“I wish I’d known about that!” That’s what Dalia Strum heard herself and every other mother saying as they entered pregnancy and childbirth; as they entered the world of baby products. For Strum, starting her baby registry was one of the scariest moments of her life—she spent five and a half hours picking out a stroller. “When you’re setting up a wedding registry, it’s exciting—you know you need dishes, you know you need plates—but when you’re starting a baby registry, you don’t know exactly what you need,” Strum explains.
Faced with an overwhelming amount of choices, Strum often learned about the best products and discovered helpful information that could have benefited her and her son Jaydon (now 9-months-old) after it was too late to be pertinent.
To aid similarly product-overwhelmed parents, Strum developed Mommy’s Toolbox, a monthly customized subscription of four to five samples that correspond with each stage of the baby’s development from birth to 12 months. “In the very beginning, I wanted to help other moms because I felt there’s such a lack of information,” Strum says. “It’s tough when you’re in such a different realm in your life and you don’t necessarily have any experience to know what you’re going to need or what you’re going to want.”
Unlike other subscription boxes, which often send toys and books, Mommy’s Toolbox focuses on necessity items. “[Books, rattles, and toys] weren’t helping me solve real problems,” Strum says. “What we focus on is the core essentials. We focus on trying before you buy.”
Although this may sound like a toolbox for first-time parents, it holds value for any parents who are looking to optimize their time and money. “Second- or third-time parents know from their experience that there is no one best fit fits all, and because they’ve already been through it, they don’t want to waste the money or time so they’d rather make better decisions from the beginning.”
Strum is not only looking to help parents try products and see what works for them, but to integrate products with information as well, so parents can be given the best advice for taking care of their children. To make this possible, Strum converses with experts and maintains an informational blog. Plus, right now, Mommy’s Toolbox is preparing for a beta launch and Strum has a Kickstarter campaign up and running in order to take the service to the next level. To learn about the campaign and to contribute, click HERE!
Researching for Mommy’s Toolbox has affected Strum and her husband in raising Jaydon. “We’re starting to understand how to handle situations differently, we’re starting to understand different options that are available that i never knew about before,” Strum says. “What I’m learning is that I personally don’t know everything, and I get excited every time I meet either a new mom or a new expert because I’m always learning something new.”
To learn more, visit mommystoolbox.com!
