These toy recalls are reaching idiotic levels...

[vi edit]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/30/earlyshow/living/parenting/main6914144.shtml

I was watching the news clip on this at breakfast this morning. The high chair has some little clip on the back that you lock the table to when not in use. 7 kids out of over One MEEEEELION chairs sold have bumped into this requiring stitches. 7 kids. And stitches. Not death. Not dismemberment. Not choking. Not even broken bones or toxic paint chip exposure from licking/chewing on it.

So now there's a public recall and a huge PR campaign from child safety groups telling parents to stop using these thing at all costs.

Seriously?

Kids are going to bump into shit whether that's a kitchen cabinet, a corner of a wall, a fireplace, furniture, and so on. And we don't recall or pad all of that stuff in our house. But since 7 toddlers did what toddlers do (run into shit) and got hurt there's a massive recall about it.

*sigh*

I have to wonder how those of us with kids...and our parents...and their parents even managed to survive in their world before all of this saftey crap.

 

[sdifox]

I couldn't figure out the recall either.

 

[Gibson486]

Fight Club for baby stuff?

 

[ViviTheMage]

Parents are freaking insane.

 

[Barfo]

Kids are stupid.

 

[dighn]

Kids are stupid.

they obviously cannot handle toys without supervision. we should ban all toys.

 

[edro]

Save the kids!

They should un-recall paint chips.

 

[vi edit]

I couldn't figure out the recall either.

I don't understand most recalls...with exception of the Chinese paint issues of late where they had a cocktail of harmful substances in them that was just flat out negligence/lack of quality control.

I was just dumbfounded with these things. So like 8 kids get hurt from these very specific things. What it doesn't include is the other 20,000 that fell out/off/over/on these toys when not being supervised or used properly. Or the 5,000 that picked up a rock or button or various other small object sitting next to the toy and choked on that instead.

It just leaves me shaking my head at the amount of money spent (both by consumers and corporations) under the false guise of "saftey".

 

[CPA]

One of my boys would run into walls and doors all the time when he was a toddler. I should have had my house recalled.

 

[nboy22]

commence the pussification of america!

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Better to start young with collecting rad scars... Still kind of agree blown out of proportion, but when you have a choice between barely unsafe and completely safe why pick the one that has a known tiny chance of requiring an ER trip. It's nice to be informed about this kind of stuff too.

 

[brtspears2]

Reminds of this classic The Onion article:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-three-stupid-dead-kids,290/

 

[theflyingpig]

lol. This is generation pussy we're talking about here. They are going to grow up sensitive and weak, both signs of foolish liberal upbringing. This is, unfortunately, the direction America has been heading for the last few decades. Everyone knows this.

 

[Aharami]

child safety groups

as the world gets more and more populated, people are going to start creating more and more BS jobs to put food on the table. The end result are scenarios such as the OP above

 

[vi edit]

but when you have a choice between barely unsafe and completely safe why pick the one that has a known tiny chance of requiring an ER trip. It's nice to be informed about this kind of stuff too.

That's just my problem. With a kid there's really no such thing as "completely safe". My 2.5 year old is covered almost head to toe with bruises from just being a kid. She falls off of couches...hits her head on chairs...sees something shiny and runs to it forgetting the table is there. Ect.

With these things it could be the safest thing in the freaking world under all practical tests and a toddler will *still* find a way to climb on it, trip over it, knock it over, or find some other way to put themselves into physical peril.

 

[zinfamous]

I remember riding in my mom's lap, sometimes standing up, in the front seat of our wee Honda Civic hatchback (lapbelt only), from as young as ~4 years old.

 

[Anubis]

Reminds of this classic The Onion article:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-three-stupid-dead-kids,290/

fuck me thats hilarious

 

[vi edit]

I remember riding in my mom's lap, sometimes standing up, in the front seat of our wee Honda Civic hatchback (lapbelt only), from as young as ~4 years old.

Heh. My Mom told me that when they were infants my Grandma would wrap them up in blankets and put them on the floorboard in the back seat.

And you wonder why driving as a general skill has fallen off the charts?

You start putting people with an unsecured infant on the floor of the back seat and I bet you they'll start putting a little more effort into paying attention to the freaking road.

 

[Dwight_M]

Reminds of this classic The Onion article:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-three-stupid-dead-kids,290/

I could honestly see something like that happening.

 

[soulcougher73]

That is just sad. Pussification of America at its finest.

 

[Modelworks]

The issue is money. A recall is still cheaper than 20 lawsuits from parents.

 

[Mike Gayner]

LOL soft American children.

 

[John P]

I have mixed feelings on this...

1) I agree with the OP in theory - kids are being coddled too much nowadays.

2) The recall is more about getting sued than safety.

3) These companies have been making high chairs for what, like a cajillion years? The idiots can't figure out how to make a high chair without a part that can slice you open if bumped into? Why was the clip even added/modified, was it an improvement over the cajillion prior models that didn't ever need to be recalled or was it some sort of cost savings?

 

[theflyingpig]

3) These companies have been making high chairs for what, like a cajillion years? The idiots can't figure out how to make a high chair without a part that can slice you open if bumped into? Why was the clip even added/modified, was it an improvement over the cajillion prior models that didn't ever need to be recalled or was it some sort of cost savings?

You're not supposed to bump into shit. If you do there are consequences. If you're too stupid to figure that out, then you deserve to die. Everyone knows this.

 

[John P]

You're not supposed to bump into shit. If you do there are consequences. If you're too stupid to figure that out, then you deserve to die. Everyone knows this.

Once again, I agree with you in theory.

However, my point is that these companies should have enough intelligence to come out with a product that has been tested by their safety engineers to be 100% kid safe. It's not like we're reinventing the wheel, it's a freaking high chair. You would think they'd have at least one person say - "Hey, you know if you fell on this metal bracket the wrong way you could slice open an appendage. Let's go ahead and fix that."