This weekend I was working on a stroller review comparing our old UppaBaby Vista with our new Baby Jogger City Select. Searching for a few images to use in the post I came across a blog post about a homemade iPad mount for their kid a Mom made for her City Select. After reading the post I was, as a parent, well, not horrified but definitely annoyed. I understand that we all have that point at which we will do anything to shut up comfort our kids when they hit a high enough decibel or enough time elapses with the crying/screaming. Sure, No problem, I get it. But I think it’s a completely different story to preempt that potential situation by giving them something in the hopes of keeping them quiet.

To the author, Mrs. Graham’s credit she does point out that she knows that people are not going to be happy with her letting her 2 year old kid watch TV and invites “HAVE AT IT haters”. Well, this hater is gonna hate I guess.

Babies like trains. Babies like moving lights and colors. You just bought a printer to print out pictures of your baby. WAT DO?!

Well, if you’re this Swedish Reddit user named Vekturbrektur, you turn your printer box into a train. We got a hold of Vekturbrektur – or Victor – and asked him a couple more questions about his train.

This week’s Podcast Question of the Week is about your phones:

What are your favorite apps for your kids?

No matter the age, you can find apps for iOS and Android to entertain your kid. For babies, there are interactive storybooks. For toddlers, there are flashcard word games. For little gamers, there are all sorts of cutesy applications and games for a buck or two – or better yet, free – that will entertain your kid indefinitely.

Do you like drawing apps like DoodleBuddy? Tie-in stuff like Elmo Calls? How about Angry Birds?

Be sure to tell us how old your kids are so that others with kids in that age group can benefit too!

We want to know! Leave your answer in the comments here and we’ll read some of your answers on our podcast! Be sure to watch on Tuesday, 4/10.

This week’s Podcast Question of the Week has to do with kids and cell phones:

Do you let your kids play with your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or other smartphone or tablet?

Recently, we talked to Ken Denmead, who you might know better as Geek Dad. He suggested that letting your kids play with (specifically) iOS devices is a fun way to get some learning in. With all of the educational apps out there and final-answer-refutation of cellphone radiation, we’re kind of stoked to see if our kids can beat that level of “Angry Birds” that seems im-poss-i-bal.

Do you let your kids play with your iPhone or iPad? How about an iPod Touch? Kindle? Nook? Tablet? Smartphone? Whatcha got and what do they play?

We want to know! Leave your answer in the comments here and we’ll read some of your answers on our podcast, this Sunday, 10/30.

Geek Dad writer Don Martelli offered his fatherly expertise, posing five reasons why the Apple iPad was made to keep parents from losing their s**t. And Martelli isn’t just doing the Anytown Daily News thing and saying “there’s lots of educational apps!”

Martelli’s got a couple of compelling reasons – most of which boil down to a parent’s most important skill: the art of distraction. According to Martelli, some of the best times to flip an iPad over to your spawn are during potty training and in the grocery store. Not bad, Martelli – I kind of wish I had one at those times too.

And yes, I’m going to go there – if at all possible, put your iPad into “airplane” mode so just in case we still believe that cell signals cause cancer, you’re not baking your kid’s head under the guise of your own convenience. Just sayin’.

If you’ve tooled around this site a little, you’ll most likely already know that we’re totally hard for anything Back To The Future. Today the official trailer for Back To The Future: The Game hit the webs and it is heavy. We’ve been pretty stoked on this and it’s great to see something officially out there. Check it out after the jump.

The New York Times ran a piece last week, which yes, took me three days to read, about toddlers and their newfound love – our smartphones. True, we’ve talked about using your smartphone as a distraction for your kids in the past, but it’s also important to note, as I think Hilary Stout, the author of the NYT is stating, that you don’t use your iPhone or iPad as a replacement for…you know, real life.

Ugh…hardcopy. What is this, the 80′s?

How many times have we personally, at work or home, gone digital with something instead of jotting it down on a sheet of paper? Do you note phone numbers, leave yourself reminders and even manage grocery lists on your smartphone? You’re not alone – your kid’s starting to do these things too. As a society, we’ve moved away from handwriting, in favor organizational smartphones, iPads and netbooks. Personally, if someone had a gun to my head and told me I had to write my own ransom note, I don’t think I’d be able to find a sheet of paper and a pen.