With a newborn and a three year old, we aren’t brave enough to venture out to eat very often these days.  When my three year old was younger, however, we used to go out for dinner at least once a week, often with a friend and her son of approximately the same age.  I have some fond memories of those dinners, and then I have some embarrassing memories of screaming children, flying food, and broken salad plates.

Sometimes, between worrying about keeping your child entertained and well-behaved, and worrying about the germs he or she may be acquiring from restaurant tables, eating out completely loses its appeal. The people at Bebe ChaCha have designed a product that aims to help with both of these issues.  Their sticker placemats feature brightly colored designs that will interest your child.  They stick to the restaurant table, creating a barrier between your child and germs and allowing you, should you choose, to remove breakable plates from the picture completely by placing your little one’s food directly on the 11 x 14 placemat.  When the meal is over, you simply peel it off the table.

These palcemats come in a pack of 12.  They are packaged in a plastic zipper-seal bag so that you can carry them easily in your purse or diaper bag.  They may not completely solve your dinning out woes, but they definitely promise to make things a little bit easier. You can purchase a pack for $8.99 at BeBeChaCha.com.

This is a good idea, and one that I had never heard of until I saw an ad for it in Scholastic’s “Parent and Child” magazine recently. A company called SafetyTat came up with the ingenious notion of temporary safety tattoos for children, and have built a lucrative business on this idea. Each safety tattoo lists a child’s emergency phone number and other information that may be important. Safety tattoos are recommended for when your child is going to be in a public place with a large amount of people and will have the potential to get lost: at an amusement park, the zoo, a sports event at a stadium, even at the mall. They sound easy to apply, using a warm, wet cloth, and can be removed with baby oil. SafetyTat also sells quick-stick write-on tattoos that are like stickers which you place on your child and then peel off to remove.

A variety of styles and uses are available, including original safety tats, allergy safety tats (to alert others of any allergies your child may have - a great idea), and even special needs safety tats, to alert others that a child is autistic or non-verbal (I’m not sure if I agree with that idea - it’s literally “labeling” your child). Right now they are featuring Halloween safety tats, to keep your child safe during trick-or-treat.

SafetyTat uses FDA approved medical-grade acrylic (not latex) adhesive on its safety tattoos. Each safety tat measures 2.25″ x 0.875″. 30 Original SafetyTats sell for $19.95 at SafetyTat.com.