ANDOVER — Necessity, said the Greek philosopher Plato, is the mother of invention.
And when it became necessary for local mom Daniela Homza Stark to get her young children ready for winter weather, she became inventive.
"I came up with this idea because I needed it in the morning, getting my son ready for preschool," said Stark, a single mother with two young children. "He would put on a tank top with his favorite action figure, socks, flip-flops, pants and jacket and he would be ready for school — but it would be 25 degrees outside!"
Her son was just 4 at the time, and she struggled to explain to him that even though it was sunny outside, it was also cold.
She checked around in area stores and on the Internet for a product that would help her explain the temperature and what is appropriate to wear, but found only a digital thermometer that was expensive and complicated.
That's when Stark, an experienced industrial designer, came up with the idea for the Kidknows outdoor thermometer, which, very simply and inexpensively tells kids what to wear while also helping them learn about numbers and the weather.
She drew up a few samples of her idea, showed them to her children, and they immediately got it.
"When my son saw my first complete sketch of the thermometer," she said, "he used it as a reference with an existing outdoor thermometer and he dressed himself without any help. He came to me and said, 'See mama? You don't have to tell me what to wear! I can do it myself.'"
That's when she knew she had hit on a good concept.
And the timing was good for her, too. The recently divorced, nine-year Andover resident had been doing some freelance design work for old clients, but as the economy struggled, her work began to dry up. She was determined to stay at home to care for her children, but also needed a way to make ends meet.
She also showed early prototypes to Joyce Will, owner of the Learning Express on Park Street in Andover, who encouraged her to pursue the idea.
"I liked it," said Will. "It's child-friendly, and makes it easier for moms to convince their children what's appropriate to wear to school."
With encouragement of friends and support from her family, Stark took the idea and, starting last fall, began to make it a reality. Unfortunately, it's not cheap to go from concept to product, and she doesn't expect to make much money for a while.
"It's harder to do something like this during a recession," said Stark, 48. "The bank wouldn't give me a loan, so I just got a business credit card."
The card helped her pay for Photoshop classes and software, which she used to design the packaging herself. She made inquiries about how to get a manufacturer in China and what shipping costs should be. She will spend about $5,000 to have about 5,000 of the thermometers manufactured and shipped from China to her home in Andover sometime later this month, after which she will distribute them to stores throughout New England and the rest of the country.
She said she now has agreements to sell the new thermometer to Learning Express stores in Atlanta, Ohio and North Carolina.
Most important, her children now know what to wear before running outside to catch the bus or play in the yard.
Now that the weather has warmed up, she said, her kids glance at the thermometer and put on a T-shirt and flip-flops before leaving the house.
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