The first time we flew from Utah to Cairo, Sally was eighteen months old. She was a good toddler, a very plump, happy toddler, but we were still wary about taking off and landing three times and travelling twenty-four hours door-to-door. So like any resourceful parents, we dosed her with Benadryl.
Only, we didn’t read the fine print where it says that Benadryl can actually cause “excitement,” rather than the listless stupor of lethargy we were aiming for.
We survived, somehow, and now that I look back, it’s hard to imagine that we were ever so overwhelmed by the needs of one child. But we were, and when we asked our good friends how they managed to keep their son entertained on the flight, they showed us their LeapPad.
I don’t think I’m the only mother who expected her first child to read by the age of three (in fact, I’ve got some cute photos of my dad showing alphabet blocks to his firstborn (me) at six weeks). But even though Sally didn’t start reading until after she hit six, she loved playing with the LeapPad we got her, especially the princess stories and the Mother Goose songbook.
Which is why I’m glad to be part of the LeapFrog Tag Reader giveaway thingie (even if they’re not giving me a free one for my kids, which is kind of sad, right? I mean, here I am this loyal customer of six years, and all I get is a lousy giveaway. Lousy for me, SUPER COOL for whoever wins, I mean).
The Tag Reader is an optical pen that reads specially-tagged books to your kid. It doesn’t actually replace a parental unit in your child’s life, but it works as a next-generation book-on-tape that includes comprehension games and fun interactive features. And it’s probably better than another re-run of The Brady Bunch during that 5 pm witching hour, though even LeapFrog can’t compete with Little House on the Prairie, especially when they’re showing season five.
To enter to win the Tag Reader ($50 value) and two Dr. Seuss books (The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham), read this review of the Tag Reader system, then return here and tell me what you think of it, or who at your house would like it, or that your three year old honestly did learn how to read using that crazy Phonics system and I should give it a try with Spot before it’s too late.
You can leave extra comments for extra entries if you Tweet or blog about the giveaway; or, if you can get your neighbor to enter and swear undying subscription to What About Mom?, leave another comment for yourself telling me that, and I’ll light a candle for you next time I’m at church. (Just kidding. Mormons aren’t fun enough to allow candles at church, not even the soy-based yummy-smelling ones.)
LeapFrog will ship anywhere in the world on this one, and the giveaway ends March 24th at midnight. Good luck!
Jane
(Note to my mom and dad and Dick’s family: I expect you to enter this and join twitter and get all your friends to enter and then when you or they win, you can give it to your favorite grandchild, who I’m sure is one of my three kids and definitely not any of my sister’s kids or Dick’s sister’s kids, either.)*
(Oh, and LeapFrog is totally sponsoring this, though I still think they should send me a couple Tag Readers for Susan and Spot to review, and you can also join the 1 Million Reading Hours Pledge which is apparently some gimmick to encourage reading and also purchase of LeapFrog products.)
(And finally, you can enter this same giveaway at these fine blogs also: Thinking Some More, So Much More Than a Mom, Goddess in Progress, Parenting by Trial and Error, Stop, Drop and Blog, and Callapider Days.)
*This is a joke. People related to me should enter the contest at one of these other fine blogs. But the part about my kids being the favorite granchildren — that part was TOTALLY true.
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yeah our doc warned us that benedryl often has the opposite effects from what is desired. lucky for us our little one has been stellar on planes… so far. dr. seuss’s ABC’s has been one of her favorite books from the start. she is gearing up to read early i’m pretty sure. good luck to all those who enter this. seems like a cool prize. you could always keep it for your own kids instead of offering it up, no?
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You must have the most entertaining giveaway posts I’ve ever read. Riddled with sarcasm, humor and a bit of begging, you can’t go wrong. I really hope they relent and send you one. You do deserve it! Tell you what, if I win one of these I’ll send it to you! I’ve already entered like three or four anyway. You never know. I read the review and it was okay. Not as good as if you had reviewed it.
hint hint. And it’s kinda stinky that each pen holds only one user profile. Umm, four kids here! But I’d still like to win one….for you, I mean.
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I’d love to win this for my daughter! She’s five, not quite reading on her own yet, but I think this would be great for her. Plus she loves Dr. Suess. Though some might find it an inconvenience to have to download stories, I don’t think I’d mind. I LOVE the fact that it has a headphone jack- I wish all noisy toys had this option!
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Mom Blogs – Blogs for Moms…
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Oooohhh!!! I like it! I think the fact that you physically have to touch the word as it reads it to you would help tremendously with word recognition.
My 4 year old (back when he was 2) learned the alphabet (upper and lower case) and all his numbers to 20 with one of those laptop type thingies.
