Here is an ingenious idea that any busy parent will appreciate.  The DaysAgo Digital Day Counter is a small digital stick-on device which displays the number of days since you opened a product or prepared a dish.  This way, you will always know whether your baby food, leftovers, etc. are safe for your children to eat.

You can purchase a set of two of these for $12 at BloomMaternity.net.  They are available in a number of fun colors, and you can choose whether you prefer a set that attached by magnets or suction cups.  Sure, you could just write on the jars with a permanent marker, but these gadgets are a lot more high-tech and attractive.  They would make a fun gift for new parents, too.

Everyone has a family member or friend who enjoys eating sushi (if you aren’t a sushi lover yourself, which I definitely am not). Some people are even able to entice their children into trying this delicacy. I’ve actually seen some children in Japanese restaurants eating sushi, to my amazement.

My husband is a sushi lover, and my son has started to show an interest when the food is lined up in a row all ready to consume. He might enjoy this Melissa & Doug Sushi Wooden Play Set. It comes in a painted bento box, with three types of sushi rice pieces with shrimp, tuna, salmon, and roe pieces. Ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce are also included, as are chopsticks, a play cleaver, and a play menu. (When the child slices into the velcro sushi with the cleaver, it makes a chopping sound.)

This would make a unique Christmas gift for the right child. And with Melissa & Doug wooden toys, you know they are safe for your child to play with. It’s recommended for kids ages 2-4. You can purchase this at Oliebollen.com, where it’s on sale for $15.95.

What a neat idea for a fun, educational gift for a young child. The Grow & Gobble Edible Seed Sprout Kit by HSP Nature Toys allows your child to plant his own seeds, watch them grow into sprouts within 2 to 7 days, and then eat the sprouts.This not only teaches your child about science and nature, it also gets him to eat healthy sprouts without him realizing he’s eating healthy.

The kit includes multi-tiered sprouting trays that lets your child grow Sunflower and Chinese Mung Bean sprouts simultaneously. Sprouts can be grown any time of the year. Also included in the kit is a sheet with facts, recipes, and projects for scientific study.

This is recommended for children ages 4 and up, and would make a wonderful gift. You can purchase the Grow & Gobble Edible Seed Sprout Kit for $19.99 at InsectLore.com.

This is a very sweet little set of dishes that would be perfect for a toddler who is just learning to eat independently or for a slightly older child.  This Dish & Cutlery Set is decorated with fanciful illustrations from the book Children of the Forest by beloved Swedish author Elsa Beskow.

The set includes a plate, a bowl with a suction cup bottom, a mug with a lid, and matching cutlery.  The set is completely dishwasher safe for easy clean up, but it cannot go in the microwave.  You can purchase the set for $39.95 at ThreeSistersToys.com.

Better keep a stack of these Tidy Table Covers™ by Mom Inventors, Inc., because once you use them, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them! How simple and convenient - no more need to tape newspaper or butcher paper to the work space. Just slip them over the table. What a time saver.

IThese are reusable (or disposable depending on how much of mess you make). They cost  $9.95 (3-Pack) at OneStepAhead.com.

The best of both worlds: this children’s First Meals cookbook was written by a Cordon Bleu chef and mom, Annabel Karmel. It has over 200 EASY, healthy recipes for children.

I never depended on ready-made meals out of a box, from a can, or from the frozen section, for my children’s meals…these were more like last resorts. I’m sure with a little more planning and time sheduling I could have done better, as we all could! Having a treasure-trove of easy and healthy kids meals readily available would be a big help.

It includes meals for lunch boxes, dinners, yummy treats and tips for food allergies and picky eaters. This hardcover book is 192 pages and costs $19.95 at OneStepAhead.com.