Little hockey jerseys. Little polo shirts. Little dishes and utensils.

Then you have the stuff that would be popular with the Jersey Shore / Teen Mom crowd.

Little Affliction shirts. Little Escalades. Little baby liquor bottles.

Italian designer Anna Utopia Giordano has created the reimagining of liquor bottles as formula friendly substitutes in a series called PopBottles.

The mockups of Grey Goose as Hello Kitty, Beefeater Gin as Nintendo, Jack Daniels as Fisher Price, and Absolut Vodka as Barbie are displayed alongside the slogan “Parents, please, feed your kids responsibly.”

The bottles are clever and, as with all great art, are a brilliant inspiration for discussion on a number of topics:

How many brands are my kids exposed to and how young?
What kind of food am I feeding my family?
How young are my kids experimenting with alcohol?

I bet there’s one more question a few are asking: “Where can I get them?” You can’t. It’s just an art piece.

The devices come built in with stock charts, email, and a camera, but that doesn’t cut it on Christmas Day

Here’s a list of 55 apps to get on your kids’ iDevice before they unwrap the excitement.

Tickle Tap Apps has over a dozen apps that they bundle into collections [$3.99 each] of fun games that are perfect for toddlers.  They’re interactive and make silly sounds.  They help them count, explore, sort and laugh.

The Monster At The End Of This Book [$3.99] and the sequel Another Monster At The End Of This Book [99c] are must installs if you have children under 5.  My two boys play them over and over and over again.  The classic book starring Grover (and the sequel with Elmo joining) is beautifully re-imagined as an interactive story.  You still “turn” pages, but the way interaction has been woven into the game is hours of giggling fun for the kids.

Another incredible book app is The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore. [$4.99]  It’s a book that reads like a Pixar movie and each page has another interactive element for the kids to take part or a puzzle to solve.  This one has been “read” dozens of times by my boys.

Wood Puzzle Maze HD is a great old school toy given the iPad app [$1.99] experience.  Your child can practice problem solving with over a dozen different mazes that have them dragging puzzle pieces on a board as if it was a slot wood puzzle.  My boys took to this app immediately doing them over and over and over again.

Balloonimals brings the fun of our favorite family restaurant to our own kitchen table for $1.99 (or a free trial app).  All you have to do is choose a balloon, blow on the microphone and shake and twist the device to make your own Balloonimal.  You can touch them to perform tricks and of course pop them to start fresh again.

Buld A Train is a fun way to play witih an old school train set anywhere. Your kids choose the engines and cars they want on their train and then can swipe through a variety of track environments from mountains to islands to towns and cities.  They control the speed and the horn as the train travels in loops. They can even flick the switches to change the path of the train to pick up and deliver cargo.  Recent updates to this app make it worth the $1.99. 

For more, check out the 36 apps I use the most on my devices.

This article was originally published at The Future Shop’s Tech Blog.

They are the necessities of life for a young boy. And don’t get me on the gender bias thing, I’m NOT into big machines and the like, but from the moment we flipped the pages on our first Bright Baby books, both my sons were grabbed by things that make noise.

So imagine our delight when halfway through a 7 hour drive home from our long weekend getaway we saw a sign that said “Biggest Truck In The World 2km.” I told my wife, I don’t care if it’s a tourist trap, I’m stopping. The boys needed to run and this would bring a smile to their face big enough to get us through the next 3 hours.

The biggest truck in the world is a Titan 33-19 and is the pride of Sparwood, BC.

The Titan was used in the 70s at the Kaiser Steel coal mine in Sparwood where it was used to haul 350 tons of rubble away from the coal seams in a single load.

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE BIGGEST TRUCK IN THE WORLD

Height: 6.88m
Length: 20.09m
Width: 7.57m
Top Speed: 48 km/h
Payload: 350 tons
Weight: 260 tons
Gross Power: 3300 HP
Fuel Tank: 3632 litres

None of those numbers mean anything to me other than to say, the truck was big. Super Big. HUGE. And we made it the rest of the way home without any stops. Mission accomplished!

Why is it that parents think they need to bring their toddlers in strollers to crowded public events?

And it’s not just those one child models but many are pushing the SUV models for two or three.

Case in point, the Kitsilano Farmers Market, which opened for the season today. I arrived just after it opened but already, a sea of strollers blocking access to the vendors and being aggressively pushed through the crowds.

What do the toddlers get out of this?