Oh, and I have to comment on the Benadryl. I made the same mistake with my then 2 year old son (now 10) on a flight from London to Boston. Let’s just say we are permanently banned from British Airways–no joke. I mixed a 1/4 of a wine cooler with Hawaiian punch in his sippy cup for the return flight. Not only did he sleep from Boston to London, but from London to Paris and then for the drive from Paris to our home in Germany. (Understand that 9/11 happened during our visit in Boston, so there’s NO WAY I could have had a 2 year old acting crazy on a transatlantic flight at that point).
~Brandi
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My Ali absolutely NEEDS this product.
Sounds fun–not something I’d ever spend $50 for, though, so I hope I win!
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I think my nephew would like this!
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My 3 year old and 5 year old always play with the display Tag at Target. The younger one feels like he is a big boy, learning all the things his big brother learns in kindergarten. I’m a huge fan of all things Leap Frog.
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One of our family members just passed on a leap pad to our almost 4 year old and he loves it already! I think that it will help him learn even more before he enters kindergarten. I am sure he would love to have this to learn with as well.
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I didn’t know that the Tag saved the user info in the pen, or that, and this is way more important, it comes with a headphone jack.
I know what you mean about being overwhelmed by one and then not so much with your second (we won’t be experiencing what it’s like with three, much less four). But sometimes I look at my son and wonder if he’s missing out on all that attention. I then project and worry that because of all that, he’ll end up a derelict.
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I love your giveaways! I never win, but I love them! Maybe this time, right?
Tag would be good for my 2 year old who is so into reading right now. LOVE IT!
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http://fuzzysheepknits.blogspot.com/2009/03/leapfrog-tag-giveaway.html
blogged the giveaway!
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I twittered your contest!
http://twitter.com/FuzzySheep/status/1349025802
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Can you tell I am all kinds of desperate for one of these things? I’ve subscribed to your blog via RSS and my googlereader! YAY!
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I learned that you need internet access. I think my son would love this and I could take a break from reading once in a while!
Thanks for the chance!
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Hello, I like that this reading system has the ability to read one work, one page or the whole book to a child! Please enter me in your fabulous giveaway drawing. Many thanks, Cindi
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I twittered you contest ~ http://twitter.com/cmh512/status1349238911.
Thank you, Cindi
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I would love to have a leappad book for my own poor deprived children.
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We’ll be taking the kids on their first airplane ride this summer. I’m forcing David to go with me since I refuse to face that drama alone. I love all the leap frog stuff. We have the refrigerator “word whammer” and the caterpillar that teaches numbers, and other stuff. Lucy would love this since she is just starting to catch on to the idea of reading. Plus, I know my Lucy would share with your Lucy. So it’s all good.
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I think the kid in the photo looks a little old to be using it. But I think it sounds great for pre-school and early elementary kids. My own 3.5yr old would love it!
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With all of our 10+ hour moves, one of these would sure come in handy. My kids would be so happy! I love reading your blog, by the way.
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I have 2 kids (3 & 4) who will both love (read . . .fight over) this if I win! So, I think leapfrog would want me to win because if I do then they can be pretty darn confident that I will have to be buying another one.
) I love the headphone jack and that it can read any word in the book. I don’t love the long process to switch books though. 
)
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As one of the good friends who originally showed you a LeapPad in Cairo, I feel perfectly entitled to enter (and maybe even win) this contest.
Also, I have a house full of children who would be glad to spend endless hours fighting over whose turn it is to play with the LeapFrog Tag Reader.
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[...] What About Mom?What: LeapFrog Tag Reader Bundle w/ 3 Dr. Seuss Books.How To Enter: Leave a comment on the [...]
Well I think that it is a good idea because while i really like to read to my children sometimes my six year old wants to read by herself or to me but wants help with certain words. So this would be a great tool for her to be able to do more on her own. We love all of the leapfrog products that we have bought and I think we would love this one as well-it helps kids to read on their own-they feel more confident-but I don’t think this is the only way they should read a book-a certain child could become really dependent on it.
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We LOVE Dr. Seuss around here! And while I’m all about reading to my kids, there are days that I can’t read Fox in Socks more than twice in a row without going cross eyed! Both kids (5 and 2.5 yrs) can recite the first few lines of Cat in the Hat already, actually… which doesn’t stop them from insisting that they HAVE to hear it yet again. And If I Ran the Zoo, and Cat in the Hat Comes Back… and Horton (either one)… the list goes on of course. The only one they don’t love is The Lorax… it makes my son sad, he says.
The only thing I think would be a problem for us is the limited memory. 5 books?!? Hmm. Well, reading straight through, that wouldn’t keep my kids busy too long – but it seems the books have activities and games on each page too, so that would definitely help. But I do think I’d need to keep the computer handy and be pretty familiar with the software to switch the books out frequently, because I can see us buying the entire Tag library! Dr Seuss? Check! Cars! Princesses! Plus classics – gotta love it! Only one I’m not sure of is that Kung Fu Panda one… I’d have to review that before giving it to my son. Oh, and I don’t think we’d use the Spanish ones… although… it would be an interesting way to intro the language a little, I guess.
