The Gro Company Gro-Clock Review
I was sent the Gro-Clock to try out from The Gro Company who specialise in baby products from Nursery to travel items. I had heard of the Gro-Clocks before but had never tried one, mainly because my son is actually a very good sleeper. Since he was just a few months old he has slept through the night and currently sleeps from 7.30pm until anywhere from 8am until 10am the following morning.
It may seem a little pointless reviewing a product like this when my son sleeps very well however I did want to try it for a few reasons. The first being as a night light, the second as a way to teach my toddler about time and the third to help him get up at a more regular time on a morning. As a night light it was great as it connected to the mains and wasn’t battery operated meaning no batteries running out in the middle of the night. It is also very easy and quick to plug in and set it away every night. You can also adjust `the brightness setting of the light which is ideal as you can set it to what suits your child and also the room.
As far as teaching my toddler to tell the time or the concept of time, this is not obviously going to happen any time soon, but it is never too early to start teaching them things. When setting the time on the Gro-clock it will display 12 stars on the outer part of the clock face. These stars will start to disappear as the night progresses and obviously as the time draws nearer to the wake up time set on the clock, there will be fewer stars left. This means your little one can actually see when it is coming towards the alarm. They will start to learn that one star means it is morning and almost time to get up and the more stars on the clock, the more time they have until morning. This is a good start and a great way to teach little ones about time and to start understanding a clock. You could also teach them what time each star is in the night (granted you keep the bed and wake-up time the same) So this is something that you could work on with your little one, again teaching them to tell the time.
When it is time for your child to get up out of bed and all stars have disappeared, a sun symbol will begin to appear and the yellow-y light will come on gradually, alerting your child in a calming, nice way that they should get up. This is great for my child who sometimes can be really lazy and has even slept in until 11am. The light comes on and brightens the room and on the days he was still asleep at 9am, this woke him up nicely and was a much kinder way to wake him up than other alarms. I actually find that if he sleeps in too long this actually puts him in a worse mood so this definitely helped avoid that.
The Gro-clock was so simple to use and everything could be controlled by just a few buttons. I can see how this would be very useful to little ones who tend to wake up a lot in the night or very early in the morning. It is definitely something that would take a lot of patience with parents of restless little ones and would be something that your child would need to get used to, but I do believe it could really work. Unfortunately it is not something that will work on younger babies as there is no way of getting them to understand the clock and therefore would just be used as more of a night-light, so it is definitely more suited for children from toddler age and up. It is such a simple yet effective product and for some parent’s could be a God send
! Obviously you would need to work out the best time for you and your child as although it would be nice to think you could have a late lie in on a weekend this just isn’t possible or fair for your child if they get up a lot earlier.
The clock also comes with a little book that is to be read at night right before you set the clock and leave your little one to go to sleep. The book is called Sleepy Farm and is a nice bedtime book that also educates your child on why it is important to stay in bed until it is morning and also the importance of a good nights sleep. This is great for getting them in a routine with the clock and also for making the introduction of the clock and the book together seem fun.
I would 100% recommend this product and think it is a bargain at only £29.99 (with free delivery!). I have spent a lot more than that for just standard night-lights and the millions of batteries I have needed for them. The Gro Company do lots of other brilliant baby products too with lots helping babies and children to have the best nights sleep possible. From travel black out blinds to swaddle wraps.
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