Over 500,000 children’s head injuries are recorded each year!

The Thudguard hat is a revolutionary product from United Kingdom; an infant safety hat designed to help absorb and reduce the impact of falls from a child’s own height and lessen the chance of head injury.

It is suitable for tumbling tots aged 7-18 months.
[Babys First Headgear]

Jen’s not a fan, she says they’re a little dorky, and while a fine and cute accessory for kids with certain medical needs, she thinks it’s a bit over the top for your average rough and tumble toddler. After all, Jen says, aren’t scrapes and bumps part of being a kid?

I contacted Charlotte from Baby’s First Headgear after Z smacked himself 3 times in 4 days. I even had him wear it to daycare to see what the other kids had to say. He was the centre of attention, and a bit of a curiosity to say the least.

Now you’ll notice the biggest smile and not a care in the world on our little man. He wasn’t the least bit self conscious being totally safe. I mean, we wear helmets when we ride our bikes, why not one when we’re learning to walk? It can be just as bonky on the head.

Jen’s still not convinced. Z hasn’t worn it since that day last week.

Hey at least it wasnt the baby stripper pole, the baby cage or any of these other baby products that should be illegal.

There are 2 keys for families buying a new home: proximity to schools and parks. Our new home is close to 3 schools and what I thought was 2 parks. Then I found another one. And another one. And another one.

We have the yellow park, the green park, the brown park and the list goes on and on and on.

Yesterday we took Zacharie to Prince’s Island Park in the heart of downtown Calgary and we had a wild day playing on the train, going down slides and climbing around. And when I say “we,” I mean all of us. Zacharie, me, Jen – we all had fun climbing and running all around. That’s the best part of playgrounds, the chance to get out and climb and run and race with the little one. You couldnt pay for this kind of cross training.

Prince’s Island’s playground has a great layout too, the benches for supervising are in the centre and the play area circles it. Parents can sit in the middle and see their kids playing right in front instead of trying to peek around apparatus to see their children.

Another day this past weekend we went to check out Telus World of Science – we never made it in. There are two big slides outside and Zacharie had enough of a blast that we just stayed outside. A family membership to Telus World of Science is $120, to play at a playground is free. Which do you think he has more fun at?

Need a getaway on a rainy day? Go to the airport.

In Vancouver, we’re lucky that YVR is such a bright, new, expansive airport.

The airport is simply Zacharie’s favourite place to play, and at just $2.50 for a weekend ride from North Vancouver to YVR on the Canada Line, we get to mix in a boat and train ride on the way to see the airplanes.

Zacharie’s favourite thing to do is look for what he calls “machine beep beep.” He will spend the entire visit running from terminal to terminal looking for these luggage trolleys and then following them like they’re the pied piper when he finally does discover them.

There’s also a bright new Observation Lounge in the domestic terminal which overlooks the tarmac. You can see the luggage being loaded on to planes and the little trucks scurrying around. Planes taxi and takeoff and the view to the western setting sun is spectacular.

You can even make it a family dinner night out. The airport has dozens of restaurants and a few food courts so the options are varied. The din of travelers hustling to their gates will drown out your screamer if they’re having a bad day and there’s enough for a busy child to stare at to keep them occupied.

The airport is, quite possibly, the perfect playground.

   

While the airport may be a unique playground, it certainly doesn’t qualify as bizarre. Check out this list of the 10 bizarre playgrounds from around the world.