Review: A Very Big Bean Bag (Updated 12/18/12)

UPDATE 12/18/12: Not long after writing this review, my son decided to feel sick and throw up a little   on his bean bag. I saw it happen so I rushed into action by grabbing a wet cloth and wiping his poor little face off. I then grabbed another wet cloth and scrubbed the small area of vomitus on the bean bag. I managed to get it all off, so there was only a wet spot.

We figured we'd have to take the fuzzy cover off and wash it. But with a good scrubbing there is no sign that my son blew chunks. No smell. No little chunks of barf clumped around the fuzz. This means the bean bag cleans easily, and you don't have to take the damned thing apart to wash the cover.

Since it's my worldly duty to keep you informed about the latest and greatest in toys, I've written another review. This time the toy is a large bean bag. It's a very simple toy that's easy to overlook at your fancy toy stores. Best of all: No batteries required!

We bought this bean bag at Pier 1 Imports for $99. That's probably a little steep for a bag filled with beans. But can you put a price on your child's happiness? Hopefully the higher price will translate into lasting much longer. If we have to buy another bean bag in a month, I'll be very mad.

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Usually the first part of my review is about assembling the product. Bean bags don't require assembly, so I'm skipping this part. I suppose you might buy one that you have to manually fill with beans. That doesn't apply here.

Durability

I'm not sure how to rate the durability of a bean bag. But this one seems like it's not going to explode the next time my son jumps on it. I'm not sure what kind of filling is inside of it. The fuzzy outer wrapping appears to be okay. There is a zipper, which I'm assuming means that you can refill the bag if it A) your child eats all the beans, or B) the beans get crushed down enough it starts to look like a rug.

Playing Fun

My son loves it! We new we had a winner when we had to drag it out of the store with him on it. He likes to jump on it from the ottoman. This might sound dangerous, however, the bean bag is large enough for him to land safely. He has only hurt himself once, and it was just a minor bump on the ottoman.

Soft, fuzzy goodness!

Aside from jumping, he also likes to lay and roll around on it. And it's light enough that he can drag it around the living room, saving us a lot of time and effort.

Yes, I'd totally recommend this if you have a toddler. Just make sure you have plenty of room around it so if your little one takes a tumble, he/she will fall on the ground and not your medieval sword collection.

Like I said, you can buy these things cheaper than at Pier 1, I just can't attest to the quality or play fun of other ones.

Bounce House Injuries On The Rise

If there's one thing my son loves, it's jumping on the bed. If there's one thing he loves more, it's jumping  in those bounce house things.

But a recent USA Today article caught my attention. Those bounce houses are causing more and more injuries. I'm not all that surprised. After all, anytime you have a bunch of really young kids bouncing in a confined area on a cushion of air, accidents are bound to happen.

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In part, the article says:

The moonwalks, slides and bounce houses are popular entertainment at young children's birthday parties and carnivals, but the toll they are taking on the young is "epidemic," says lead author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

 In 2010 alone, 30 children a day were treated for these injuries in hospital emergency rooms, the report says. The number of injuries increased to 11,311 in 2010 from 702 in 1995. Falls were the most common cause, followed by stunts and collisions. Smaller kids are a greater risk.

I take my son to Little Monkey Bizness, and they have a large, multi-level bounce house with slides and everything. The biggest threat to my son, in my opinion, is the older kids who don't pay attention to what they're doing. But to be fair, little kids don't pay much attention either.

The fun is real, so are the broken bones!

I'm not one to read an article like this and then not let my DS ever go in a bounce house again. I think it's worth noting and all parents should be a little extra vigilant. 

Heck, if we banned all the toys and fun things kids have these days, they wouldn't have any toys or fun things. Getting a little roughed up builds character and is part of being a kid. Damnit, I used to drink water from a dirty hose and jump off the roof of my house, and I turned out fine (though some would beg to differ).

Photo Credit: JollyJump Creative Commons

Review: Melissa & Doug Train Table

With the holidays right around the corner I decided I need to do the world a service by reviewing some more toys. After all, the measure of a good parent is proportional to the number of toys their kid/s have under the Christmas tree. Right? So I'm going to help you navigate those rough waters known as toy shopping.

