Celebrities Designing Baby Products: Practical or Vanity Projects?
Would you let your baby wear a onesie with Kate Moss' quote, "Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels"? Photo from The Huffington Post.
But considering the recent news stories focusing on celebrity baby products, are some of these practical items or more like pint-sized vanity projects of the stars?
Although not directly a designer behind the line, Kate Moss has found her 2009 quote – “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” – on onesies for babies – and children and adults. Is such a quote even appropriate for a teen to wear, let alone an infant?
Only in the works at the moment, a line of baby clothing by Snoop Dogg and David Beckham may hit stores – or at least the internet – at some point. While this pairing seems odd for any type of fashion endeavor, let alone for baby clothing, Snoop Dogg and Beckham met on reality show Father Hood and seemed to hit it off. Nevertheless, what kinds of baby clothing do you see these celebrities creating, and would you let your young child wear it?
More practical and less of a novelty line is Saved by the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen’s PetitNest line of nursery décor. Also a new parent, Thiessen claims she started this line of nursery décor after finding few baby products met her tastes. Collaborating with Lonni Paul, a finalist of show Design Star, Thiessen put together a line of baby furniture, bedding, and wall art when she wasn’t working on show White Collar.
Out of these three celebrities, whose line would you consider using? Or, because of the association with a celebrity, are these baby product brands just novelties for fans with children?
Are Your Baby Can Read Advertisements False, Deceptive?
You have likely seen the commercials for Your Baby Can Read, perhaps during the day or late at night in a series of infomercials. If you’re one of the few parents that has not caught a glimpse of these ubiquitous advertisements, watch below:
Recently, however, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Your Baby Can Read, claiming the educational toy’s advertisements are false and deceptive.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, last decade, crusaded against Baby Einstein, another line of educational baby toys claiming to boost a child’s vocabulary. Parents who purchased Baby Einstein were refunded, after multiple studies disproved the educational toys line’s claims. In fact, as we discussed before, children who used Baby Einstein had smaller vocabularies than those who learned words solely from interacting with parents.
Beyond calling Your Baby Can Read’s advertising tactics “deceptive,” the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood states the educational toys are harmful, as they require a young child to sit in front of a computer or television screen. Although Your Baby Can Read incorporates some interaction, it takes a similar approach as Baby Einstein does.
Your Baby Can Read, obviously, has a counterargument. They state one million parents have bought their products and are satisfied.
But, at the same time, just as much if not more parents purchased Baby Einstein and studies proving the ineffectiveness of this toy line resulted in refunds.
In terms of using educational toys for babies and toddlers, which work better? Is it possible to teach a child under two years of age to read? Or, as many toys designed for children at this age are geared toward motor skills, should parents be more concerned with other stages of development?
What Happens If My Baby Products Are Recalled?
Filed under: Baby Gear, Baby Safety, Baby Sleeping, Baby Toys, Parenting
Drop side crib
In the event of the recall you should find out if the manufacturer will be sending out safety kits to correct the hazard. If not, a newer baby product needs to be purchased.
Always think about recalls beforehand and send in a registration card for the baby product. You never know when it will come in handy.
A product recall, on the other hand, is often a last resort, one taken as the result of multiple injuries or deaths. Like we saw with drop side cribs, many brands were recalled over the past decade for entrapment, suffocation, or strangulation-related deaths. Enough brand recalls over time resulted in the government banning the product from stores, daycares, and any location needing cribs.
Before you hear about a product recall, check the baby toys and furniture yourself. U.S. News & World Report gives the following suggestions for parents:
• Toys should not be able to fit in a child’s mouth.
• Always look for broken parts on the toy and around you home.
• Keep toys designed for older children out of reach.
• Avoid motorized toys, cords and strings, and balloons.
• Find out if the toys are safety tested.
• Always throw away the packaging.
Take a similar approach with baby furniture. Look for suffocation hazards inside a crib, such as stuffed animals or bumpers. Check the durability of hardware. If any item in the nursery has a cord, keep it as far away from the crib as possible.
Nursery Trends: Less Pink and Blue, More Personality
When you were a baby, your parents likely painted your nursery a pale pink or blue and based the rest of the space on that monochromatic color scheme. Parents in 2011, however, find this look trite, dull, too gendered, and not long-lasting. A trend piece in the Dayton Daily News discusses the latest trends in creating a nursery. More specifically, parents are keeping it neutral, hoping to get the space to last up through middle school:
More and more, they’re opting for rooms with a style that can grow with the child and that doesn’t clash with the aesthetic in the rest of the house.
We have mentioned many of these points already, mostly out of practicality. As we saw last week, babies are expensive, and the longer furniture lasts, the less you pay in the long term. Convertible baby furniture is in for this reason. A convertible crib, for instance, is designed to last through the toddler years and maybe even through nursery school.
Tied into this is the materials used for baby furniture. While your crib might have been white, parents are now opting for wood for its versatility within a space. Additionally, the toy boxes and plastic storage containers scream “child’s room” too much. For the long-term, shelves for toys and other items go in the baby’s room and are designed to last through childhood.
Practicality is only one factor changing nurseries, however. Parents are going for neutrality in colors and décor for the space to last for a second baby or to become a bedroom for an elementary school-age child. As a result, the trend piece explains, blue may be coupled with chocolate brown, and bright pink with green. Similarly, murals are too much of a hassle. To keep the walls usable, parents are now going with geometric shapes or scrubbable wallpaper.
Do some of these new trends seem odd? Or, do you think it’s about time a nursery transformed from a pastel haven into another room of the house?