Diane Mastrull: Giving parents a helping hand

Being married to Jason Arnold requires being comfortable with change. Job change.

The 38-year-old industrial designer from East Falls has switched jobs five times since 2000.

Diversity feeds his creativity, said the man with a vast portfolio in toy work. It includes the K'Nex musical Ferris wheel, Fisher-Price's Learn Through Music touchpads, and the ultracool I Am T-Pain microphone from Jakks Pacific that transforms any user's voice into the rapper's distinctive sound.

As it turns out, that creativity proved a marriage perk for wife Stephanie when she had an entrepreneurial thought a few years ago.

"She said, 'Why doesn't anyone make an extra handle on a stroller?' " Jason recalled of his wife's inspirational moment. Naturally, he responded by heading to the drawing table, then to a home-improvement center for prototype materials.

In 2009, production began on the Tag*a*long, whose simplicity cannot be exaggerated. It's just a length of flexible, brightly colored plastic measuring 13.5 inches with a half-circle grip at one end. But to parents of young children - well, let Ashley Poe, an Orlando-area mother of three (ages 5, 3 and 3 months) explain:

"They have so saved me several times - with time and stress."

That was Stephanie Arnold's goal - she has three kids herself, boys ages 6, 4 and 1.

"It's a problem-solver," she said.

The Tag*a*long is meant to be attached, in slip-knot fashion, to a stroller handle, shopping cart, diaper bag, wheelchair, or essentially anything parents would want their children to hold onto rather than be strapped into or leashed to it.

Retailing for $9.99, about 25,000 Tag*a*longs have sold, primarily in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Their users share the same deficiency: not having enough hands. And they're everywhere - mothers and fathers pushing one child in a stroller while trying not to lose control of others who are on foot and attempting to wander off.

Parking lots, in particular, terrify Poe, a part-time Disney resort concierge, who said she's even given Tag*a*longs away "in public when I've seen parents struggling."

The idea behind the Tag*a*long was to make holding on fun, Stephanie Arnold said. That's why the straps come in bright colors - green, purple, red, and blue.

"We have customers that call it 'the magic handle,' " she said. "Their kid is drawn to it right away."

That was, indeed, the case last week for Caitlin Fitzmaurice, 5, of Glenside, who held on tightly to a green demonstration Tag*a*long that the Arnolds had attached to her mother's shopping cart at the Target store in Abington. Sister Mikayla, 3, held on, too, on the other side of the cart.

Their mother, Jeneane Fitzmaurice, was hooked (figuratively, that is). "This is pretty nice," she said.

Tag*a*long was supposed to be on sale at that store starting in January, the Arnolds said, part of an eight-week program planned for 370 Targets throughout the country featuring products made by parents.

Evidently, the Parent Entrepreneur Series never got off the ground, for reasons unknown to the Arnolds. Phone and e-mail efforts last week to reach a Target representative were unsuccessful.

For the Arnolds, it was a disappointing lost opportunity, but a rare setback since launching their made-in-America business, they said. Returning to familiar environs for Jason Arnold, they are having Tag*a*longs made by K'Nex's sister company, the Rodon Group, in Hatfield. Order fulfillment is a family affair, done at the North Wales home of Stephanie Arnold's parents, where inventory is stored.

Jason's full-time job since the summer is with a start-up toy company in Bristol called Wicked Cool. At his and Stephanie's Naptime Industries, he is creative director, and she is director of business development.

Tag*a*long has gotten substantial buzz in Parents magazine, on NBC's Today, and at trade shows. It is among the offerings on Amazon.com, Babiesrus.com, Diapers.com, and, of course, on its own website: www.tagalongkids.com.

Its appeal comes as no surprise to Joe Smith, chief development officer at K'Nex, who first met Jason Arnold when he was a student at the University of Cincinnati and Smith was running the internship program at Hasbro Inc. The two later worked together at K'Nex.

"I always knew it was a good product," Smith said, calling Tag*a*long "a novel idea with a cute, kitschy little design."

Earlier this month, the Arnolds secured a utility patent for their "one-piece, self-affixing handle," an important step for future business potential, such as selling the design, they said.

"We could sell it to Disney," Jason Arnold said, suggesting that a Tag*a*long with Mickey's ears would have phenomenal appeal.

Stephanie and Jason Arnold talk about the Tag*a*long, which they designed and developed. It's a soft handle for children to hold that can be easily attached to a stroller, shopping cart, or luggage. Go to www.philly.com/business.EndText