Sometimes, Mom or Dad have to be away from the kids -- business travel, family care, military service, lots of reasons. Wouldn’t it be great for little kids to still have a connection to their parents -- maybe the same kind of connection they have to a favorite stuffed animal?
Enter the Parent Doll, the brainchild of Altadena inventor and toymaker Brian Gibson. The Parent Doll is exactly that -- a squeezable doll with the parent’s face, that can speak up to four different messages in the parent’s own voice.
“A few years ago my childhood friend came up with this idea and wanted to know if he could do in in DVD -- I have a film background,” Gibson said. The idea was a DVD with the parent’s face and voice that could teach and talk to the young child.
But then the idea came: let’s do it on dolls.
The Parent Doll idea is rather simple: a male or female doll with a transparent plastic pocket over the face, so a picture of the parent can be inserted. The doll also has a recording device built in and switches in the hands and feet, so parents can record up to four different messages in their own voice. The doll can handle up to eight minutes of messages.
Pictured: Brian GIbson
“I knew it’s something doable, and it’s tangible, and kids love toys,” Gibson said. “And who better to learn from than Mom and Dad, rather than Dora the Explorer or Sponge Bob?
The doll can leave personal messages, recite the ABCs, or even a favorite bedtime story -- whatever the parents can imagine.
The ordering system is simple, to: order it on the website -- there are three skin color and five hair options -- and once it arrives, you can upload a picture on their website, adjust it to fit, and print it and cut it out with scissors to fit in the face plate. The parent can then record the messages by squeezing the recoding module in the doll’s tummy and the hand or foot.
Gibson says that the message can be changed at any time, and the parent doesn’t even have to be there: “If Dad is in Afghanistan, he can call the wife at home over a normal phone line, they can record his voice, and it’s still crystal clear.”
He is also selling the doll through toy fairs, referrals and parties -- they can bring a printer and blank doll to a party -- sometimes the children prefer their own face on the doll.
“We’ve had a couple of Justin Bieber requests, and some [adults] without kids think they’re great for honey-do lists and grocery lists,” Gibson said.
The dolls retail for about $70, although the website has a limited -time discount to $39.95 plus free shipping in the U.S.
Gibson has also formed a charitable 501(c) 3 corporation to give away dolls: "We did a major push during the holidays for families that are struggling. We gave some to Ronald McDonald House this year."
For more information -- or to order a doll -- visit the website at http://parentdoll.com/
