An Ignoble Experiment: [Parent Hacks] 2 new posts in Parent Hacks

2008/08/14

[Parent Hacks] 2 new posts in Parent Hacks

Hello, ignoble.experiment@arconati.us, and thank you for subscribing to Parent Hacks. Got a hack you'd like to share? Send it to hacks@parenthacks.com, along with your name and Web address (if you'd like us to link to you).

Salad spinner as dolly thrill ride

Kim's hack will bring out the mad scientist in your kid:

Got one of those big salad spinners with a clear bowl and an easy-to-use spinning mechanism? Show your little tike how to put one of his favorite dolls in there and spin it around. This impromptu activity produced about a half hour of non-stop laughter with my two year-old, as he spun his stuffed animal and some play people round and round, peering at them through the bowl.

I can vouch for this hack myself. My kids have spent hours spinning various things in the salad spinner, including marbles, plastic animals, and dolls. I love my OXO salad spinner -- it operates using a pump in the lid, and has a squishy rubber "brake" that is just as fun for the kids to use. The large, plastic bowl makes a great Barbie swimming pool, too.

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On Parent Hacks at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/parenthacks/~3/363865782/salad-spinner-a.html

Trip of a lifetime? Take a spare camera.

Jamie, AKA Travel Savvy Mom, suggested I file this under "lessons learned the hard way:"

For reasons I don't pretend to understand, cameras always seem to go on vacation when you're on vacation. Not long ago (in famously photogenic Seville) I looked through my viewfinder, zoomed in on my family, pushed the shutter button, and...nothing happened. Luckily we were in Spain and not Papua New Guinea, so I was able buy a replacement without too much trouble. The worst part? We had a spare camera at home.

If you're taking the trip of a lifetime always, always bring a second camera.

This story brings to mind the magnificent photos I took at Glastonbury Abbey -- the late afternoon light was golden -- until I realized, as we were leaving, there was no film in the camera. (Remember film? The stuff you used to load in your camera before they went all digital?) Still breaks my heart.

Related: All manner of travel hacks in the Travel/Going Out archive