Original review posted here:
http://teachingmytoddlers.com/?p=388I wanted to take a few moments and share one of my absolute favorite children’s products. As a new Mom, I expected the sleepless nights and bags under my eyes for a while, and then I expected them to go away! It was a rude awakening to find that was not the case with my first born daughter Lily. She decided early on that she liked to get up at 5 or 6 in the morning and party, which I of course wanted no part of, but I yawned through it anyway. We transitioned her to a toddler bed at 18 months old when she climbed out of her crib one night. Knowing that she could get out of bed at will, I decided to train her to stay in her toddler bed for her own safety, in case she quietly woke up and I didn't hear her on the monitor.
I had heard of toddler clocks before so I began researching. There are quite a few on the market, but ultimately I bought "My Tot Clock.
www.mytotclock.com I spent quite a lot of comparing all of the options and came to the conclusion that My Tot Clock is hands down the best toddler clock available.
This clock is very versatile in comparison to other children’s clocks. It offers colors for nighttime, waketime, naptime, encouragement, and discipline versus *just* a wake/sleep option like most of the clocks on the market. The brightness of the clock has 5 settings to make it dimmer or brighter as a nightlight.
My Tot Clock creates a visual color representation of the abstract concept of time. A child can easily understand that it’s just not time to get up yet because the clock is still blue. It does not introduce digital numbers to the child (which can be a crutch when they are learning to tell time) but instead includes a digital readout on the back for parent convenience.
The clock face is generously sized, which helps young children read it with less difficulty. The same way we start kids off this large print books, this clock is a great precursor to learning to tell time. I saw some other clocks on the market with smaller pictures of animals laying down or playing, or the clocks "eyes" being open or shut. My Tot Clock can easily be viewed by a child from across the room in the dark.
On the biggest reasons I chose this clock was because most toddler clocks do not offer a separate nap timer setting. This means that you have to reset other clocks TWICE DAILY! Once before bed and once before nap—how annoying. That is way too much trouble for me, plus sometimes kids need to go to bed *right this minute* and I don't want to fuss with setting a clock. My Tot Clock lets you set a nap duration of an hour and a half, for example, so your child can nap whenever they’re ready (versus strictly at 1pm everyday). All you have to do is push the NAP TIMER button to activate the 1.5 hour nap window. Genius! It works the same way for the Encourage & Discipline functions.
One of the other main reasons I chose this clock is that some clocks light up for a limited duration upon waking. For example, imagine that you have the morning wake time set for 7:00am, but your child sleeps until 8:01. On many toddler clocks, the light turns OFF after an hour. If the child overslept, they will wake up and think it’s not time to get up yet but feel confused if the sun is shining through their window. My Tot Clock stays “yellow” all day so your child cannot miss a limited one hour wake-up window.
After browsing their website, I bought My Tot Clock to try out with my daughter Lily. She has adored this clock from day 1. The first couple of mornings I had to remind her it wasn’t yellow yet and put her back in bed, but she got the hang of it in less than a week. I wasn’t expecting the sense of ownership she has over it but she loves
her clock. She was never bothered much by time-outs before, but if I give her a RED time out using the clock as a discipline timer, you would think her world is crashing down. It is a big, big deal to her, as in basically “No Mom! Anything but a RED TIMEOUT!”. I save Red Timeout for the times I really need it. She went through a minor biting phase at one point and consistently using Red Time out along with a few other parenting strategies stopped her unwanted behavior in under a week. Some parents opt to use it for every time out, but this works out nicely for us.
We have been using this clock for a year or so, but even now at age 3 it is an indispensable part of her routine. Twice a week we have to wake up extra early before her typical wake time. All I have to do is make sure the the “Music at Waking” function is on and then manually push the button to make it “yellow” earlier than her typically scheduled time. When she hears the opening notes of “If you’re happy and you know it,” even if it’s 5am she will jump out of bed immediately and start spinning in circles and dancing until the music is over. There is no fuss getting her out of bed at all and it puts her in an awesome mood first thing in the morning. I think I might need to capture this phenomenon on video LOL, because this description does not do it justice!
Overall, our family loves this thing and I need to get a second one for my son. I recently contacted Pamela, the Creator of My Tot Clock, and she sent me out an extra faceplate and Tot Clock Treasures bedtime story cartridge to include in my review. Lily immediately fell in love with her new Butterfly faceplate and it goes so nicely with the décor in her room. She liked the clock before with the moon and stars and she loves it even more with butterflies.
I also let her pick out the Tot Clock Treasures bedtime story and she chose the Hare and the Tortoise. She enjoys it, however the story was a little longer than I initially expected. I realize it’s intended to help kids dose off while listening. The story cartridge also has lullaby tracks and white noise to choose from, along with a fun wake up song. I think the audio quality on the story could be improved a bit, but overall Lily hasn’t noticed and asks to listen to it. We’ll probably end up buying more stories in the Tot Clock Treasures series to add some variety, I plan to swap them around between the kids’ clocks.
At one point, I emailed Pamela about it with some questions on resetting the clock and received a response in less than 24 hours. Pamela is a Mom that stands behind her product and her customer service is top notch!
What I love about this clock: Pretty much everything! It saved my sleep and my sanity. I have watched the video monitor to see Lily wake up from her nap after 45 minutes, roll over to see that the clock is blue, and immediately go back to bed for another sleep cycle. This thing is a lifesaver for sleep deprived parents.
What could be improved: We ran it on batteries while traveling and it goes through them rather quickly. (Couldn't leave home without it!) Stick to using the included power cord for regular use. The audio quality on the stories could be upgraded slightly, but it works fine for kids.
In short, My Tot Clock ranks right up there with Little Reader as one of my all-time “must have” children’s products!For more information, visit
www.MyTotClock.com. Disclaimer: I was given a faceplate and story cartridge in exchange for my honest review.
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