Another group thought it was ok to stand in the middle of the main aisle and have a yak-fest.

It simply pisses off the people who come to patronize the farmers trying to sell their products.

Apart from the fact that Mike is a grumpy old man whose attitude on this board is nothing short of belligerent and confrontational on the sunniest of days, I have to agree with the theme of what he’s saying. Countless times we’ve hit events where kids of walking age are being shuffled around in strollers. Sure, you paid $900 for it, but by the time they’re 18 months, they should be fine walking.

There is an exception to the rule, however. Our youngest, is just 17 months and for much of this spring I’ve felt guilty having him wrangled in a stroller. But when it’s one parent on two kids, they can easily divide and conquer. If you need a stroller in case they get tired, grab a tiny one that won’t get in the way – they’re $10. Or use your shoulders, that’s what dads were made for.

Later in the thread Adam Buckley, another grumplestiltskin, weighed in.

It’s because parents with babies and young children believe they’re entitled to do everything other people are allowed to do. It’s the same with taking their little pain-in-the-asses to the movies so they can cry and ruin it for the rest of the families, or taking them to restaurants so they can do that really loud “shriek” thing that children do (my children will be told once, that if they do that again ,their voice boxes will be removed and not replaced until they’re 20) and ruin other people’s nights out. Dual parent households need to just have one stay home while the other shops, and also realize their social life is over until the kid is either at an age that they can look after themselves, or until they can afford a babysitter. I’m not sure why people believe that their children should equally burden everyone else as much as themselves, but I don’t believe in the whole “it takes a village” nonsense… you were stupid enough to have them, you raise em yourself and in a manner that isn’t going to affect my day.

Once again, great theme, tastelessy written.

We are the ME generation – and it’s time to let go. Things change when you have kids. You can’t bring your toddler to Fast Five (heard a story about it) and you can’t bring your kids to many of your favourite restaurants. Truth is, for a few years one of you gets to have fun while the other stays home, or get a sitter.

Yes, it’s different than what you’re used to. Yes, it sucks. Guess what? It’s your new normal.

Just because we’re breeders doesn’t mean we have to make our choice inconvenient for the rest of society.

It’s like the drunk camping guy. He’s picked so many fights and that booze is banned from many Provincial Parks in Alberta on long weekends. Many of us know how to have a couple beers and keep quiet.

Same goes for parents – many of us realize the boundaries and respect them – it’s the alpha parent that’s ruining the reputation for the rest of us.

Yes, there’s no apple sauce stains on the shirt, but there’s mushy peas, soggy crackers and pieces of pasta all stuck in the corners of their chair. Even if you have a bib with a pocket (we love the Kushies ones) it’s still only going to catch part of what slips off the spoon.

I’ve come up with a solution and I don’t think the product exists. If I ever had 10 minutes to sit in front of the Dragons on CBC‘s Dragon’s Den, this is what I’d pitch: The Baby Bib Spray Skirt.

Kayakers can do multiple dips and rolls without getting their hulls filled with water or soaking themselves because of the spray skirts they wear that forms a tight spill proof seal between their chest and their boat. The skirt wraps around the lip of their pod and seals them in tight.

My wife and I have had discussions about how exactly The Baby Bib Spray Skirt would work, considering the many designs and dimensions of high chairs on the market. While we haven’t quite figured out how it would work, we maintain the idea is a brilliant way stop the spread of bits and pieces from finding their way into the nooks and crannies of the high chair seat.

That’s our million dollar idea, but we don’t know what the next step should be. Do you know if this product exists? How can I sell it to someone to make my millions? What great invention idea are you sitting on?

My grandmother kept all our old photos in meticulous scrapbooks.  All organized by date and trip, annotated with park admission ticket stubs and stories of our adventures.  She had no backup for those scrapbooks.  The scrapbooks were the only copy of the memories, stored safely in her basement closet.  

Had anything bad happened to her home, the history of all her grandchildren would instantly disappear.  

A local newspaper shared the story of a family who lost their son and had a hard drive full of photos and videos before he passed.  The drive failed and they were going about trying to salvage the data when the drive was in the trunk of a car that was stolen.  Any hope of getting the final memories of their sons life were instantly evaporated.

They had no backup before the drive failed, they certainly had no backup before the drive was stolen.  It’s a sad story, but one that’s entirely avoidable.  For my grandmother to have employed the backup we can do today with a simple click, she would have had to make three copies of each book, keep one with her, one with us and one with the library – just in case.

