The 5 Best Sprinklers To Keep Kids Cool

I am still mourning the demise of this toy!  RIP Mt. Tiki-Soki.

My kids are mad. We don't have a pool and, quite frankly, will not be getting one - ever - for a variety of reasons. So, unless someone drives them to the town pool this Summer, they'll be running their cute, little bodies through the lawn sprinklers after they get out of camp. 

A few years ago, I purchased a wonderful unit called Mount Tiki-Soki. It was a cute, volcano sprinkler with eyes that opened when the water pressure built up and the exploded, shooting water a good 6 feet up into the air. It was so much enjoyable that the neighbors made fun of me for going in it sans kids. We put beach balls onto that thing and watched them shoot into the air when the volcano exploded. Sadly, Mount Tiki-Soki died and Hasbro no longer makes it although you can get in on Ebay for $79 and up. Anyway, I've been looking for a fun, replacement ever since.

After asking around and doing my own research, here are my 5 picks for the best sprinklers for kids. Note that not all of them are toys, per se, but they, obviously, will get the wee folk wet. 

1.  Dramm 15076 ColorStorm Spinning Sprinkler – Found in the Patio section of Amazon, this unit works even with low water pressure and creates a fine mist which is perfect for kids. No, it's not a “wild” or “wacky” sprinkler, but it gets the kids saturated which is really all they care about anyway.

2.  Banzai Wiggling Water Sprinkler – This unit has 15 “water wiggles” or hoses which spray water all over. You control how wildly they wiggle based on the water pressure, so you can adjust it to be gentler with little kids. It attaches to any hose and is so easy, my 8-year old can set it up on her own. And the sprinkler extends about 8 feet, so it can get lots of kids wet at once.

Fire Hydrant Sprinkler

3.  Fire Hydrant Garden Hose Sprinkler – Almost as much fun as my sadly-missed Mount Tiki Soki, this little (8”) toy can shoot water as high as 15 feet, depending on your water pressure. Let the 

kids see if they can balance a beach ball on the spray (it actually can be done).

4.  Orbit 91594 Stainless Steel Ornamental Sprinkler – This unit comes in three lovely designs (butterfly, dragonfly or hummingbird) and is a wonderful sprinkler with coverage of up to 30 feet. It spins in a beautiful design with rings that rotate in opposite directions and even when it's not on, is attractive with its copper-plated finish. The fact that it's on a stand, means little kids will get rained on.

5.  SwimWays Hover Ball Sprinkler – This cool-looking sprinkler shoots water out of funnel-shaped fountain and spins a ball (there are several models using Disney and Marvel characters) in the air. It's an intriguing toy as long as your kids can share. The potential exists for one kid to run away with the ball which, obviously, would create fights. Otherwise, the Hover Ball Sprinkler is oodles of fun.

Orbit Sprinkler

There's much to be said for good, old-fashioned fun like kids running through the sprinklers set up on the family lawn. And let's face it, sprinklers are far less maintenance than swimming pools. As mad as my kids are now, I know that with any of the units above, they and their friends will have some wet fun this Summer!

Product Review: Soothsoft Mini Chillow

One of the more annoying byproducts of menopause is the hot flash. It's like someone instantly turned on a heater and you wonder why everyone around you isn't sweating. I haven't had too many hot flashes, but now that I'm getting at least one every night, it's getting on my nerves. I sleep with a fan on and make sure I have a bottle of ice water on my nightstand before I go to bed, but I've been curious about a product I'd seen advertised that supposedly helps with hot flashes.  It's called the  Chillow and it's a water-cooled cushion that contains memory foam to keep you cool without electricity. I'd read mixed reviews on Amazon, but with Summer coming up and the prospect of being even hotter and more uncomfortable, I bought, not the full one, but the less-expensive Mini model.

When you get it, you have to fill the Chillow up with water. This is the trickiest part because you will spill some. The trick is to hold the opening up with one hand while filling the product with the other hand. Then, after the foam absorbs the water, you carefully squeeze the air out during which you spill even more water. I had to squeeze the air out twice to have the Chillow look like it's supposed to in the instructions. You let the thing “rest” for four hours before using and, to get it even cooler, can put it in the refrigerator for up to 30 minutes before using.