Anyway, they would LOVE something to help them read when I have to be making dinner or something, you know, unavoidable.
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Oh, I love the idea of that tag reader! And it would be perfect for a long plane flight we have coming up. My 3 year old- who can’t read but does memorize books- would just love it.
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Thanks for sharing a great giveaway, even if you don’t get one yourself. I love the way this can help kids learn to read. I also really appreciate the volume control because seeing as how I am likely to already read said book to the child approximately 50X a week, it would be nice to tune it out once in a while.
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I tweeted you too.
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[...] « Other people’s cookies [...]
I have played with one of these in the store and am so impressed with it! I’ve always pointed to the words as I read to my kids. This takes it one step farther, the child points to the word himself! Great idea! I think it will encourage children to read on their own more! I WANT ONE!!
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I am entering this, hoping that you are wrong and it actually WILL replace the parental involvement in my kid’s life.
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I teach kindergarten. I really want this for my classroom. I think iwt would be great for my non-English speaking students!
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My 3 1/2 yo son would love this! He loves books and is beginning to read!
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blogged about it!
http://andrew-natty.blogspot.com/2009/03/leapfrog-tag-reader-giveaway.html
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tweeted!
http://twitter.com/pjays20/status/1351377777
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I don’t know if I get an entry for this or not but I subscribed to your blog by e-mail.
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I love the headphone idea. Wonderful for travel.
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*Not a contest entry!
I take personal responsibility for you not getting a free Tag Reader! I did the review, you get the giveaway. Hopefully, being honored as one of the 10 “must read” mom blogs on Family Computing @ About.com is a bit of a consolation. Plus, you can enter on one of the other sites.
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We haven’t started to teach my son to read but when he is older I know he will love this.
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My 4 year old son would love this!
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I blogged about this…since I’ve got the same giveaway.
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Subscribing to you in bloglines!
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My favorite part of the Benadryl label – Should be not used to sedate chld. Well, what the heck are we supposed to use otherwise?
I think the Tag reader is cool, but it seems like they make darn sure that you better have one for each child or anarchy (in the form of hitting, pen-stealing, and book-ripping) will reign free.
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[...] LeapFrog Tag Reader Giveaway | What About Mom [...]
Great giveaway. This would be a wonderful to help child learn to read.
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My kids are 2,3, and 4. We found out the hard way that Benadryl makes them extremely hyper…
The leapfrog sounds like a life saver!
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So, I am a faithful reader of The Mom Nerd and her praise for you led me here (so maybe she should get an extra entry?)
I have 7 children ranging in age from 19-2 years old. My 6 and 8 year old children are really struggling to read. I’m worried it could be dyslexia. Anyway, we are always on the look out for things that could help them so thanks for letting me know about it (even if I don’t win).
I enjoyed reading your blog!
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I just twittered or tweeted or whatever it is, about your giveaway! Um, I think this is the link (though I can’t figure out how to link it directly to the tweet – I’m a beginning twit) http://twitter.com/Heynonnie
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My granddaughter would tryly enjoy this if I won. I take care of her 3 days a week, and am always on the lookout for interesting things to do and read.
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Both of my kids would love this! And anytime that they can play with something on their own and not bug the heck out of me is a happy day!!
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The review left me wanting to leap out of my chair and run to the nearest toystore to get it, awesome review. My Kasey would love this toy as he is just learning to read.
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Sounds like it would be a great thing to try! We love reading together and encouraging my kids to read by themselves can’t be a bad thing too!
Thanks for the giveaway!
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I have had my eye on this product for my 4 year old for a while now. While he loves for me to read to him, the independent nature and versatility of this product appear to be just what he needs to take the next step in reading on his own. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
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It sounds like a fabulous idea. My son would love it I’m sure. He’s almost 3 and is really into “reading” books by himself now. It would definitely make bedtime easier if he could read to himself while I nursed his newborn sister…
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I would love this to give to my cousin for his birthday in May! He’s been starting to read a little and I think he’d love this.
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I think this is a great way for my daughter to leanr to read and she would absolutely love it!
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Loved your review and YES every child should learn how to read with the Phonics system. I wuld really love to win this for my granddaughter who is struggling with her reading right now in the first grade. I Love reading Dr. Suess with her.
tamben7996(at)aol(dot)com
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[...] and Crayola washable markers (I really do love those!), but I cannot tell a promotional fairytale (LeapPad won’t be able to get your kids out of the house if a fire starts, and Hanes is not a [...]
[...] Congratulations, Kelly, and thanks to LeapFrog for sponsoring this giveaway. [...]