ohhhhh, I remember the driving & kids falling asleep, but in my case it was different, 'cause I knew if they fell asleep, they'd wake up once we got home then wouldn't go back to sleep. So I'd be doing everything I could to keep them awake in the car. But your article sounds like a great idea, till the patent! And the end was great - now the daughter needing a ride somewhere
And I'm all in favor of Nebraska's ban on using food stamps for junk food. Those opposed say it's punitive? Well, what's more punitive than encouraging kids to become obese & develop diabetes??
With regard to:”There’s also the issue, sometimes, of companies developing patentable technology that would upend their business models, specifically to stop any other company from creating and selling it.” Some people make a business of this by suing companies that have come up with “new ideas” by saying that they came up with and presented the idea to the company prior to the production of the item. Close attention to the date, legal paperwork by the producer can prove them wrong. But what a quagmire of paperwork!
I've never driven my kids around when they couldn't sleep, but I know lots of people who did. We just looked for other means to simulate movement and white noise without leaving the house. We had vibrating bouncy seats that we would put in a playpen next to our bed, we had white noise machines (that were huge back then). One of my kids fell asleep to radio static so we'd put the dial between radio stations until he fell asleep again. Once we found something that worked we could move them back into their own bedrooms and do it barefoot.
Regarding the Max Motor Dreams: we had that exact problem with our son when he was an infant (34 years ago). Our fix was much lower-tech. We put him in his car seat, put the car seat on top of the clothes dryer, and ran the dryer on the no-heat setting with a few bath towels in it. The dryer had a lip around the sides that prevented the car seat from vibrating off, and we put a rubber mat on it too for added insurance. It worked like a charm -- the sound and vibration put him right to sleep. I'm quite sure if we did this now, Child Protective Services would take him away from us.
One of our two was a slippery sleeper. Before we scored a battery operated, vibrating hammock (chair?), I'd put her infant seat on the running dryer. But we were broke, and running the dryer was costly, so instead I *recorded* the sound of it and put the tape player in the crib with her. Worked like a charm! Apparently, for her, it was the noise more than the motion.
By the way, she's still a slippery sleeper, and at nearly 30 years old, and hates white noise now.
Thankfully, my first born slept like the dead. The every two hour routine was over in just a few weeks so was always a champion sleeper. His brother though was anything but that. He had the habit of waking up around 1 or 2 AM and refusing to drop back off. Since I didn’t want him to wake his brother who was in school or his dad who was expected to be at work, he had to make do with a mom in a rocking chair singing a lullaby. Never heard of the term “slippery sleeper” though.
I had many a child, niece, nephew, grandchild with the sleep issue. I refused to drive the car. So instead I would put the car seat on the dryer and turn it on. It would naturally time out and they were asleep.
When Ford first produced the Taurus they sent a press release lauding the women designers that influenced the design of the car (apparently having women car designers was relatively novel in the mid 1980s and the lead for the interior design was a designer named Mimi Vandermolen). One of the items they cited as differentiators was the ability to drive the car home and exit it without the interior lights illuminating or the chimes sounding. Apparently one of the women in the design team was desperate to get her sleeping children from the car into the house without lights or sounds waking them up.
So I guess this idea of using your car to get your kids to sleep has been a discussion point at Ford for a long time.
ohhhhh, I remember the driving & kids falling asleep, but in my case it was different, 'cause I knew if they fell asleep, they'd wake up once we got home then wouldn't go back to sleep. So I'd be doing everything I could to keep them awake in the car. But your article sounds like a great idea, till the patent! And the end was great - now the daughter needing a ride somewhere
And I'm all in favor of Nebraska's ban on using food stamps for junk food. Those opposed say it's punitive? Well, what's more punitive than encouraging kids to become obese & develop diabetes??
With regard to:”There’s also the issue, sometimes, of companies developing patentable technology that would upend their business models, specifically to stop any other company from creating and selling it.” Some people make a business of this by suing companies that have come up with “new ideas” by saying that they came up with and presented the idea to the company prior to the production of the item. Close attention to the date, legal paperwork by the producer can prove them wrong. But what a quagmire of paperwork!
I also loved your ending! What a neat package!
I know a patent attorney- I guess all attorneys make big bucks by being sharks
I've never driven my kids around when they couldn't sleep, but I know lots of people who did. We just looked for other means to simulate movement and white noise without leaving the house. We had vibrating bouncy seats that we would put in a playpen next to our bed, we had white noise machines (that were huge back then). One of my kids fell asleep to radio static so we'd put the dial between radio stations until he fell asleep again. Once we found something that worked we could move them back into their own bedrooms and do it barefoot.
Regarding the Max Motor Dreams: we had that exact problem with our son when he was an infant (34 years ago). Our fix was much lower-tech. We put him in his car seat, put the car seat on top of the clothes dryer, and ran the dryer on the no-heat setting with a few bath towels in it. The dryer had a lip around the sides that prevented the car seat from vibrating off, and we put a rubber mat on it too for added insurance. It worked like a charm -- the sound and vibration put him right to sleep. I'm quite sure if we did this now, Child Protective Services would take him away from us.
I’ve heard that from others!! 👍
One of our two was a slippery sleeper. Before we scored a battery operated, vibrating hammock (chair?), I'd put her infant seat on the running dryer. But we were broke, and running the dryer was costly, so instead I *recorded* the sound of it and put the tape player in the crib with her. Worked like a charm! Apparently, for her, it was the noise more than the motion.
By the way, she's still a slippery sleeper, and at nearly 30 years old, and hates white noise now.
Thankfully, my first born slept like the dead. The every two hour routine was over in just a few weeks so was always a champion sleeper. His brother though was anything but that. He had the habit of waking up around 1 or 2 AM and refusing to drop back off. Since I didn’t want him to wake his brother who was in school or his dad who was expected to be at work, he had to make do with a mom in a rocking chair singing a lullaby. Never heard of the term “slippery sleeper” though.
I had many a child, niece, nephew, grandchild with the sleep issue. I refused to drive the car. So instead I would put the car seat on the dryer and turn it on. It would naturally time out and they were asleep.
When Ford first produced the Taurus they sent a press release lauding the women designers that influenced the design of the car (apparently having women car designers was relatively novel in the mid 1980s and the lead for the interior design was a designer named Mimi Vandermolen). One of the items they cited as differentiators was the ability to drive the car home and exit it without the interior lights illuminating or the chimes sounding. Apparently one of the women in the design team was desperate to get her sleeping children from the car into the house without lights or sounds waking them up.
So I guess this idea of using your car to get your kids to sleep has been a discussion point at Ford for a long time.