My Tot Clock

As I write this review, we have owned this clock for just over a year. We chose this clock because: 1) it was very well reviewed; 2) it has a clear, easy-to-read analog clock face on the front, and 3) it both plugs into the wall and uses batteries for backup or travel purposes.We love this clock and we still comment frequently on how it's improved our life. We also refer to bed time and wake time as "blue o'clock" and "yellow o'clock" like this is a perfectly normal thing.IT'S A CLOCK, NOT A SOUND MACHINEWe bought this clock for the bedtime blue and wake-up yellow. We also use the time out red. We don't use the alarm, the nap time color or the encouragement time color. We did not buy it for the music/story/white noise function. While we never had any intention of using these functions, we did try them out of curiosity and they aren't great, the sound quality leaves something to be desired. This is a clock, not a sound system.The analog clock on the front doesn't keep the best time, but it's easy enough to tweak it every so often. We probably adjust the analog clock by a few minutes once every month or two. It's the accurate digital clock on the back that runs the whole thing, so even if the analog clock is off you can still count on everything to happen on the correct schedule.It takes four AA batteries, and has a power adapter, so you can plug it into the wall for continuous power. If you have to replace the batteries, the only setting you lose is the current time. All of the other settings (e.g., wake-up, sleep) are remembered.EASY TO SET UP AND USEThe settings are on the back, where there's a digital clock and a series of well-marked buttons. At first glance it seems like too many buttons, but each one is large, color-coded and clearly labeled so it's easy to work out.There no multi-day setting, so we manually change it each weekend to give us an extra hour on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This is easy to do, but I wish there was a way to pre-set this (especially when I forget to change the setting before our son has gone to bed).Ease of use goes both ways, though. It didn't take long for our son to figure out how to mess with the clock. We implemented a zero-tolerance policy (instant timeouts, or a revoked privilege) and, luckily, after a few days he got the message and stopped. If necessary, we would have put the clock out of reach by hanging it on the wall (there's a hole in the back you can use) or putting it on a shelf. The day may still come when we need to do so, but so far he's still not playing with the clock.OUR EXPERIENCEOur son was about 2 1/2 when we got the clock. He understood the very first night that he needed to get into bed as soon as the clock turned blue. This was an immediate and wonderful effect. He was so proud of himself for knowing on his own when it was time to get into bed.It took about two nights before he fully understood that he needed to stay in bed until the clock turned yellow in the morning; then a few more nights before he actually did. Still, each night was better than the one before and in less than a week we went from several wake-ups a night to not hearing a peep until that triumphant shout of "MOMMY, DADDY...YELLOW CLOCK!" in the morning.The tough part for us was getting used to sticking to our schedule, because blue o'clock waits for nobody. In the long run, it was worth it, because now we have a great routine in the evenings that gets us from dinner to bath to bedtime stories to bed in a reasonably smooth flow. You can easily override the color changes but we didn't want to get into that habit except in extreme situations, so that our son would respect the clock and not expect us to change it on a whim.Now a year older, our son still understands that blue o'clock is blue o'clock, like it or not. He is starting to tell time by the clock face, and knows that about a half hour before yellow o'clock it's OK for him to turn on his light and play quietly in his room. ("Quietly in his room" can be a relative term for a three year old, but it's better than "chaotically all over the house.")We still make a big deal of congratulating him each morning for staying quiet until his clock turns yellow, and we suspect that helps motivate him.EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE and a MAINTENANCE TIPWe recently had an issue with the clock that affected the colored lights. I found the company website and emailed customer service. I quickly got a friendly response with a clearly explained list of things to try. She also made some suggestions based on her own experience with the clock and her child.It turned out the clock simply needed a reboot.To reboot the clock, you unplug it and remove the batteries for at least 60 seconds. Then they recommend you replace the batteries with new ones (four AA, not a big deal) and plug the clock back into the wall. As I mentioned above, this only wipes out the current time, and none of the other settings, so it's a very quick fix.Our clock is working like new again and I expect to use it for years to come.

These clocks (bought 2) are wonderful!I bought them mainly for their use without AC capabilities (I owned a clock that wet from a sun to stars and had two sleeping settings: night time and nap time - liked it but had to reset everything everytime there was a power failure or when I moved it plus I could not take it easily with me traveling because it had to be plugged in all the time to work).I got so much more with these clocks!!! 30 minutes of music (5 different pleasant lullabies playing in a loop) that I may select to play or not at the start of bed time; white noise that may continue to play during nap time or through the night after the music is done- if I so choose of course; a 8 minute story (only one though but the possibility of more if I buy a different cartridge) that can be read before the music;Now you set the time for the start of bed time and the end of bed time (quick and easy to do). The clock will AUTOMATICALLY engage in that mode when the time comes. But you can override that anytime by simply pressing 5 sec.on the corresponding button on top of the clock. It will immediately engage in the selected mode (ex. nap time routine or bed time routine). To stop the story, or the music, or the white noise before its normal course, simply push on the corresponding button on top of the clock as you would on a snooze button and it responds immediately. Those buttons are color coded to simplify things. Very, very simple to operate.You set nap time by defining a DURATION (hour & minutes). You start it by pressing the nap button 5 seconds.Extremely easy to change your settings. There are 5 levels of brightness, again adjustable very intuitively.When it is "wake up" time, after the nap and after bed time, you can choose to have music (a little happy tune playing) playing or not.The volume of the music for the wake up music is INDEPENDENT of that of the falling to sleep music and, again, so easy to adjust.And, on top of it all, you see the time in analog format ! (though you set the times for nap time duration and bed time and wake up in digital format).In addition to all that, there are TWO more usage of the clock: ENCOURAGEMENT time and DISCIPLINE time that can be set in a similar way to the nap time. I have not used those yet.There is SO MUCH bundled in these clocks, it is unbelievable !Now, what are the cons ??Well if I look really, really hard, I can find TWO things:1- out of the 6 TREASURES - this is how the company calls the other cartridges that carry other stories & music - ONLY 2 remain available. 4 are sold out. So this was a disappointment to me as the 4 that are sold out have the 4 most interesting stories.2- I would have preferred the clocks to be smaller BUT I would rather have them as they are & made in USA-- don't want to give up on any of their great options!I would like to congratulate the person or team who engineered this great clock! WOW !

My kids get up at the butt crack of dawn and this allows me to sleep until a sane time. They know they are supposed to play in their room until the clock turns blue and then they can come get us for breakfast. The music is really stupid sounding and the "stories" are practically indecipherable, but my daughters love them so what the hell do I know?In case you're trying to decide which of these types of clock to purchase, we also have a "bunny clock" sleep timer that we used when they were younger (and are saving for when the baby gets old enough to understand it), but I wanted to get this clock to help teach time telling (and again, thinking ahead to when the baby will understand that mommy needs her effing sleep). The bunny clock is also great but I appreciate that the tot clock is on a timer setting for naps, while the bunny clock has a set "wake-up time" for both naps and sleep. This is a huge pain for me because my kid never goes down for a nap at the EXACT same time every single day, which means that EVERY time she had a nap I would have to adjust the clock to a new wake-up time. With the tot clock, I know the timer is already set for two hours, and I just press the nap time button when putting her down for a nap. (One other downside of the bunny clock - it is WAY too easy to accidentally set it in "alarm mode," which you will sorely regret when this scary ass rooster noise wakes your kid up and you emerge from your slumber to a child screaming in terror!)Conclusion: the tot clock is a bit superior to the bunny clock, and worth a bit of extra money. (But don't think your kid is going to get anything out of the "stories" thing, because it sounds like a fairy princess voice recorded onto a gramophone while gargling listerine.)