The Call of the Baby Gear


I've already had my first major run-in with temptation since swearing off buying things I don't really really need.  Not surprisingly, it has come in the beguiling form of Baby Gear, the shopaholic's nightmare because the vast majority of it is definitely unnecessary but buying it can be so easily justified as good parenting.   Also, Baby Gear makes you think that if you just had this one toy or gadget, your child would be entertained for hours/would sleep for hours/would eat her vegetables/would poop where she's supposed to/would leave you alone for 5 minutes and you would be free to cook gourmet meals and do the Ab Sculptor Miracle Workout and read actual books and write a novel.  And maybe cure cancer.

There are a few products out there that do deliver (my personal favorite: Kiddopotamus swaddle blankets.  Swaddling for Dummies is what they should be called, as they have been successfully tested on me and Kevin), but they are few and far between.  I have wasted my money on more baby crap than I can remember, including: the miraculous baby toothbrush, which your child will voluntarily chew on, making her entire mouth sparkle within seconds; these little net-thingies you put food in so your child can suck on/chew on food without choking (Charlotte's advice is don't buy them unless your child loves the taste of mesh, which she--apparently--does not); more types of sippy cups than I can count, all promising a easy transition from the bottle and "no leaking no kidding" (except they are kidding); a vibrating teether that Charlotte believes is a torture device.   

Knowing what I know now, you would think I would never again fall prey to The Call of the Baby Gear.  Yet this week I nearly, that's NEARLY, bought a diaper bag.  Not just any diaper bag mind you, the perfect diaper bag with little compartments for everything and so space-efficient you could pack the crib in there practically.  At least this is the claim.  But I resisted and plan to remain content with the diaper bag I have, which is the free, vinyl Similac bag I got in the hospital.  Hey, it works. And it was FREE.  

But there is one thing I think I will buy and really do need.  I plan to buy a shade extender for her stroller because the idiots that make strollers make the shades only big enough to cover 25% of the child so that you have to keep moving the shade back and forth as the sun angle changes (seriously, if you are going to make a shade, is it really that much trouble to make it big enough to cover a real human child as opposed to a like a Cabbage Patch doll?).  So I think it might be worth it, but I'm going to investigate further before I leap.  Then the real test will come--Can I go into Babies R Us and buy just that one thing?  It is a feat never accomplished by a mortal parent.  

Comments

  1. I too was not to proud to use the free similac bag from the hospital...it served us well, and the urge to buy things goes down with the second child--or at least it has for me.

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  2. Ah yes, the Baby Gear. It was all so tempting. Even the 2nd time around w/Morgan, I was tempted because it was all "better" and let's not forget "new and improved!".

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