NOVEMBER 25, 2008 5:57PM
Rate: 1
this toy probably is made from something scary
In today's Salon, the AP reported that certain toys should be avoided this holiday season. U.S. PIRG said to watch out for small toys and parts as a choking hazard, lead in toys, and some plastics that have peculiar sounding poisons in them.
Pretty much it boiled down to this. Don't buy anything. Give the kid a wooden spoon from the kitchen with a pot and gift wrap it. Or better yet, a nice orange in the stocking would be fine, but make sure you get it from a reputable grocery, like Whole Foods and the orange is organic and not sprayed with any poison.
Better yet, buy the kid a book. Knit the kid a hat. Or take the kid on a day trip to a museum or the zoo. Skip the plastic toys, the tiny toys and do not under any circumstance buy any toy labeled "made in China" because it probably was manufactured with melamine or at least has lead in the paint, or wait, how about a bit of wheat gluten with melamine?
My very favorite part of the article was the section that talked about how to determine if a toy might be too small for a child under three, perhaps a choking hazard.
Hurry up and finish that roll of toilet paper! Quickly now! You need the empty cardboard roll. Any toy that fits into the roll is deemed not safe for kids under three - a choking hazard, says the expert from USPIRG.
I got news for these guys who decided on this measure. My children should be long dead since they had tons of toys that could not only fit in an empty toilet paper roll, but could fit in a straw.
Hey, don't toss out the roll just yet. It is another useful substitute toy, and comes rather cheaply, that is, if you buy the bargain brand. Just watch out for those brand new teething children. Be sure to take it away once a third of the cardboard roll is ingested. After that, you are in for some mighty strange diaper surprises. Too much cellulose, too much fiber.
How about those old Fisher Price little people? Those were favorites back in the day and I bet those Weebles would be a problem too. And anyone who has witnessed a little kid stuff a pollypocket doll up their nose probably would guess that little Pollypocket is a problem too. Don't forget those Thomas Trains. I am sure some of those would fit in a jumbo size toilet paper roll too. I am sure of that because we have had to extract those from some strange body orifices as well.
And I am guessing the Freaky Troll might be a hazard too because Freaky might just fit in that cardboard tube too. Mon dieu.
You could of course, skip right to the larger toys, like a stuffed animal or doll, but if that label says "made in China" chances are somewhere on that stuffed toy is a bit of lead, melamine or another unprounceable hazard.
And let us not forget the canine children too. Do not even bother to buy them any toy without first checking the
Is this toy a choking hazard?
As in body choking hazard?
I guess no one really monitors dog toys. I know this because I already checked. Apparently no one cares if dogs (or other pets) ingest lead or other toxic substances in their toys. That is everyone except Pet Food Express, located throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, who actually perform lead tests on all of its toy stock. You can find out what's good and what's not so good on their website . You might be surprised.
So this holiday, use the economy as a good excuse to take a pass on buying or even trying to spend that over inflated last nickel on the latest toys. Tell the kids that this is an old fashioned holiday where it is truly the thought that counts. The thought about lead, melamine, and choking hazards.
I think Lulu and Phoebe will be very pleased with their gifts - one orange, two books on training humans, one with pictures, the other with scratch and sniff, and some homemade organic treats. Sans wheat gluten and melamine.
However, I do hope that our other children don't mind a boat load of wooden spoons and some all natural bargain brand toilet paper so they can harvest their own rolls.
Who needs commerical toys?
- <A HREF="http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.salonmagazine.com/open/editor_pick/large.html/@Right"> <IMG SRC="http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.salonmagazine.com/open/editor_pick/large.html/@Right"></a>
Comments
I am going to post my own first comment, oh horrors. (ah, I've done it before. just being silly).
Lulu must be able to read because she brought me an entire roll of double double toilet paper this morning while I was drinking coffee, almost entirely unraveled.......She apparently wanted to give me the cardboard roll so that I could measure toys.... Or she wanted a snack. Either way, so much fun cleaning up miles of toilet paper so early in the morning. Remind me to buy the single sized rolls next time. I just filled the land fill......Lulu!!!!!
Lulu must be able to read because she brought me an entire roll of double double toilet paper this morning while I was drinking coffee, almost entirely unraveled.......She apparently wanted to give me the cardboard roll so that I could measure toys.... Or she wanted a snack. Either way, so much fun cleaning up miles of toilet paper so early in the morning. Remind me to buy the single sized rolls next time. I just filled the land fill......Lulu!!!!!
Henry and Lulu must have been communicating this morning, I was told that while I was at work Henry partook in the toilet paper. I suppose that he thought that they would look better around the house instead of in the laundry room. sigh.......just more to clean up. Oh, Henry also thought that Zander's brand new shoe was tasty too. So now Zander gets to pay me 1/2 the cost because he didn't put them away right. He was none too pleased with that!
My kids are too old for toys now, but one year my then 4-year-old put one of the cherries from Hi-Ho Cherry-O up her nose. Only mishap we've ever had with worthless plastic, though we bought tons of pollypockets over the years. I also heard on NPR that China manufactures two kinds of toys, the poison kind for the US, and the nontoxic kind for the European Union, as they have stricter standards. I'm paraphrasing and parsing down what I actually heard, but you know--that's the jist, it was months ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment