“We need to get a travel swing for when we go to someone’s house, we might need it,” said my wife as I was glancing at the $70 price tag. I am not a miser when it comes to my daughter by any means, but as a consumer we have to throw in the towel on all the things we “need.” Seventy-five percent of the items in baby stores didn’t exist when we were babies, and we clearly didn’t need them.
From play yards to playmates to bouncy chairs to a million things you can connect to a stroller, new parents are bombarded with items, and it really does get confusing. The worst is when some hack with a laptop and a blog states their daughter spoke after a month because she had a special white noise machine that cost $300.
Thanks to one night time sleeper blog stating the “need” of a wipes warmer, there’s a $40 dollar warmer in the nursery. By the way, we’re on vacation, and she has been sleeping 8+ hours a night with the warmer at home. That will be a return to the store once my car pulls into our driveway.
Baby Jesus didn’t even have a bassinet or crib. He slept in a manger and turned out quite fine. In fact, I hear a rumor that His parents opted not to buy the white noise machine with projector, and all was well.
With all cynicism aside there are things that aren’t needed but are a huge convenience and a majority more which should be banned from shopping carts. The trick is discovering the winners from the losers.
My rule of thumb is looking at what my wife or I complain about the most. For instance, we would run into the room every time my daughter made a peep, and 99% of them were nothing. So, we found it best for our sanity to buy a video monitor. She was a crazy sleeper and would wiggle out of the swaddled blankets, so we found ones with Velcro.
Embrace new innovation, but don’t think you need each one.
Yes thats right we didnt need them at that time, but now its different, they come in different shapes, size and colors making them like the most visible and attractive items in a store. There is another mistake parents do make when going for shopping, carrying along their children to the toys section. If you had not planned to spend any money on toys, you would end up buying lots of toys or a very expensive toy unwillingly because that son or daughter will do anything (that can cause embarrassment) in order to get that toy he/she wants.
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