Baby's First Credit Card - Just a bit of fun?

Yesterday Little Girly Gadgets launched a new product, direct from the United States, a credit card teether for babies.  Designed and manufactured by Heelarious, these rubber Teethers are stamped with numbers, an expiry date and the name “Ima Spender”! 

The Herald Sun yesterday featured the credit card teether in a photo shoot which made page 3 news.  This cute gift for newborns became an instant media frenzy with Psychologists and debt consultants claiming to be outraged by the product.


Social commentator Maggie Hamilton feels that children are being forced to grow into "mini-adults" far too fast and "clever advertisers" are infiltrating their minds from six months of age ...  and later comments that "This is not harmless or humorous. Childhood is an endangered species. It's very sad."
 
What I think is sad is that Maggie seems to have lost her sense of fun and fails to see the lighter side of what really is a cute gift for a baby.  After appearing on the Today Show yesterday morning to respond to criticism from the "sourpusses", I have recieved some fantastic emails of support from new mums who can't wait to get their hands on one with the majority saying "what a great idea", "we don't need to take things so seriously".
 
I particularly liked the blog by Baby Cup Cakes (one of our suppliers: check our their range under Baby Girl category) who seemed to get a little laugh out my interview on the Today Show ..."My favourite bit of the whole news story was when the co-owner of the online gift boutique pointed out that butterfly shaped teethers did not encourage babies to eat butterflies in later life" Whichever side you take, at the end of the day, this product is actually one of the best designed teethers on the market. In the words of Babyology "from a purely practical point of view, I always struggled to find teethers that were thin enough for little mouths to fit around and this one fits the bill".




If we really are what we chew on as a baby, I suppose Maggie must have sucked on lemons as a newborn :)

Stay Girly!

Belinda