Time Magazine also selected several special inventions in 2020 for parents who have just given birth to their children. There are smart players, smart cradles, foldable portable baby seats, and newly designed strollers.
They are great gifts for novice parents. If you want to give gifts to novice parents, you can also put these unique products in the gift list.
This article is about THE BEST INVENTIONS OF 2020 - Parenting!
1. Adventures in Audio, Yoto Player
Buy gifts for novice parents: Yoto Player
Music does wonders for a child’s brain development, especially when it comes to speech and reading. The problem is that tablets and smartphones—where music often resides—can do the opposite. That’s why Ben Drury created the Yoto Player, a screenless, portable smart speaker that costs $100. Aimed at children ages 3 and up, the player uses kid-friendly audio cards, inserted into a slot, to play music and books. (It also connects to wi-fi, so parents can download extra content via the Yoto app.) Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and other major publishers have all come aboard, believing in Yoto’s mission and broadening its content library. “When we show it to people with young kids, they instantly get it,” says Drury.
—J.R. Sullivan
2. A Crib That Calms, Cradlewise Smart Crib
Buy gifts for novice parents: Cradlewise Smart Crib
Roughly 60% of 6-month-olds fail to sleep through the night. Enter Cradlewise ($1,500), an AI-powered smart crib and bassinet. Most self-rocking cradles respond when a baby cries, but Cradlewise uses sensors to detect a child’s first stirrings. Based on the baby’s sleep schedule, the crib then determines whether to soothe them back to sleep with bouncing motions or to let them wake up.
—J.R. Sullivan
3. A More Portable Seat, Mifold Hifold Fit-and-Fold Highback Booster Seat
Buy gifts for novice parents: Mifold Hifold Fit-and-Fold Highback Booster Seat
More and more children are going without booster seats in cars—to potentially devastating effects. “The single largest killer of American children is car crashes,” says Jon Sumroy. “This is a public-health emergency.” One contributing factor could be that kids’ booster seats are too bulky to easily carry when using ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Sumroy’s company, Mifold, hopes to help reverse the trend with the Hifold ($160), a 10-lb. high-backed booster seat that has already been adopted by tens of thousands of families. Designed for kids from 33 to 100 lb., the Transformer-like device has adjustable head, torso and seat panels and collapses to roughly the size of a backpack for easy toting. “The world today is going through a personal transportation revolution,” says Sumroy. It’s time that booster seats caught up.
—J.R. Sullivan
4. The E-Assist Stroller, Cybex e-PRIAM
Buy gifts for novice parents: Cybex e-PRIAM
New parents need all the help they can get, especially when schlepping a young one around town. The sleek e-PRIAM ($1,400), by German stroller stalwart Cybex, gives parents an extra boost with an electric motor discreetly connected to the rear wheels. “It’s really built for urban living,” explains Dave Taylor, deputy CEO of Cybex America—be it for conquering San Francisco’s hills, Boston’s cobblestone streets or Miami’s sandy beaches. Along with the uphill assist, the e-PRIAM features innovative handlebar smart sensors that detect downhill slopes and apply the brakes accordingly, ensuring the stroller is as safe as it is strain-saving. And with its 28-mile peak battery life, the e-PRIAM can cover serious ground between charges.
—J.R. Sullivan
