Perhaps I'm missing something...where does the child sit? Straddling the huge C-clamp jutting out which prods them in the chest each time they lean in for another bite of cereal?

oh my gosh, that's ridiculous! we never used suction plates or bowls with the boys. it just seemed like too much temptation. like the suction cup was a challenge. :)

Nothing called "Lil" *anything* is hot.

But there is something hilarious about this all the same.

i don't know if i would call this "hot" but when you have a two-year-old who likes to overturn anything in his way when he's upset, you can start to see why this would perhaps be a good idea.

First, I would be concerned that it might damage the table. And second, if I didn't screw it in tightly enough to where it would damage the table, my 2 year old would be able to unscrew it with no problem.

My husband is an engineer and loves to find functional but inelegant solutions to any problem around the house. (Okay, he would tell you that functionality *is* elegant and accuses me of caring more about how things look than how they work. Fair enough!) This is totally something he would go for, but it would be modified with some foam padding to avoid damaging our (rather soft) pine table.
I agree with the previous poster who thought this would leave no room for a child to sit. If you push a high chair up to the table, the child would have to reach over sideways to get at the bowl. If she was in a regular chair, she'd be bumping herself against the clamp. It would make a lot more sense if the plastic holder bit were not placed straight out in front of the clamp. If it had an arm (either rigid or one that could be swung to the left or right and screwed in place), the plate/bowl could be placed in front of the child and the clamp would be attached to the table beside the high chair.

Not Hot at all.
I don't see a link to the product but it looks like you need to have all 3 parts: clamp, base and bowl. I'm assuming the bowl and base are one piece, otherwise it would obviously tip over.
I just don't get why people bother with products like these!

definitely not

It may stop a bowl from being overturned, but it hardly stops all of the mealtime mess. What about all the sticky bits the kid drops during the trip from bowl to mouth. Or the food the kid grabs, crumbles, drops, tosses, etc. The sad truth is you pretty much have to clean the table floor after every single meal for quite a few years...

my boy is 15.5 months old and when he first sat at the table with a bowl of his own, he thought it was a toy. fine. that's how he first treats everything. images akin to this contraption floated above my head in a comic book bubble when dinner was showered around me...

but we persevered and ate with him (sure, sometimes with one hand on his bowl or plate), all the while showing him how we eat at a table. And now he eats quite well on his own. it took 3 months. He doesn't stab himself with the points on a regular fork and he hasn't damaged his teeth on the regular metal spoon, either. His dinnerware is our dinnerware (not the good china ;) ). It doesn't look like colorful plastic toys and perhaps that's why he doesn't treat them like toys, either.

this clamp thingy is just funny. my comic book bubble come to reality!

abbygraykit - your post made me LOL. So true!!

Absolutely agree with Julie K - screwing a plate to a table wouldn't stop the contents going all over the floor, the table, the chair etc. etc. etc. The only difference would be that now you would have to clean the clamp too.

As for the suction bowls...ever seen what happens when a very determined toddler pulls and pulls to get the bowl loose? With one good tug the suction gives and the food flies!

Now hold on... while I agree this contraption isn't going to do a bit of good to stop the mess, and it is admittedly foolish looking, how about thinking outside of the box?

I know my toddler can't possibly be the only one who is often frustrated by his 'roaming' plate. You know the drill--kiddo attempts to scoop a bite only to see the bowl/plate slide away...

Sure, there are plates and things with a rubbery ring around the bottom to prevent such a situation, but maybe a table clip isn't such a bad idea? If only it were a bit less... intrusive.

That is simply ridiculous. I'd like the link to see who is marketing it.

You should see the clamp designed to keep the kid in the chair!

I want to see the link! This doesn't really seem real. Wouldn't it have made more sense to use a less bulky clamp? Or at least a more attractive one? Hmmm...

We had to spend a long time telling our guy to not move his bowl/plate. But eventually he got it. The suction cup thing just seemed to be a challenge that he HAD to figure out how to remove.

LOL, I put Hot because it cracked me up! I sometimes feel like doing this, but it probably wouldn't help much.

This has to be a joke. I want to see the link, too. I'm going to be shocked if it's real.

Wait--there is a link. Click where it says "L'il Dinner Plate Holder" right above the poll.

were simply teaching our son not to throw his food on the floor, not to play with it, and not to set his bowl on the edge of the table. he is turning two this month and has it down...dosent mean we dont clean up a mess but we dont clean up deliberate messes.

Actually, my hubby invented this and it was extremely helpful for our little boy. The picture is very misleading. The horizontal part of the clamp is supposed to sit flush with the table, not poking out towards the baby. You can see a better picture at our website www.lildiner.com or on babiesrus.com. We also have a dual suction version that is much more discrete, but I personally still prefer the clamp. Anyway, say what you will but this invention is super HOT, much like it's inventor.