When Julian was a little guy and I needed to remove my cell phone from his little paws, a decoy cell phone was the way to avoid a mini-tantrum.
Save old sunglasses, cell phones, remotes and key chains that are no longer needed in a drawer.
To keep le baby busy: pull them out one at a time. As junior plays with one, you can usually sneak another back in the drawer for an endless supply.
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We love using our old cell phone for this! I’ve put on a lock code so baby can’t make any calls unless he gets really, really lucky (a 4 digit code). I periodically put it on the charger so he gets the full gratification of lights and beeping- otherwise he knows he has a fake.
Ah, yes. using a decoy old cellphone. Didn’t work after the first couple of times. DD knew which phone was ‘real’.
My 9-month old is currently banging on our old broken laptop. It saves my Macbook!
Is this safe? Couldn’t the baby salivate into the charger/battery and get a shock? I’ve given one to my DD, but only after I took the battery out. Even then, she was playing with the inside of the antenna (which would have been enclosed by the battery I removed) and I took it away, since it could have been cadmium or maybe something similar.
Old wallets are always a good time as well.
Fortunately my 8 month old is fascinated by pretty much anything I throw on the floor (egg cartons, empty mouthwash containers, etc.) for her to explore.
God bless her inability to complain or recognize when she is playing with trash.
Linda – as with anything, you should always keep an eye on your LO when they’re playing with a toy. But just ask anyone who has dropped their cell phone in the toilet or the bathtub. You won’t get a shock.
This is a great post! LOs always know the toy one from the real one. And they don’t want the toy one. Once we got a universal remote, we kept all of our old ones for this purpose. Well, that and for when we lose the universal
I never thought of this – would be a big help with the sunglasses as my kids love to play with mine.
I’d definitely take the battery out of the cell phone but the concept is a good one.
Ooh we do this, too. We also give our son used gift cards or hotel keys as his own “credit cards” to hold while we’re in the store.