The previous entry got me thinking about the simple stand-bys like Cheerios. I also got to thinking about the marketing geniuses behind the millions of products being sold in baby superstores such as Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby (the name says it all, doesn't it?). The marketing blitz is working and millions of parents are buying in. Below are some musings on what I consider helpful, wasteful and frivolous but fun during the first year.
Items in the category of wonderful things baby:
1. Right Start toothbrush - at $7 a pop a bit pricey, but Ella loves to brush her
teeth.
2. Swaddlers for those first few months
3. Cloth diapers - can't have too many
4. Kimono style shirts
Items in the over-rated (or "come on") category:
1. Shopping cart covers
2. Helmets to prevent injury for the recently mobile baby. Thudguard.com, "learning to walk in a world of hard sufaces".
3. Wipe warmers
4. Any type of unsightly diaper "champ" or "genie"...diapers smell regardless of
the receptacle. We use coal in our trash bin to absorb orders.
5. Auto mirror - I'm already much too distracted behind the wheel.
6. Changing Table - A piece of furniture dedicated to changing diapers? Yuck!
7. Diaper Bag - Just get a cute tote. No need to advertise that you are lugging
around poopy catchers.
Items in the totally frivolous but wonderful nonetheless category:
1. Baby leg warmers
2. Yo Baby Yogurt
3. 25 Hair Bows for a baby that prefers her hair messy. BTW, I always wondered how
my old classmates at U of I got those dreadlocks. They must have smeared banana
and avocado in it and let it dry. Ella is a hippy chick in the making.
4. Pacifier with "bling" - kid you not, Ella had one full of rhinestones. When you
are sleep deprived and your body is leaking foreign fluids, you need a few
laughs to keep you afloat.
I recently read "Parenting, Inc" by social critic, Pamela Paul. Interesting read about the marketing hype and baby boom of the millennium. In my eyes, a must read for new parents.
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