More Products to Waste Your Money On
Oh, yes. It’s that time again. Time to take a peek at some of the bizarre kid-related products and services out there that are looking to take your hard-earned parental money.
iPhone Cry Translator Application
According to the company’s web site, “The Cry Translator is an easy to use iPhone app that quickly identifies the five distinct cries made by infants: hungry, sleepy, annoyed, stressed or bored. These five cries are universal to all babies regardless of culture or language.”
It’s basically the Dunstan Baby Language system for your iPhone. We already talked about this on Rational Moms. Not much (if any) science, all marketing. Save your $9.99.
Sugar Daddy Ken Doll
Mattel is producing a new Palm Beach Barbie line for 2010, and one of the dolls is a head-scratcher. It will be called “Sugar’s Daddy Ken“:
Dressed in an ornately-patterned, bright green jacket, pink polo shirt and white pants, the doll is part of toy giant Mattel’s new Palm Beach doll line, which is geared for adult Barbie collectors and supposed to exemplify classic Palm Beach fashion.
Ken has a dog named Sugar, so Mattel claims that is where the name comes from. Based on the design and marketing, many are already changing the name to “Sugar Daddy Ken.” It will sell for $69.99. Seriously, Mattel?
Baby Name Translating Service
Would you pay $1,678 to have your child’s name translated into all languages? Yeah, me neither. A London translating company, Today Translations, will let you know if your baby’s name offends in any language. I, for one, would save the money and risk the embarrassment.
George Said,
November 19, 2009 @ 12:13 am
Dear Rational Mom
You are mistaken. First, the Cry translator is not associated with Dunstan Baby Language at all, and whilst it makes similar claims in terms of recognising cries, it works in very different ways.
The Cry translator iPhone App is based on general crying intensity and does not offer the specific identifiers provided by the Dunstan Baby Language. We focus on the Pre-Cry sounds or ‘babble’ which precede the siren or hysterical cry, which is infinitely variable and which the Cry Translator, and all prior academic studies have tried (and failed) to solve. DBL is consistent and universal because these are in effect sounds produced by the ‘body’ ie based on universal infant reflexes. The 5 universal sounds all newborns produce are have been found to specifically relate to the 5basic needs of the infant.
Your skepticism about Dunstan baby language is not very rational at all, however. There are thousands of blogs and reviews online, with many good ones at Amazon, especially (not to mention the countless letters we get). Clearly, you have not done your research.
After 3 only years, and with over 500,000 parents worldwide benefiting from the profound connection that communicating with your newborn provides, the Dunstan Baby Language is moving into the mainstream with the support of nurses, doulas, midwives and a growing number of hospitals and doctors. Not a single scientific paper or report has been presented anywhere in the world to dispute the validity of the baby language.
Whilst no system of infant care is perfect, there are a great many imperfections in the thinking on which the Cry Translator application is founded. As CEO of Dunstan Baby Language, my reason for writing is the hope that many ‘rational’ people will not confuse it with the proven Dunstan System.
Cogito Said,
November 19, 2009 @ 6:56 am
That baby cry thing is ridiculous, especially in light of the new research showing babies cry differently as a reflection of the mother’s language.
But the thing that really grabs me is the Barbie and Ken picture. Never mind the bizarre mashup of the idea of a sugar daddy with what is clearly a gay Ken doll. Those Barbies are dreadful. It’s not enough for Barbie to present an unachievable standard of beauty – now she has a totally bitchy facial expression as well!
Cogito Said,
November 19, 2009 @ 9:36 am
Yikes.
Don’t you see Jodi, people on the internet think this works, therefore the claim is irrefutable!
Also, as we know, there is no individual variation among ‘bodies.’ Very scientific.
You could spend money on this woo (endorsed by nurses and midwives! Just like reiki, therapeutic touch, homeopathy, and applied kinesiology), or you could, you know, just mother your children and learn how they react as individual human beings.
Julie Said,
November 21, 2009 @ 10:38 am
I kind of want to get the Iphone translater and yell obscene things into it to see what it will say about my cries.
But it’s not worth ten bucks to me, when money is so tight.
Lexi Said,
November 21, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
You think $10 for a worthless cry translator app is bad? How about $100 for this thing? http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/newborn-infant/bea5/