This morning's news cast was seeming pretty rote until I actually heard it reported that the American Council on Pediatrics states parents need to push items back even further on the counter. It seems the Council did not realize how easy it is for children to reach items on the counter and they could get hurt pulling said items down. Oh, okay...um, what?
This newsflash was right on the heels of yesterday's mass recall of Fisher Price products that have small parts and choking hazards. One of the recalled high chairs has a knob on the back that has caused some injuries and some of these toys have corners that little ones could get hurt on. Oh, okay...um, what?
When I was a kid, we played with Tonka trucks that were...gasp...metal! With sharp corners! And working buckets that sometimes pinched our fingers! Eeeekkk!
When I was a kid, we had Barbies with little tiny purses and little tiny shoes and little tiny earrings. Guess what? We didn't put these things in our little tiny mouths. Okay, that may be my sister, because I have always been told that I have a big mouth that tends to get me into trouble, but lets move on.
When I was a kid our high chairs were not padded lazy-boys that adjusted to multi-levels for optimal serving needs. They were uncomfortable metal things that were functional (read: torturous). Our car seats were not the reclining beds of luxury we cart little ones around in today. In fact, we have a picture of my husband when he was about one year old sitting in an over-the-seat-with-one-bar-holding-him-in contraption resembling the old booster seats that hooked on the sides of tables. Yes, ON THE SIDES OF TABLES!! How were our parents to know any better? I don't think cars even had seat belts then.
Believe it or not, our parents did not wrap us in bubble wrap due to the unsafe child care products they had to work with. And guess what? If someone did inadvertently swallow a Barbie shoe, no one called 911 to administer emergency care. It actually brought about more entertainment with the incessant questions, "Did it pass? Did you see it? Can it be saved? Well then, should we throw the other one out?" (I swear, it wasn't me...the only thing I tried was Baby Alive's food and it was the nastiest thing I ever consumed...no wonder it came right out the other end as soon as I crammed it down her throat.)
I guess I'm trying to say my parents did not need all this new-fangle stuff and "helpful" advice and I turned out just fine. Right?
Hi Beth
ReplyDeleteI'm still laughing - "Baby Alive" - oh my gosh, the memories you just brought back to me. I spent my infancy and childhood riding on an older sibling's lap in the car - no car seat, no seat belts (well, they were there but my dad tucked them down into the seat because they were annoying). At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, we survived - when my brother swallowed a penny and my mom called the doctor for advice his response was, "How bad do you need the money?"
Love you - keep bloggging
Sue Cowan :-)
It has gotten beyond ridiculous...........
ReplyDeleteI remember the time my sister stuck her head through the hole in the center of a Hot Wheels ramp. Kind of reminded you of a dog with one of those protective funnel collars on, but there was no way to get it off. It ended up being a neighborhood project with several moms at our house trying to figure out how to get it off without removing her ears!! Lots of vaseline and tears later it was off, but no paramedics were called to the scene. LOL!
Mary