Backing up our modern media is easy, in most cases it’s free and if you’re not doing it now, you’re in danger of losing everything, in a second.

Here are 6 of the methods I use to back up my media:

Carbonite –  $54.95/yr – I have carbonite installed on my Macbook.  It works in the background, constantly updating my hard drive whenever I’m connected to the internet.  It’s unlimited cloud based storage, so even if my laptop is stolen, or the drives fail, the data is with a third party and recoverable.

FlickrPro – $24.95/yr – Each time I dump photos from my cameras, I pick my favourites and post them to Flickr.  Usually they’re public to share with family and friends who subscribe to my stream, but you can also privatize your Flickr account if you just want to use it as a private backup for your images.

YouTube – Same as with Flickr, except YouTube is totally free.  If you love to make little movies of your kids rolling over, skipping stones or eating spaghetti, you should be dumping them all to YouTube (or Vimeo, or Viddler or any other video sharing site).  As with Flickr, you can keep things private you don’t want in the public domain, but it’s an easy (and free) off site backup of your memories.

Facebook – Dumping your photos is another great way to back them up.  Now that Facebook has a “download my stuff” button, getting the images off the site is much easier.  The only issue is with privacy.  The menu tree with Facebook can be complicated, so make sure you’re aware of what you’re putting online and who can see it.

Time Machine / External drives – Time Machine is built in to OSX, so if you have a mac, you have no excuse not to back up.  It’s as simple as plugging in an external drive and hitting the backup icon.  There are automated backup programs built in to Windows as well. The thing to remember is to keep the external drives away from the computer.  If your house is broken into and they take the laptop, chances are they grab the external drive if it’s right next to it.  Try to keep them in different locations.

Printing – my grandmother’s way of archiving photos is still one of the best ways to do it.  Print your favourite pics off and hang them on your wall, put them in scrapbooks and send them to relatives.  

Some people I follow online have a rule of three when it comes to backing things up.  They don’t count a file as “existing” until it exists in three different places.  That means cloud storage, external storage and local storage.

How are you backing up your memories of your kids?

Read the rest at Man Of The House

Here at DadCAMP, we love mothers. (Not exactly in that SNL way)

If you’re a mother lover, here’s a chance to show the special mom in your life how much you appreciate her. In celebration of our 100th post at DadCAMP and Mother’s Day, we have a Flip Ultra HD to giveaway.

The Flip UltraHD camcorder combines Flip Video’s signature shoot-and-share simplicity with the power of vivid, vibrant HD video. With 2 hours of record time, you’ll never miss another minute again. And because of UltraHD’s pocket-sized portability, you’ll truly be able to capture HD video anytime, anywhere.

I love my Flip Mino HD. It’s handy to tuck into a pocket and it’s what I use to shoot most of my videos. Having a dedicated film camera that’s portable let’s me keep the camera settings on shots while the Flip is on standby for video.

Winning is easy.

Simply post a comment below telling me about a mother you love and why she should have the super easy to use Flip Ultra HD to make movies about the ones she loves.

OR you can tweet up this contest with the hashtag #dadcampflip

OR write an open letter to a mom you love on your own blog and link back to this giveaway.

Simple!

You need to have your entry online before May 8, one winner will be selected at random.

Photo by Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Have you ever wanted to explore your city? Go to new places? Have fun with your kids? Geocaching is for for you.

What is geocaching??

According to geocaching.com the definition of geocaching is…

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment

I just started caching a couple months ago, and my family loves it. What person doesn’t like hunting for treasure? My children eat it up, they love to find the cache and then argue over what they are going to trade for.

To get started with geocaching all you need is a GPS (preferably a handheld model) and a membership to geocaching.com. (It is free to join but can upgrade to a $30/year membership which has some “advanced” features that you might be interested in if/when you get addicted.) If you have a GPS enabled phone, like the iPhone, there are “apps for that.” We used a great geocaching app that can be downloaded here.

After you sign up for your account I would suggest entering your address in the “search for geocaches” section of the homepage. You would be amazed to see how many caches are within walking distance from your home.

Click on a few and read the description.

There is a difficulty and terrain levels that are something to consider, especially when caching with kids. I have never done anything harder than a difficulty 2 and a terrain 2 when caching with small children. Also take a look at the cache size which can sometimes increase the difficulty. There is sometimes a hint which can be very helpful. Reading through the recent logs section can sometimes help you along.

