I gotta think our mothers must all be slightly annoyed with the state of parenting today. I mean, there is just so much great stuff for kids and parents to make life infinitely easier.

Gone are the days of 1000 pound strollers, scratchy baby clothes and ill-fitting diapers. And toy chests? That’s so 1901. Today’s toy catch all must be a mix of form and function. Like these animal bags from Boon discovered by the modern-parenting-meets-modern-design blog coochicoos, “Take all your dust collecting stuffed animals off the shelves, and zip them up into Boon’s Animal Bags to give them a new home. Then use the Animal Bags as a comfy seat much like a bean bag.”

Speaking of strollers, Rare Bird Finds discovered the neatest little addition – it’s called Little Handfuls, and it’s a cute little sack that attaches to the front bar of a stroller so food or small toys can always be within reach of your little one. Not high-tech or designed by a Art School grad, but insanely useful none-the-less.

Kid Therapist MissKellyOT has curated an amazing list of fun but important items for child development. For sitting time she suggests a bean bag chair or a Disc O Sit. And how cute are these finger brushes? “It works on finger coordination” says Kelly, “not as messy as finger painting, but still a lot of fun.”

Daddy blogger and ThisNexter Kevin of WebGoonies.com recommends The Seat Chiller for parents who have kids in car seats. It’s function? Just what the name states…tt cools down the seat while in a hot car, so your kids doesn’t get burned by metal the seat buckles. Genius. Kevin explains,

“ Living in Arizona , we have a crazy amount of hot days resulting in a scorching hot car. The result is an extremely hot car seat as well. The Seat Chiller however keeps it cool.

The Seat Chiller is not to be used while the child is in the seat but rather before the child is placed into it. We take the unit out of our freezer a few minutes prior to leaving and when we get into the car, the seat is nice and chilled. The gel packs keep the unit cool for quite some time.

I am tempted to steal this from my son as it works so well. I wonder when they are coming out with a model for adults.”

I’m with Kevin on that one? I would L-O-V-E a seat chiller for my hot leather car seats!!

So what’s good design and function without a little fun? Alisha recommends the Airzooka in her list Cool Gifts For Spoiled Kids. I don’t think the Airzooka really truly qualifies as spoiling a kid – it’s a great toy, as Alisha explains, “ this bright plastic ‘zooka’ shoots a harmless ball of air. hilarious when aimed at the elaborately coiffed. no worrying about kiddie knocking down grandma’s ming vase with a nerf dart, requires no batteries or other acoutrements that could be swallowed or lost, and could spark an interest in physics.”

Clearly, even in this crazy world, it’s a good time to be a kid and a parent…and something tells me with an Airzooka in hand, even the grandparents can’t hold much of a grudge.