Shit breaks. Usually just after the warranty expires. That’s life. And it blows. But I recently had a customer service experience that gave me reason to believe that some companies DO care about their image and relationship with customers and I think that that company - Phil & Ted’s U.S. importer, Regal+Lager USA, deserves a shout out.
We have a Phil & Ted’s Sport Buggy stroller…which we love and which we honestly beat on almost daily (we took it out in our neighborhood yesterday along unshoveled sidewalks…while Bugaboo owners watched longingly from their homes noses pressed up against the glass like sad puppies). While well built, in the year plus that we’ve had it, a few minor things have worn. Two pegs that keep the thing closed when folded cracked…but it was a missing end cap that covers the front wheel joint that prompted me to call the store we purchased it at about buying a replacement.
Here in the east, over the past couple of days, Ma Nature reminded us just what New England Winters can be like. And while most of us strained against her ball-busting furry clearing our driveways, hopefully, we all took a second to appreciate the beauty of Winter and perhaps make a snowman or go sledding with our kids. As I gleefully pulled mine around the neighborhood on a sled, I was transported back to my childhood and the days spent outdoors until numbness set in.
Most often, that numbness was the result of my brother and my efforts to build snow forts… Forts were cool but what we always wanted to build was an igloo. Igloos were stuff of suburban legend. Everyone knew someone who supposedly had made one but no one had the know how to figure it out. Too bad we (or my dad) didn’t have access to a dude like Norbert E. Yankielun who goes by the name Doctor Why and his expertise (and his web site)…because he can tell you, step by step, how to pull off a real-deal igloo. Check it out in this article on BostonGlobe.com today.
I think it goes without saying though that your kids should be supervised if they try this… a roof cave-in could really ruin a great day in Winter Wonderland!
Let’s admit it…one of the best parts about having kids is the ability to legitimately revisit (or is it revive?) your childhood. There’s no stronger bridge between our workaday, adult lives and the childhood our kids are having than toys. And even though for most of us, the old axiom of the only difference between men and boys is the size and cost of their toys holds true, no toy brings out the kid in us more than toy vehicles.
Not only do toys like Matchbox, Brio and Lego vehicles conjure up fond memories of our childhood but they provide an almost guaranteed connection with our kids, both boys and girls. Toy vehicles are a slam dunk when it comes to playtime.
There are a lot of toy cars and trucks out there most fall pretty neatly into one of two camps – build ’em yourself or don’t build ’em at all. The ones you build tend not to function that well as vehicles and the ones that come preassembled don’t provide the “make it your own” opportunities of the ones kids build. That space between Lego creations and Matchbox is now filled by Automoblox which are perhaps the coolest looking toy cars we at Noodad.com have ever seen. They’re an instant classic and if you don’t covet these cars by the end of this article, have your pulse checked!
Prior to the arrival of junior, my wife and I typically opened a bottle of wine a week and partook as long as the wine stood up. But as soon as my wife got pregnant, she chose to go completely on the wagon. Post birth, my wife remained on said wagon as she breastfed…leaving me the sole imbiber in the house.
This presented me with a dilemma…skip the vino or open a bottle and toss the second half as it turned before my one-glass-a-night tendencies polished it off. For the most part, to the chagrin of the owner of my local wine shop and my HDL level, I stopped drinking wine. But then I had a revelation - I got some box.
What I’m talking about is box wine. It’s not what you think…not the Franzia Chablis for $6.99 you remember the girls in high-school drinking…but good wine…the kind you would want to drink with a nice meal. Really. So check your prejudices and fear of being regarded as a social neanderthal and read on.
$5 doesn’t get you much these days but for less than a Lincoln, you can make a low-tech but totally engaging toy for your mini-me. This design is guaranteed# to become a favorite plaything for kids 12-18 months or so.
Here’s what you need:
Go get yourself a can of Quaker Oats…the old-school stuff in the cardboard can with the smiling Quaker dude ($2.99). Pick up a roll of silver contact paper ($1.99) at party store like iParty or an art supply store. And next time you’re at the doctor or pediatrician’s office waiting forever for the doc to show up, pocket a handful of the big wooden tongue depressors*. Or better yet, get your wife to do it! Of course, we at noodad.com don’t condone stealing but we’re ok if someone else does it for us!
Kids love computers…and understandably so…they love them for the same reasons you do - they’re shiny, makes funny noises, have lots of blinking lights and let them do all kinds of cool things. If the computer hasn’t become central to your kids’ lives yet, it will soon.
