Now this is interesting...
My husband and I went to Gadget Show Live this year and came across a fab stall and company in Doddl.
There weren't many baby/children related stalls, but my new maternal instincts managed to pull me over to this one (those instincts aren't just for getting you up multiple times in the night to feed your baby, oh no, their real function is to put you in front of the right people, bank card in hand)
Now Harrison is still a way off eating solids, but I've already paid my money and am eagerly awaiting that happy day when a Doddl delivery drops on to my door mat. (And the review I'll be able to complete thereafter, of course)
So what do they do?
Well, Doddl are a new company who are in the process of raising funds to put their product in to production.
Their product? Children's cutlery.
'But there are loads of children's cutlery companies out there, what's so special about this one?'
Well that's simple. This isn't your bog standard cutlery. This is far more than that. Doddl cutlery is specially designed for small hands and developing fine motor skills.
Hold your hand like your young child holds theirs and try to use their cutlery set...did you just miss your mouth? Did you thrust that little blunt dagger of a knife in to your plate, sending peas flying in every direction? Yeah, that seems about right.
Have I proved my point of how poorly designed standard child cutlery is?
Enter Doddl...
Doddl cutlery is designed to work with your child's current motor skills, not against them. It promotes the use of the 'pincer grip' which is essential for developing finger strength and control and aims to have children eating INDEPENDENLY by the time they start school.
You don't need to take my word for it, they've won plenty an award which more than proves their worth.
Take a look at their Kickstarter page to learn more about the science behind the product.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1791462095/doddl-cutlery-knife-fork-and-spoon-set/description
This is more an early promotion as opposed to a review, being that I don't yet have the cutlery in my possession and that Harrison wouldn't be ready to use it even if I did, but I want to bring this great product to your attention. When these 2 things change, I'll certainly be doing a full review, but, for now, I'll just tell you what I saw the day I first discovered Doddl.
Whilst Harrison slept (a boob dream filled sleep for my breastfed boy), completely unaware of his solid food future, I had a play with the Doddl cutlery and can tell you that the quality was very evident. Smooth edges, great colours, soft pads, safe, but effective, blades. This is a very high quality product and that is clear from the first glance.
Having a try, I could feel how comfortable the pieces were to hold in my hands (is there an upper age limit on these?) and how fun they would be for a child to use.
I remember the messy, clumsy meal times of Harrison's cousins when they were little (did I mention that Harrison is the youngest of 14 cousins?) and could instantly tell this would have made them less so.
I was instinctively holding them how my nieces and nephews had held their toys at that age and they wielded those toys around with a lot more accuracy and confidence than they did their cutlery, I can tell you.
*penny drop*
Well, this makes perfect sense! It's designed for what they can do, not for what they can't.
It makes me wonder why this hasn't been done sooner, but thank goodness for Catherine and Rosie (creators of Doddl) who used the, all important, parent experience, along with child development experts, to finally bring this genius design to the world.
However, they aren't there yet. They need to get the products made so we can all rush out and buy them (smugly throwing away the sheets of plastic we use to protect every kitchen surface from the current cutlery meal time mess)
I've made my pledge, and, in doing so, my preorder, will you make yours?
Check out their website for more details...
http://doddl.com/
My husband and I went to Gadget Show Live this year and came across a fab stall and company in Doddl.
There weren't many baby/children related stalls, but my new maternal instincts managed to pull me over to this one (those instincts aren't just for getting you up multiple times in the night to feed your baby, oh no, their real function is to put you in front of the right people, bank card in hand)
Now Harrison is still a way off eating solids, but I've already paid my money and am eagerly awaiting that happy day when a Doddl delivery drops on to my door mat. (And the review I'll be able to complete thereafter, of course)
So what do they do?
Well, Doddl are a new company who are in the process of raising funds to put their product in to production.
Their product? Children's cutlery.
'But there are loads of children's cutlery companies out there, what's so special about this one?'
Well that's simple. This isn't your bog standard cutlery. This is far more than that. Doddl cutlery is specially designed for small hands and developing fine motor skills.
Hold your hand like your young child holds theirs and try to use their cutlery set...did you just miss your mouth? Did you thrust that little blunt dagger of a knife in to your plate, sending peas flying in every direction? Yeah, that seems about right.
Have I proved my point of how poorly designed standard child cutlery is?
Enter Doddl...
Doddl cutlery is designed to work with your child's current motor skills, not against them. It promotes the use of the 'pincer grip' which is essential for developing finger strength and control and aims to have children eating INDEPENDENLY by the time they start school.
You don't need to take my word for it, they've won plenty an award which more than proves their worth.
Take a look at their Kickstarter page to learn more about the science behind the product.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1791462095/doddl-cutlery-knife-fork-and-spoon-set/description
This is more an early promotion as opposed to a review, being that I don't yet have the cutlery in my possession and that Harrison wouldn't be ready to use it even if I did, but I want to bring this great product to your attention. When these 2 things change, I'll certainly be doing a full review, but, for now, I'll just tell you what I saw the day I first discovered Doddl.
Whilst Harrison slept (a boob dream filled sleep for my breastfed boy), completely unaware of his solid food future, I had a play with the Doddl cutlery and can tell you that the quality was very evident. Smooth edges, great colours, soft pads, safe, but effective, blades. This is a very high quality product and that is clear from the first glance.
Having a try, I could feel how comfortable the pieces were to hold in my hands (is there an upper age limit on these?) and how fun they would be for a child to use.
I remember the messy, clumsy meal times of Harrison's cousins when they were little (did I mention that Harrison is the youngest of 14 cousins?) and could instantly tell this would have made them less so.
I was instinctively holding them how my nieces and nephews had held their toys at that age and they wielded those toys around with a lot more accuracy and confidence than they did their cutlery, I can tell you.
*penny drop*
Well, this makes perfect sense! It's designed for what they can do, not for what they can't.
It makes me wonder why this hasn't been done sooner, but thank goodness for Catherine and Rosie (creators of Doddl) who used the, all important, parent experience, along with child development experts, to finally bring this genius design to the world.
However, they aren't there yet. They need to get the products made so we can all rush out and buy them (smugly throwing away the sheets of plastic we use to protect every kitchen surface from the current cutlery meal time mess)
I've made my pledge, and, in doing so, my preorder, will you make yours?
Check out their website for more details...
http://doddl.com/