls on the floor. My clothes are hand-me-down and goodwill, as i have kids and am broke. we got toilet lock and outlet covers, but they've all since gone to the wayside. Think about parenting 20, 30, 50, 100 years ago. Nothing was padded, locked up, or rounded edged. Parents simply redirected kids or they learned the hard way. Not saying let your kids play with kitchen knives, but we do let them hang on to a thousand degree metal stick every july 4, so....

When rearing my child, i was blessed to have the wisdom of my dear grandmother, who had raised ten children nearly on her own (widowed).
Some of the best advice she gave me was to NOT placate the environment for my child. So when my toddler was walking and touching everything, he learned early on not to touch the shiny trinkets on my glass top table. He learned and even scolded adults, "No, No" when he witnessed someone plugging into an electrical outlet. When walking near the stove he would say, "Hot." People don't give children enough credit. I never purchased the safety latches for my cleaning supplies - my child was taught this was not an area for playing. In the "real world" there are no electrical outlet covers, or safety latches. Mothers, be courageous and actually teach your children right from wrong, at an early age. If not, what happens when you visit your in-laws or BFF who haven't purchased the safety gadgets?

My daughter (now 20) used to like to "knaw" on the shopping cart handle and so I did use a contraption for her to sit in so she wouldn't get as many germs. Baby gates were a must, outlet covers, and cabinet locks (she was nosey -- still is too!) when she was able to open the cabinet locks herself, I decided it was time to remove them.

I did forget to mention that I used the harness type of leash and she was very tiny so at 5 years old when we went to Disneyworld I used the leash. Parents with children asked me where they could buy one and people without children looked at me like I was horrible -- she was safe, I didn't have to panic looking for her and she had the freedom to move around; during the parades the leash was wonderful because she could move up to the front to see and I could still keep a hand on her. Think about it, how would you feel holding your arm up in the air all of the time holding onto your parents hand and never feeling "free", the leash gave her the freedom and kept her from getting a sore arm and saved me from worry.

I did forget to mention that I used the harness type of leash and she was very tiny so at 5 years old when we went to Disneyworld I used the leash. Parents with children asked me where they could buy one and people without children looked at me like I was horrible -- she was safe, I didn't have to panic looking for her and she had the freedom to move around; during the parades the leash was wonderful because she could move up to the front to see and I could still keep a hand on her. Think about it, how would you feel holding your arm up in the air all of the time holding onto your parents hand and never feeling "free", the leash gave her the freedom and kept her from getting a sore arm and saved me from worry.

This was hilarious! My husband and I were very overwhelmed when I was pregnant with our daughter (now 4 years). We decided to keep things simple...i.e. not messing with a Diaper Genie and not buying a wipes warmer (in my opinion is a ridiculous contraption). Our old house already had the cabinet locks which, as soon as my daughter could stand on her own, figured out how to open the cabinets anyway. And I agree about the peepeeteepee thing...how silly!

My Great grandmother used to say "You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die". My son at 2 has eaten at least twice that already and has not perished. : ) We also have the harness but it is attached to a little dog backpack that our son loves to wear. He also enjoys walking the doggie, which is basically dragging the dog by the leash part of the harness. We have some outlet covers, power strip covers and a few cabinet locks but basically our son has learned what not to touch by our telling him that.

Someone gave my daughter dissolvable tablets to place in the toilet to teach my grandson how to aim when peeing standing up.

The toilet cover lock and the power strip cover are two of the best things I've bought. My 2yo's two biggest fascinations are the toilet and cords. Now that he can open the bathroom door on his own, we always keep the toilet cover locked. Less for safety, really, and more for keeping his hands out of toilet water.

What I found most useful for my home are baby gates (for the staircases), flexible knob locks (for vanities and some kitchen cabinets), drawer locks (for kitchen drawers containing tools, knives and silverwear), outlet covers, french door lever locks (for closets containing cleaning products). And most of all, common sense, a keen eye and quick reflexes.

NOT NECESSARY (and bordering on ridiculous): fridge locks, toilet locks, oven locks and knob covers, leashes for kids, baby b'air, vcr cover, computer cover.

This blog is fantastic. However, the Joe's Jeans site is a little scary. I have one child and she has been walking for 9 months now and most of the safety contraptions that we were given or bought are still in the box. We have padding around the coffee table and on the fireplace, 2 baby gates in front of stairs, outlet covers and one power strip cover. Oh, and I have a padded thing on my closet door to keep fingers from getting pinched. It is only there because I am too lazy to take it down. It was not needed. I do have a lovely mom-made contraption that covers the shopping cart and restaurant high chair seats that was a gift from my mom that I do use quite often this is mainly becuase it makes a good place to place cheerios for my daughter to eat while I shop or eat myself. Plus she likes it and names the animals on the fabric while we shop and tells me the noises they make : )

Sooo much of this is excessive in my view. When do we go back to making our houses as safe as possible, but also to teaching our children boundries? I have a 7 year old and a 3 year old, so on the "not killing" them front, I'm a success so far. We have plug covers, a gate on our deck, and the door chimes enabled on our alarm system. Call me crazy, but I never just left my kids by themselves. I wasn't on them like white on rice all the time, but they were always in sight when they were too young to be on their own. I think so much of this gadgetry is to put us in a panic and then make the Safety companies cash.

I'm 35. My mom never had a grocery cart seat insert thingy. I played outside, I fell out of trees. My little sister ever stuck her finger in the electric socket. That was neat. Anyway, please, just use common sense. If you think you are going to let your toddler, well toddle, by themselves all day long, then go fort knox. If you plan to actually parent, put up the poisons where only the big people can reach them, teach them that the stove is a no no, we don't play in the toilet and then go with your gut.

Some of these things are just excessive, but from the standpoint of a friend whose grandson had a near drowning in a toilet, a toilet seat lock would have been very nice. Fortunately the mother, taking a shower, noticed he had over-tipped into the toilet, she called EMS and the child was revived. Sure, we all have to learn, but would you really want your child to "learn the hard way" if death could result? Moms and Dads can't be watching all the time. Follow the little tykes around all day if you want to, but if you also have chores to do, are distracted with another person or project, your attention will wander....and that's exactly when the child will wander--into trouble.
Having raised 5 healthy kids who learned lots of things "the hard way" I have only one question...whatever happened to Play Pens??

As my mother says "We did not have those items when you were a baby and you did not kill yourself, but back then parents watched their kids and did not multi task 24/7". Some items are great like outlet covers (I put them on the outlets when I paint so I do not accidentally paint the outlet) but toilet seat locks. Oh Please just shut the toilet lid and close the door.

My children were raised pretty much the same way my husband and I grew up, without seatbelts, let alone carseats. They rode standing next to me on a bench seat, and my right arm automatically flew across their chests whenever my foot approached the brake. We had never heard of a bicycle helmet and wouldn't have dreamed of making our kids wear one had they been available -- we would have been more afraid of heat stroke than of brain injuries. They even - get ready, this one is really scarey! - rode in the back of pickup trucks! They went barefoot, ate blackberries without washing them, drank from the same soft drink bottle and double-dipped. We are still trying to figure out how any of us survived. Of course, I realize that some of this stuff really was dangerous and I would not want to see my grandchildren doing them. Still, I have a hard time getting excited over germs picked up from crawling on the floor. (Never trust a person who has never eaten dirt.)