GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, and some Minnesota women are hoping that's true. Their invention seems perfectly paired for the unusual times we're living in.
“My son, he's two-years-old, and doesn't really like having his temperature taken," says Grace Meyer.
Grace Meyer is a mom, a veterinarian and an idea gal.
“I always try to distract him with a stuffed animal to get him to look at me, or at the thermometer, and then it just kind of, that idea kind of came about, and we kind of went from there,” she says.
Grace and another woman came up with T-buddy. It's a small stuffed animal that straps on to a temporal thermometer. The little plush monkey with a happy face makes temperature taking a little more fun. And while the idea came along before COVID, Grace realized that taking temperatures has become somewhat of a 2020 thing.
“We'd love to see this used in places, like public places, schools, daycares, even places where they're sporting events where they're taking temperatures frequently,” says Grace.
They're hoping other people like the idea too and will be willing to back it through a Kickstarter campaign. If it takes off, then the monkey might just get some friends.
"That would be great if we could make a few different types of animals, if we could even expand it into other things,” she says.
A sweet and simple idea for what has become complicated times.