iBaby: Baby-Proofing your iPhone

While trying to think of something to write about; my daughter was busy chomping on my iPhone and it hit me like a ton of bricks: why not write about technology and babies. In today's day and age almost everyone is walking around with a rather expensive smart phone in their pocket and our kids want in!

Now while I'm not about to go out and buy my 20 month old an iPhone 4 I do feel badly tap-tapping away on it and telling her "No No" when she reaches for it with the "I want to play too Dad!" eyes. So I find myself giving in pretty often and letting her fiddle with it which usually means covering it in 'toddle gunk', rearranging my apps and once even deleting this really adorable video I had of her from around Christmas time (such a bummer!). So what is a parent to do?

Your first option is: do nothing. Realize it's just a phone and it's a baby - it's bound to happen and let them chomp away (this is the route I go). Your other option is to buy some kind of protective casing to shield your precious phone away from baby's choppers. I have never tried one of these personally because the lady and I decided no screen media before two (here's why), but our little one will be two in mid-august and it might be fun to introduce some interactive screen media which the app store is full of!

1) The Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn "iCan Play" Case - $14.99 (Being released in July 2011)

I stumbled upon this case on one of my favorite 'daddy-gear' sites http://www.daddyswag.com and found it really interesting and cool! Not only does it house the iPhone securely it also has other features commonly found on baby-toys (soft rubber grips, handles and even some baby chew-links!). The most important feature is the plastic covering that goes over the phone that allows the baby to play with the phone without actually touching the screen! It is priced at only $14.99 believe it or not and I will most likely be picking this up come August.

2) Griffin's "Woogie" iPhone Case + Speaker - $19.99 - BUY NOW

Griffin's soft squid like case may seem cuter than Fisher-Price's iCan Play case but it won't keep your iPhone as safe. If you notice, the iPhone can be removed with just a little lift of the velcro flap, I don't know about your toddler but mine would figure that out in about 15 seconds. Although it might not be as safe, it does provide some other great features not found in the iCan Play, like a speaker system that will boost the audio of whatever your little one is doing on the phone and a soft fun shape which will cushion the phone nicely when your kid whips it across the room. This one will set you back $20 which again isn't bad for an iPhone case w/ built in speaker.

3) OtterBox Defender Series iPhone Case - $49.95 - BUY NOW

Now this case is a bit different than the two I mentioned before in that it's not specifically designed for children, in reality it's probably designed for being run over by a tank. This may be taking it to the extreme but this thing is as bad ass as iPhone cases come. If you check YouTube there are videos of people tossing their phone off 20 story buildings, putting them in the bathtub and even running it over with a truck. Although this one will run you about 50 bucks (more than double the two previous cases) it's nice because you can leave it on all the time without looking like a weirdo so no need to take your phone out of it's normal case to put into the baby case. 

Feel free to leave some comments about how you baby-proof your electronics! -C