After using the Mini Chillow for about a week now, I can tell you that it is not like putting your head on something uncomfortably cold; rather, it is cool to the touch. Since I don't have a hot flash until the middle of the night, I keep the product next to my bed and only use it when I wake up. This way, it's cool when I need it since I'd read that it can absorb body heat, just not as fast as a pillow. It does have a kind of weird, burnt smell that threw me off the first night or two that I used it, but that smell has subsided. Using it with a pillow case, obviously, raises the temperature a bit, however, since I don't mind sleeping on the plastic side of it, I sleep directly on it.

Does it help with the flashes? Yes. It is a “cure all” for them? No. I understand from some of the reviews on Amazon that the product tends to leak or smell funny after a year, but for under $20, I'm willing to spend that for something that helps me sleep. Also, I could see this helping one of the kids when they're running a fever since the temperature is quite soothing.

Try it if you have hot flashes at night. It's a nice, non-electronic, non-medicated way to help with these pesky byproducts of menopause. 

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7 Reasons Why You Need To Turn Off (Or At Least Relocate) Your Cellphone

Remember when THESE were our 'mobile' phones?  

I've got a monkey on my back. So do you. It's called the cellphone and we're possessed by it. We check it in stores, at work, on the blacktop, and, unfortunately, while we're in the car. It is our new “be all, end all” device that we emphatically CANNOT live without. In fact, according to Pew Research's Internet Project (http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/30/the-best-and-worst-of-mobile-connectivity):

• 67% of cell owners find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls even when they don’t notice their phone ringing or vibrating. Some 18% of cell owners say that they do this “frequently.”
  

• 44% of cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed because they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any calls, text messages, or other updates during the night.
  
• 11% of cell owners say that they themselves sometimes worry that they are spending too much time with their phone.
  
• 7% of cell owners say that their phone makes it “a lot” harder to focus on a single task without being distracted give people their undivided attention.
  

While experts are still divided on the issue of whether “cell phone addiction” should be an actual diagnosis, I think most of us would agree that we're lost without our devices, as evidenced by the panic we all feel when we've misplaced or lost them. Our entire lives are contained within these little hand-held devices. And it's obsessive. So here are 7 reasons you need to periodically turn off your cellphone:

1. There have been numerous scientific studies that point out that our brains simply can't multitask, even though as parents, we feel we have to. Turning off your cellphone, or at least putting it away, makes it easier to focus on our kids and the task at hand. 
   
   
2. You'll be modeling better behavior. We're always telling our kids to unplug, yet so many of us constantly check our screens. Let's stop being hypocrites and start being better role models.
   
   
3. You'll sleep better. People tell me all the time that they're woken up during the night by the buzzing of their cellphones which they keep next to their beds. It happens in my house since my husband keeps the Blackberry he uses for work on his bureau. If you can't turn it off during the night, at least relocate it away from your bed and turn the “vibrate” setting off. This way you can hear the ringer in case of emergency, but won't see the light.
   
   
4. You'll be forced to think on your own and become more resourceful. Having the world at our fingertips is a good and bad thing. Sure, we can instantly look things up, but do we really need to? Re-discover your own creativity by figuring things out on your own instead of pressing a button or two to look things up.
   
   
5. You'll be forced to navigate and problem-solve on your own. Having a GPS handy all the time dims our sense of direction, allowing the computer to set our routes for us instead of us figuring it out on own own (does anyone use a real paper map anymore?). Re-discover your sense of direction or develop one by turning off the GPS and relocating your cellphone to your glove compartment or back seat.
   
   
6. You can focus on where you are instead of living in Cyberspace. My family took a hike yesterday (actually, my husband forced us to) and it showed me the value of living in the moment and appreciating where I was. Because there was no reception out in the woods, my son and I were forced to look around and saw waterfalls, wildflowers, and an incredible blue sky instead of staring at our screens as we often do.
   
   
7. You'll be breaking your own addiction to your device. Honestly, when the people you love most in the world are actually, physically with you, do you really need to have your cellphone on?
   

Hey, I'm old enough to remember a time before mobile devices, when I had to think on my own and could actually be alone, without being connected to the outside world. Sometimes it's good to reconnect with ourselves and our environment. And I think, at times, it's good to release that simian and get that darned monkey off my back!

Note:  This piece first appeared on the website www.thegeekparent.com.