Gripper Mats by Proper Design offer a non-adhesive, damage-free solution to securely display blind spot or "Angles Morts" signs on campervans, lorries, and horse boxes. Ideal for non-magnetic surfaces, they are reusable, weather-resistant, and easy to apply, protecting both your vehicle and other road users.
Sticking vinyl stickers to vehicles damages paint, they are difficult to remove and they can only be used once. Using Gripper Mats by Proper Design solves all of these problems.
When operating in extreme weather conditions, safety and stability are paramount. That’s why the U.S. Coast Guard trusts Gripper Mats by Proper Design to ensure items and signage is secure on their vessels. Engineered for superior adhesion, Gripper Mats withstand harsh environments like high winds, heavy rain, ice, and rough seas. With their ability to maintain grip in all weather conditions, Gripper Mats provide crucial safety for Coast Guard personnel, offering reliable performance in the most demanding maritime situations. Durable, weather-resistant, and built to last, they have become an essential part of the Coast Guard’s operational gear.
Mealtimes can be incredibly stressful when you’re teaching your little one to eat. Often more food seems to end up covering the room than in your little ones tummy! The fact of the matter is that this behaviour is perfectly normal. Nevertheless, this fact doesn’t help your patience or your décor. To help it stop, we need to understand why it’s happening.
Why do Babies and Toddlers Throw Food?
Throwing food is completely normal for kids between 8 and 18 months old. This happens for a variety of reasons.
They are learning cause and effect – It’s fun for babies and toddlers to drop or chuck food, especially onto the floor. They don’t mean to make a mess, they are actually learning that they can make something happen.
Their way of communicating – Little ones often have limited vocabulary. Once they learn they can drop food, it isn’t long before they realise that they can throw food off their high chair simply because they don’t want to eat it. Babies and toddlers may not like certain foods simply because of how it looks, tastes, the colour it is or its texture. Alternatively, they may not know how to eat it, this is something we often take for granted as parents.
They want your attention – Kids, even babies and toddlers crave attention, even negative attention. So, if you give them a big reaction when they do something you’re not too thrilled about such as throwing food, they will most likely continue to do it.
Fear of being force fed – As a parent, you desperately want your little one to eat enough. Partly so they grow into a healthy young and energetic child and partly so that you can get a decent night sleep! Therefore, it can be really tempting to force feed babies and toddlers. We’ve all seen it; “the aeroplane is coming into land”, “the trains coming into the tunnel”, “have 3 more scoops and then you can have pudding”. These are strategies that should be avoided. The truth is that these pressurising techniques tend to cause more negative issues around food that could well go on into their adulthood. Some kids that have been force fed will throw any and all food the instant they see it as a defence mechanism. Try to relax knowing that your little one will eat if they are hungry.
Ok, so hopefully understanding these causes should hopefully help you to keep your stress levels down. Now let’s look at what we can do about it.
Top Tips to Stop your Baby or Toddler Throwing Food
Give them less food – Kids love to play with their food. If we give them a big helping of food, it literally gives them that much more to throw. Sometimes the reason they’re throwing their food is because it’s an overwhelming amount in front of them, but even if that’s not the case, giving them just a few pieces (try 1-3 at a time) on their tray will often eliminate the throwing of food all together. Try decanting just a little bit from a plate/bowl next to you on to their tray or into their bowl.
Use a suction bowl – if they love to throw the whole bowl, we recommend using a strong suction bowl. NanoGrip™ on Amazon has the strongest suction by far meaning much less mess. They will no doubt try and try again to remove it but they will soon give up once they realise the bowl is not coming off.
Here's a video of our NanoGrip™ Suction Bowl pulling a 1.5 tonne car.
Give them 100% attention – As a busy parent, we’d often like to unload the dishwasher, clean the kitchen, or make a quick phone call while our babies and toddlers are busy eating, but you’ll be able to stop them from throwing much easier if you’re sitting down with them with your full attention.
Keep a cool head – Giving the illusion of calm will help your child learn that you are not fazed by any food they throw. Remember that kids love your attention, even if it’s negative attention. You may have to fake your calm-attitude initially but in the long run it will help you to be more patient. This patience will set a lovely, calm tone for mealtimes that allows your child to feel comfortable exploring new foods and eating until their tummy is full!
