Do You Bumbo?

Have you seen these things? Molded foam in which to stick your child to try and help them develop their trunk and neck muscles?

There are so many gadgets and gizmos today to make your child better, smarter, taller, more angelic or any number of things really. And yes, I do at times subscribe to this notion that anything we can do to help our children succeed the better. I mean when it comes time for our children to enter college do I want to be the mother who didn’t buy her child the one and only toy that enabled her child to enter college as a Masters student or to be the youngest Olympic gold medalist?

So, back to the Bumbo, our latest and greatest purchase that will ensure that Devyn has un-humanly strong trunk and neck muscles and will thereby be able to put herself through college on a full-ride offensive lineman scholarship. Ari, I’m sorry we didn’t have one of these when you were a baby as you will forever be stunted in your muscle development growth, *sigh*!


Do make sure you read the instructions carefully though, as this little South African made beauty has been known to send children to the emergency room when their parents placed them in a Bumbo on a table or countertop. Do parents take no responsibility for leaving their child unattended on a table or countertop? The website now has a whole page dedicated to pictures of children sitting in the Bumbo “safely” on the ground. (Yes I know the pictures I have of her in it are not safely on the ground! They are in the middle of my bed which seems even better to me if she happens to fall backward and smack her head! Where would you rather hit your head? On the bed or the floor? I say the bed, but that’s just me.)

But really, I do like the Bumbo because Devyn has gotten to the point where she likes to be sitting up. She can’t quite sit up on her own yet, although she is trying as hard as she can, but this way I can sit in front of her and it allows me to have two hands free to play with her. Plus, does she not just look adorable all snug as a bug in her Bumbo?