The Clapper

Because I have this inner drive to speak to every stranger, I’ve gotten to know our UPS man over the years.  So the day he brought us a random package I wasn’t at all afraid to say, “what in the heck did my husband order now?”  We ripped it open to find that he had succumbed to the late night pressures of internet shopping and ordered us The Clapper.

You know, the old lady lying in bed who sits up and *clap clap* turns off the lights before kerplunking herself back down?  Clap on, clap off, THE CLAPPER!

I couldn’t believe it, and yet there it was, in my own house.

The husband was pretty darn excited.  He immediately plugged it in and started slapping his hands together and adjusting the sensitivity (ooh!  Fancy technology!) for The Clapper so that it would register the more faint claps of our children because, unbeknownst to me, it was going in their bedroom.  And what kid doesn’t need a Clapper?

All in all, I have to give it props.  It does actually work.  We did have to practice and learn the rhythm of the machine, but my kids can turn on their reading lights and then turn them off when it’s time to go to sleep.

But as is with most things, there is a “con” side of it too.

For one, you have to get past the thought that you were crazy enough to buy a product that has been ridiculed for decades.

Secondly, you have to realize that a lot of other things sound like people clapping.  Two cases in point: when my kids were hit with their annual back-to-school cold and nighttime cough, they accidentally turned the lights on in the middle of the night with their hacking.  I actually heard my daughter coughing…and then clapping… more than once before we just turned off the whole shebang.

Also, when kids joke around and make loud fart sounds, be aware that they also may set off The Clapper, which in turn sets off enough laughter to make the goofy product worth its weight in gold to every little boy on Earth.

Would I recommend it?  Sure, if you’re into the novelty stuff.  Mostly it’s easier to actually turn off the lights, but I admit to having my own share of fun clap-clapping things on and off.

Makes me wonder if everything else I see on TV works just as well…