Probably the most common toy I see toddlers have is trains. Whether it's a simple wooden set or a full-blown electric train set that makes all the other neighbor kids jealous, they seem to be popular with kids. Heck, even I love trains.

Hours of wooden track fun!

We got my DS a Melissa & Doug train set for his birthday. We set it up down in our newly finished basement, mostly because the upstairs living room is already overrun with toys.

Assembly

Compared to a lot of other toys, assembly of this train set takes some time and patience. I put it together with my dad (who is pretty good at this stuff) and it took us around an hour. As I recall, the parts are well labeled and the instructions are pretty straight forward.




But if you're like me and can barely change batteries without screwing something up, you might want to get help.

Honestly though, it's not too bad.

Durability

It's very durable. I can't imagine how a toddler would break it unless they took an ax to the damn thing. And if you kid is chopping at a toy with an ax, you have bigger problems.

The chair I threw at the table after my train derailed.

If you assemble the table correctly, there's no reason for it to break. The trains and tracks that come with it are wooden, so they're probably not going to break anytime soon.

Playing Fun

I'll confess: I enjoy playing with it more than my son does. And I'll qualify that by saying he might still be a little too young to understand and appreciate trains.

With all the track pieces you can create different track patterns to run your wooden trains on. It's great! Instructions are included on some basic track set-ups, but I burned those directions because their track set-ups sucked.

Used snack cup and sippy cup not included.

When my DS wakes up from his nap we head to the basement to play. I usually sit at the train playing while he does something else.

Yes, I'd recommend this train to any parent. If your kids don't like it, then it's just more playing time for you.

My Son is Hooked On The iPad

My son, who recently turned 2, has discovered the wonders of the iPad. My wife has downloaded a dozen or so children's games for him, and they can keep him occupied for long periods of time.

Further, he knows how to use the iPad. He knows how to turn it on and off. He can swipe between pages. Adjust volume (which he always has on full blast). He knows his favorite games, and how to use YouTube.

Before you berate me for letting my son become addicted to mindless iPad games, I should add that we do try to limit his time on the device. I make sure we go outside to play and that he plays with his other toys. And we still go to Gymboree and all the other activities we have him signed up for.

My trick is to hide the iPad from him when I don't want him playing with it. Out of sight, out of mind. That way, he won't try to reach for it and get all fussy when he can't have it.

His mastery of the iPad makes me happy. It shows he's growing, getting smarter and is a little less useless. Sometimes I forget that he won't be a baby/young toddler forever. Right now it's a big celebration every time he says a new word (his newest words is "fold," which he says when I have laundry to fold). But a time will come when he won't shut up. Every parent with older kids tells me that.

Luckily for me, he has shown little interest in the TV. I keep it on during the day, mostly for background noise, and he ignores it. When he starts watching for more than a few minutes at a time I'll have to come up with a different strategy.

It's all about balance. I need to make sure he spends a lot of time playing and running around, time playing with his toys and time on the iPad/watching TV. I'm guessing as he gets older, balancing his life will become more difficult.

Sometimes The Simple Toys Are The Best

We have a lot of toys for my little DS. Actually, I should say, we have A LOT of toys. Sometimes we feel like our house is being overrun with toys (which it probably is).

I've noticed something with toddler toys: It's always the toys that are most simple that my son seems to take pleasure in the most. A lot of our toys have all kinds of cool lights, buttons, things that spin, things that make very annoying sounds (all of them) and take batteries (all of them).

Yes, he has fun with those toys too. But they break. The batteries die. We have to hide them because they are too annoying. But he still plays with those simple toys we bought when he was younger and less toddler-ish.

For example, the toy below:

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I can't remember when we bought it, but he still plays with it. We also have a wooden train set that he plays with.

The cool part is that these toys are very durable. He throws them around like rag dolls and they never break.

Most importantly though, they are very inexpensive. Without all the bells and whistles (and batteries) that a lot of toys come with nowadays, the price on the basic ones can be great.

My point is to not feel bad about getting these classic wooden toys. Kids love them (at least, my son does) and they'll last longer than most newer toys. And you can easily pass it down.