The perfect babysitter

 

Some ideas last an instant, others last a lifetime. For Jack Wilford, a flash of brilliance that came to him some 40 years ago is entering its second generation on the shores of his Midland Bay property. “We’d often sit our son and daughter on the bench of the picnic table,” recalls Wilford, “and because they were so small, their chins would only come up to the tabletop.”

Avid picnickers, the family repeatedly found itself in need of a pair of booster seats as well as something in which to carry their outdoor feasts. “Those two needs came together nicely in one simple solution,” says Wilford of his cleverly crafted picnic basket/booster seat combo. “And now that we’ve got a new grandson, he’s able to use it too.”

Likening his invention’s design to a set of clasped hands, Wilford used half-inch fir plywood to construct a picnic basket that easily pulls apart into a pair of sturdy booster seats. When assembled, the bottom and sides of the basket interlock to form a sturdy box and handles cut into the opposing ends make for an easy-to-carry tote. Once separated, each half slides onto a picnic table’s bench along a cut-out in the plywood, providing the wee folk with elevated seating and safe, easy access to the action on top of the table.

“It’s a miracle that it’s still around,” says Wilford of his recently refurbished picnic basket/booster seat. “With all the stuff that gets thrown out, here it is after all this time. And all I had to do was paint it up.”

- Pat Lynch

 

 

 

Originally published in the April/May 2006 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2006 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.