Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Forever Young

As any parent can tell you, the sea of children's items continues to expand on a daily basis. Many of these products are kid versions of similar adults items. Recently I've noticed a counter-trend: some products for grown-ups that appear to actually be modeled after products children use. Here are the items I've noticed so far and believe were inspired by kiddie items:

-Disposable coffee lids -- Remember back when asking for a lid on your coffee meant snapping on one of those old school pull tab style lids that looked like this?

Not so anymore. Apparently adult lips were too inconvenienced by the inferior opening. Now, everywhere you look adults are suckling upon lids with a little spout resembling toddlers' sippy cups. All we need is to add handles to the coffee cups and the comparison is complete. I blame Starbucks.
  


-Hygienic wipes -- A few years ago a "new" product hit the market claiming to make you feel fresh and clean after doing your duty in the restroom. This product is a hygienic wipe. Perhaps you remember the Charmin bears advertising said product. There's no way you can convince me this isn't just a glorified baby wipe.


-Footed pajamas -- I really have no knowledge of where the first footed pajamas originated. They could have been common for adults back in the days before central heating systems, when people wore those all-in-one long johns with buttoned butt flaps. But any photos I've seen of those are always footless. So I contend that the footed pajamas we've bundled kids in for ages have spurred the recent surge in examples for adults. I'm not judging because I love snuggling up in those things, just like I did when I was a kid.


-Recumbent bikes -- Personally, I don't care for these but some people love them. Kids do too. Except when kids ride them, they're called Big Wheels. Carry on, recumbent bikers, you look really cool, like a big boy.
 


-White Noise Machines -- It seems like white noise machines really took off as sleep aids for average household use around the mid-1990s. Talk about an invention to solve a first world problem! Anyway, I think they're just expensive versions of the light and sound machines parents have been using for decades to ease baby into a blissful slumber.


-Magnetic Poetry -- This is another product I believe really took off around the mid-1990s. The giggle inducing word kits started off innocently enough, but usually devolved into immature antics. These kits were surely inspired by someone watching kids arranging their magnetic letters on the fridge.


-Individual wine boxes -- I applaud whoever invented the concept of shrinking the cumbersome boxes of wine down to servings that can be taken on the go. Now there's no reason to go to work, the store or church and remain sober. Except that the idea of the mini-box isn't that original and began with kids' juice boxes. Now mommy can enjoy her happy juice while junior slurps away on Juicy Juice.


I have no concrete evidence supporting my theory that the preceding adult products were created after children's products, but I stand by my observations. Sure, it's really a futile chicken-and-egg type of argument. But I'd like to think that in some small way, the product inventors unconsciously attempted to bring all of us closer to our inner children. You know, while sipping wine and arranging dirty phrases on refrigerators.