When my oldest was three she developed the most annoying habit. She would wake up at 5 am and expect me to be up and ready to play. I tried to explain to her that people do not wake up that early but she was not buying it. So, I had a brilliant idea, or so I thought. I explained to her that she had to wait until the clock in my room said 6 am before waking me up. I showed her what the “6” on my digital clock looked like and until it turned to “6” she had to go back to bed. Problem solved.
The next morning she came in my room and woke me up and asked, “Does it say “6” yet?” Problem not solved. Was it so unreasonable not to wake up before 6 am? Apparently to my little one it was far too much to ask. Today, she is a teenager and would stay in bed until noon if I allowed it.
I have two more little ones who also like to get up early or not go to bed since they see their older siblings staying up or the summer night is still lit up by the sun. Only this time I have found a solution. I thought it was too good to be true but Zazoo has taken the sting out of bedtime and naptime.
What is Zazoo?
Zazoo is a photo clock for little ones. The clock some with a few pre-programmed images, a sun and a moon, to indicate day and night. You set the clock to show the “day” picture at the time you want your child to get out of bed. My 13 year old suggested programming the sun not to rise until noon for her sisters. You can also set the clock to show the “night” picture to indicate bedtime. To which my 13 year old suggested I set it at 7 pm. Of course, she also suggested keeping the clock herself. Why? I will get to that in a minute. Now, once you set your day and night pictures your child will know when it is acceptable to get up and have bedtime reinforced. My little ones rush to see the clock when I say it is bedtime. When they see the moon they let out a little “sigh” and get ready for bed.
Naptime can be set in the same manner. However, since you can upload your own pictures you can use different pictures to indicate when naptime begins and ends. The naptime feature completely cured the little one who walks down the steps and asks “Is naptime over?” after only lying down for five minutes. With both the naptime and the bedtime features you can use the alarm feature in place of or with pictures.
Zazoo could have just stopped there and I would be happy. However, they took this a few steps further and made this one purchase you will not be selling back to a kid’s resale shop. The rest of the features are the reason my 13 year old wants the clock to be in her room. The clock has the ability to act as a rotating picture frame, can play video, is an MP3 player complete with headphone jack, and has a calendar. It is not your ordinary alarm clock. It comes in different styles which are not too “kiddie” for older children and not to “mature” for younger children. I have to say that I am considering getting the white one for my own room. I would love to wake up to a picture of my little smiling children. Especially since now I wake up to little children racing to get the last of the Chocolate Cheerios.