Ok so you have located a cache and you want to go find it. Now what do you do?

You can enter the coordinates in your GPS and off you go. With the geocaching iPhone app you can also “find nearby geocaches” or “search by GC code” which is also very handy. Once you get to the coordinates of the cache you usually have to search around. (Remember GPS can be out a few meters.) Search up, down and especially under. My kids especially like this part and I truly think they are better at it then I am. They have better “caching sense” than I do.

Don’t be disappointed if you don’t find the cache right away. Reread the description, read the hint, and read the recent logs. All of these will help you look in the right direction.

Ok I found the cache, now what???

The cache will usually be some type of plastic container of varying size and will contain at minimum a log book. First things first, sign the log book. And then, this is the fun part, you can trade for whats in the cache with something of equal or greater value.

My kids love to trade stuff. We have a cache box that we bring along that has little toys and such that we scrounged from the house. Somehow there is a lot of McDonalds toys in that box

Now all the trading is done and the log book is signed, you need to put the cache back in the same spot for the next geocacher to find.

Remember to watch out for “muggles” while caching.

These are non-geocachers who may not understand why you are looking under stumps and such. The last thing anyone wants is for a cache to be stolen or destroyed by a muggle. So be secretive, the kids also like this. Our family was once searching for a cache in a playground, there happened to be another family playing there. My children weren’t so secretive as our oldest decided to scream across the playground “Did you find the cache yet?”. Kids will be kids.

When you get home you can log your find on geocaching.com if you haven’t done so already on your GPS enabled phone.

Some things to help you along.

The forums on geocaching.com are awesome and there are many fellow cachers just waiting to help.

Also if you arrive at a cache site and there is someone else staring at a GPS, say HI, we are mostly friendly. I have met lots of awesome people while caching.

I have had many unique experiences while caching. As a father it is always a quick way to get the kids out of the house and away from the TV. When ever we see or receive a small toy the children always say “hey we can put that in the cache box” . It is great to see them excited about something that everyone in the family enjoys. We once ran into a fellow caching couple and they said one of my favorite quotes “if we weren’t caching we would just be sitting in front of the TV”.

Caching also brings families together that have similar interests. Once when caching with another family we found a very interesting cache. It was a empty 3ft. long artillery shell that was wrapped in tree bark and then was leaning against a tree. It was just a couple feet from the trail but you would have never noticed it unless you were looking for it. There are many caches in the city hidden in obvious places like under bus stops in a small magnetic micro container. No bigger then your thumbnail.

No matter how young or old you are, geocaching is a awesome way to explore your city or others. On our first caching experience I discovered a huge duck pond at a park I had been to a thousand times. Remember you never know what is in you own backyard. As a parent I find that when geocaching there are many opportunities to teach my children. Whether it is about local plants or wildlife or how to deal with personal interactions with people we see on our day.

Have fun caching. See you on the trail.

Sean is a busy dad to two girls aged 7 and 6 and a very active 2 ½ year old boy. Sean’s day are spent changing the big tires for Fountain Tire while nights are spent along side his wife Sarah as a super-parenting duo, chauffeuring kids, making school lunches and conquering the bed time routine. Sean’s love for gadgets, technology and Geocaching can be followed on his twitter feed @seanfunk.

Photo by BobnRenee on Flickr

To say ‘we’re done’ when it comes to buying gifts for Zacharie would be a lie, but we’ve got the big things out of the way and we did it all in one morning at Ikea.

Here’s what my son will find under the tree this year:

Duktig mini kitchen – the boy loves to cook
Lillabo train set – same gauge as the popular tv show model, way way way cheaper
assorted Titta puppets and hats (not on the website)

Even if your kid’s not in to kitchen stuff, a visit to the children’s section of Ikea is a good idea to check out their revolving tickle trunk of puppets and plush toys. We’ve been buying every puppet we can since Zacharie was born. They don’t last long in the stores, the quality is excellent and they’re really fun to play with. Just now, at 2 1/2 is Zacharie starting to appreciate creating his own character voices for the dozen puppets we’ve picked up.

New in the Ikea play section this year are hats. Brilliant, fun hats. Potted plants, fruit bowls, flowers, jesters, planes, birthday cakes and more. All for just $5, like the puppets.

Even if you have an infant, stock the tickle trunk while you can. And if you’re really on the ball, you can just put them away and save them for their 3rd birthday or Christmas.