Simplify the TV for your kids with this handy remote

About a year ago, we added a TV to the toy room in our basement. The kids loved having it, but I hated going up and down the stairs over and over again to help them find a good channel. One afternoon I came down to find my 6 year old watching a steamy soap opera and decided I needed to do something. We almost got rid of the TV; then I found this handy solution.

I bought this universal kid-friendly remote on eBay for around $9. It's called a Weemote and it's made by Phillips. It's designed to allow you to program up to 5 mom-approved channels. The remote has big, colorful, numbered buttons that are very easy for the kids to learn; even my 3 year old can do it. For example, if they want to find the Disney channel, they don't have to remember numbers, they just push the yellow star. There's also a power button, volume control, and a channel changer that will only rotate through the 5 approved channels.

It can be programmed to work with any TV. The set-up was incredibly simple. It took me about 2 minutes. My treadmill is downstairs too, so if want to bypass all the Weemote programming I just grab the original remote or manually push the buttons on the TV. I noticed online that they also make a DVD player version, but I haven't tried it yet. If any of you have, make a comment on this post so I can find out if you like it as much as I like this one. :)

To help my kids keep track of their remote, I stuck some sticky-back velcro on both the back of the remote and the side of the TV. Now it has a place and doesn't get swept into the toy bucket on clean-up day. Sadly, it won't stop the fighting over who gets to hold the remote, but I haven't changed a channel in over a year which makes it a keeper in my book. Just thought I'd pass it on.