The road to earning a prestigious
Seal of Approval starts here!
TESTING GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES
The independent testing procedure employed by The National Parenting Center to judge for the Seal of Approval involves a multi-step process conducted over an eight week period.
The Seal of Approval testing process gives parents, children, educators and staff the opportunity to examine and explore a wide variety of products and services either already released or coming to market. Testers are encouraged to play with, build, read about, and judge by the reactions of their children, the worthiness of each submission.
Participants fill out questionnaires for each product or service they test. Evaluated are the level of appeal, design and presentation, desirability, sturdiness, interactive stimulation, and other elements which are essential in the make-up of a superb product or service. Test results are based on both statistical averaging and comments received by testers.
All submitters will be responsible for a nominal product testing fee to cover the testing operating costs. All entries become property of TNPC. Products receiving the Seal of Approval will be kept at the main offices of The National Parenting Center, other products will be donated to various charitable organizations for distribution.
The Seal of Approval is designed to continue the ongoing efforts of The National Parenting Center, which was chartered in 1989, to help create better informed parents as they tackle the challenges of parenting in these unique times
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
As noted in the chart below, there are three testing periods held throughout the year. Testing begins on the first day noted, however we accept submissions through the deadline date. We encourage participants to have their submissions at our testing sites as soon as possible, this ensures a wider range of evaluations and comments.
Report Period
SPRING '22
FALL ‘22
HOLIDAY ‘22
Testing Begins
February 15th
June 1st
September 1st
Submission Deadline
March 11th
June 24th
September 23rd
Testing Ends
April 24th
July 31st
October 30th
Report Issued
May 10th
August 17th
November 16th
To submit a product or service for review, please sign in with your account or create one:
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FYI ABOUT THE SOA
Winners of the Seal will be announced in a media release which is distributed to over 4700 media outlets including Facebook, Mommy bloggers and TV station websites.
Links to company websites and a license to utilize the trademarked Seal of Approval artwork on marketing, packaging and web design are available exclusively to Seal winners for additional fees.
Submitting a product does not secure or guarantee being awarded a Seal of Approval
The report is forwarded to buyers at over 350 major retail and on-line stores including Amazon, Walmart and Target. Amazon features Seal winners on product pages.
Each report is featured at TNPC’s web site: https://nationalparentingcenter.com/ as well as TNPC’s Twitter & Instagram accounts and Facebook Page
TESTING TIDBITS
Beta products should be sent with as much information as is currently available. New materials should be forwarded as they become available.
Please forward three samples of each submitted product. [Video games should be sent in all game system formats.]
Send all related materials including full packaging, instructions, manuals, batteries etc.
Web sites and apps should include information [access codes, user ID’s & passwords] to facilitate full access to the site/features.