All Dads need a thermometer for checking up on their children’s various illnesses, so why not make it a Dadget thermometer? Admittedly, I am quite drawn to using an old-fashioned mercury thermometer – there’s something about the threat of a rectal temperature reading that keeps kids from feigning illness – but a modern father needs a modern thermometer.

Mothercare Forehead Thermometer (£3.99 from Mothercare)

Cheap, cheerful, and completely impractical is this offering from Mothercare. It is a heat sensitive strip that you press against your child’s forehead like a crazed gunman for about 7 hours before it finally changes colour to indicate the appropriate temperature. If you’ve ever tried using this on a real-life, wriggling, screaming baby then you’ll soon realise that your £4 would have been much better spent on some Whisky miniatures.

Braun Thermoscan 4520 (£29.34 from Amazon.co.uk)

This is more like it. The Braun Thermoscan is digital, it takes temperatures within only a few seconds, and is the tool of choice for doctors which is reassuring. My only gripe with the Braun is that it uses single-use covers for the ear sensor. I’m all for hygiene, but the hassle and expense of buying disposable covers for the rest of my life just seems like a bit of a ball ache. So while it might be the natural choice for doctors, it ain’t mine.

Brother Max 3-in-1 Thermometer
(£35 from JoJo Maman Bebe)

The Brother Max has it all – a digital display, the ability to read temperatures from forehead or ear, a room temperature option, and a neat plastic travel case. Furthermore, it doesn’t require any disposable covers. The perfect thermometer then? Find out in my full review in a few weeks.

£14.99
from Amazon.co.uk

The ultimate chill-out room for father and child

Tell yourself that this is a man shelter to protect you and your family from the sun in the best possible style.

Tell your wife that for £15 you can’t go wrong.

There are two problems with taking your kids to the beach – sunburn and…

Avoid such unpleasantries by taking the Coleman Sundome Beach Shelter with you. Not only will it shield you and your children from the sun’s harmful rays, but it will also provide a pretty sizeable ground sheet so your little man can romp around without his little man getting covered in sand.

As ever with my Dadgets, I did plenty of research on beach tents and even though there were much more expensive possibilities out there, I stuck with this cheap, effective and manly model from Coleman.

Pain-free erection

While some of the pricier models are pop-up, the Coleman actually requires a little construction like any ordinary tent. Now I must admit that I’ve only been camping once in my life, and it was only made tolerable by a large bottle of Good Times whisky and the lack of a bowel movement, but even to my inexperienced hands the assembly of the Sundome was completely pain-free. All of the poles snapped quickly into place and then slid effortlessly through the guides on the tent itself. It took a little bit of brute force to bend the poles into their final position, (locked by little rubber holders), but the whole process took only a few minutes.

Moderate wind

Once constructed, the tent has that sizeable groundsheet as well as a zip-up window at the back if you want to let the breeze through. The groundsheet can also zip up to provide a fully sealed tent for a quick clothes change, or perhaps to hide your valuables when you head down to the sea. The Sundome can be anchored to grass by the supplied tent pegs using the two attached guide ropes and other fixing points. There are also a few sand bags scattered around so, for use at the beach, you can quickly slide in some sand to provide stability against moderate winds without having to use any pegs.

Nice package

The tent is really well proportioned and can easily seat two adults and a couple of small children. When folded down, however, the whole package falls down to a very reasonable size that packs away neatly into the supplied carry bag that will barely take any space in your car boot. It is also light enough to carry around if necessary.  In a stroke of pure genius the carry bag also has the assembly instructions sewn inside it.

Overall, the Coleman Sundome Beach Shelter looks the part, does the business, and should be as essential as slip, slop, slap this summer.

Dadgets.info says that the Coleman Sundome Beach Shelter is cracking value and a must-have item for a long hot summer.

Grin like a child at the Sundome’s manly attractiveness, its spacious dimensions and its amazing price.

Cry like a baby at the fact that it isn’t self-erecting.

Dadgets.info rating: 9 out of 10