State positive expectations – When you’re at mealtime and your little one drops some food on the floor, calmly pick it up and state, “We keep food on the tray”. It is super important not to over-react. You do not want this to sound like a telling off as this is giving the food dropping behaviour too much attention and they will probably do it again. Notice how the language used: “We keep food on the tray” is phrased on the positive expectation, not worded negatively as in this example: “No throwing food”. Remember, you want mealtimes to be calm, positive experiences. You will need to repeat the positive phrase dozens of times, over a period of two weeks or more but trust us, it will sink in eventually. Just stay positive and calm.
Teach them to put unwanted food into a special section on their high chair – If it’s obvious that your baby or toddler doesn’t like a food and that’s why they’re throwing it, show them that they can pile it into a corner of their tray or a separate compartment (usually for a drink) like many modern high chairs now have. With little ones that are not yet talking, it’s important to understand that they understand far more than they can say so don’t feel like this is all falling on deaf ears. After you repeat the phrase: “We keep food on the tray”, take their hand. While you’re holding their hand or wrist and move it to where they can put their food and say, “You can put it here.”
Now, relax knowing that you’ve got some strategies up your sleeve ready to tackle your little ones next throwing attempts. Stay positive, these strategies will make a difference.
How do you stop baby bowls from slipping and sliding or even worse being picked up and the contents being emptied all over the floor? There are three main ways to solve this problem:
1. Silicone based bowls and plates.
These are standard bowls and plates but have a grippy material permanently attached to the bottom. These are ok but do not really grip that well. They can be quite expensive and some can only be hand washed. They do not hold the bowl or plate down at all.
2. Suction.
There are bowls with built in suction and separate units that attach to your existing bowl/plates. The suction systems vary enormously in quality and the aim is that the bowl is held completely down eliminating spillage. This is fine in theory but the problems start as soon as you try to use them. Our research suggests that many users complain that they simply do not work. Others say that they need pumping several times to create enough suction. Our tests verify both of these complaints but the results do vary between products. The difficulty we found was that when pumping the air out of the suction cup it was very difficult and impractical to do when the bowl or plate is full of food. We also found that babies didn't want to sit and wait patiently while we pumped their food up and down in front of them until it was firmly held in place. Nearly all of the suction systems lost suction during the babies meal and some to the point that they completely came loose and toppled off defeating the purpose completely. There is also a moral question for parents and carers to ask themselves here. If the suction cup does manage to completely hold the bowl in place, what are we teaching our young children? Is it really teaching them how to eat?
Gecko Grippers are a revolution in the baby market. They are highly sticky, flexible mats that are designed to hold any smooth object to any smooth surface. They do not use any adhesive whatsoever, leave no marks whatsoever and last indefinitely. We have taken these through the strictest testing possible, comparing them to the other options discussed above and they outperform them all. They are incredibly grippy little things. Only 3mm thick and 12 cm diameter but can hold a solid metal 2Kg weight to the ceiling. How is this possible? The science can be discussed in another blog post but for now lets think about baby bowls and plates. Gecko Grippers are the best all-round solution for when your baby / toddler starts weaning / self-feeding. They will hold the bowl or plate securely but not completely as a prolonged peeling action will release the bowl. Only 3 of our 10 babies realised that they could eventually lift the bowl and we had to sit and watch them as they put every ounce of effort in to do it. In the real world this would buy parents and carers the time they need to intervene if they chose to. An important thing to bear in mind is that most standard plates and bowls have a small ridge on the underneath. Depending on the size of the ridge, this means that the surface contact and therefore the grip is limited. I.e. the more surface contact, more more grip. This is not normally a problem though as the Gecko Gripper sits inside this on most bowls and plates. In the washing tests, the Gecko Grippers also won. A very quick rinse in lukewarm, soapy water and any food on the mat simply slipped off. It's interesting to note that the properties of the Gecko Grippers completely changed when wet. They became very slippery instead of grippy, weird. When dry, the Gecko Gripper really did stick just as well as when it was used for the first time. All in all, a remarkably simple yet fantastic solution to the age old problem of baby bowls!
Just to let you know these rubber bumpers are as I said. "A great cost effective help for Tinnitus sufferers."
People tend to slam cupboard doors especially in kitchen and bathroom areas with no idea of the effect a little door slap can do to a ringing brain.
Whinging nagging or complaining never helps, just spreads the misery and makes you look like a wimp.
Your rubber bumpers should be available on the NHS, complete with a big label saying, "NOT TO BE TAKEN"
Now I just have to stop wandering around the place opening and closing drawers and doors with a stupid look of delight on my face, my other half thinks I've lost the plot.
Thank you once again for a wonderful product, I'm sure I'll be back for more.