And therein lies a dilemma for you:
You know that computers and kids can be a great combination. They can help make learning fun, encourage self-expression, facilitate problem solving and over a lifetime help overcome barriers to entry into the global workforce. You also know that any delicate (and often temperamental) technology and kids can be a recipe for disaster or at least an expensive service call to Geek Squad.
Computers - especially laptops - were not designed with kids in mind. You don’t want sticky hands all over your nice glossy 15.4 screen and unless you own a Panasonic Toughbook, you’re pretty sure it won’t fare well in an “unplanned drop test.”
So what to do? You either designate an older machine as theirs, hope for the best and patch it back together after an “incident” or nervously hover over yours like a news chopper over a high-speed chase - where it goes you go. Bummer that nobody makes a “kidputer.”
You read that right…in Russia, families that have more than one child are eligible to receive cash vouchers of $10,000 and subsidies for education and home improvements. Seems the Ruskies are battling population decline as a result of lower birth rates since the USSR collapsed back in '91, low life expectancies, and immigration.
The program, around since 2005, seems to be working…there was a 46% increase in births that year over 2004.
As further evidence of just how committed to incentivizing conception the Russians are, they have a contest in Ulyanovsk (a town about 500 miles east of Moscow) that challenges couples to conceive and give birth on June 12th which is Russia's National Day. Babies born on National Day earn their parents cash, cars, appliances and other prizes.
Wait - there's more! The leaders of Ulyanovsk created a holiday (Sept. 12) for couples to take time off from work to have sex…ok, to conceive…but quite a concept regardless!
You can read more about this here. You can petition your representatives in Washington for similar treatment by finding them here.
Part of an ongoing series aimed at helping Noodads discern fact from fiction when it comes to the promises and claims made by various baby products…
How cold is your freakin’ house? Maybe if you live in an igloo, this is a useful product because who wouldn’t be concerned about a wet wipe freezing to their kid’s ass?
Ok, open mockery aside, this seems to be one of the product ploys that new parents most often fall for.
In theory, a warm wipe seems like it would be much better received at 2 am but in all reality, if your infant is screaming during a diaper change, it’s not because the wipe is cold but rather because a) he’s getting his diaper changed, b) you likely have his feet held together in one hand up in the air, c) you’re wiping his ass and d) he’s a baby.
That issue addressed and with a dose of reality injected, wipes warmers have some serious practical flaws…space, waste and sanitation being chief among them.
Kicks. Caps. T-shirts. Watches. We’re not that complex. I’m generalizing here but I feel pretty confident in saying that for those of us who care (read: obsess), these are the aspects of our wardrobe that we passionately care most about.
You know how hard you work to find that T-shirt or cap that you believe that no one else you’ll encounter in your daily life will have? You do it because you value individuality. You also have style. Should your kid have it any differently? You dress him or her…so it’s on you to be sure they represent.
That’s why we’re a big fan of RileyRoos baby shoes from a little company in Maryland of the same name. RileyRoos are proof that shoes that stay on babies feet do not need to look like miniature surgical slippers. They’re the anti-Robeez…and thank god for that!
I’ve been told I’m the luckiest guy alive. I’ve been told I’ve experienced the greatest moment ever. And neither of these platitudes have anything to do with the birth of my son, meeting a celebrity or finding a $100 bill on the street.
A couple of weekends ago, as Mrs. ReviewDad and I were running errands with ReviewDad Jr. asleep in the backseat, trunk full of über-sized loot from Costco, she said coolly and without looking at me (as if reflecting on an idea long considered) “should we get a Wii?”Take a moment to read that line again and let it sink in. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Yes. Those are the precise words that came out of my wife’s mouth. I shit you not.
Shit breaks. Usually just after the warranty expires. That’s life. And it blows. But I recently had a customer service experience that gave me reason to believe that some companies DO care about their image and relationship with customers and I think that that company - Phil & Ted’s U.S. importer, Regal+Lager USA, deserves a shout out.
the USSR collapsed back in '91, low life expectancies, and immigration.
How cold is your freakin’ house? Maybe if you live in an igloo, this is a useful product because who wouldn’t be concerned about a wet wipe freezing to their kid’s ass?
I’ve been told I’m the luckiest guy alive. I’ve been told I’ve experienced the greatest moment ever. And neither of these platitudes have anything to do with the birth of my son, meeting a celebrity or finding a $100 bill on the street.
