I may be forced to put my daughter in a bubble.
Is it just me, or does it seems like there is a new lead paint related recall about every third day. Having a toddler, toddling around, really puts things like lead paint in perspective. And by that I mean, I pay attention to things like lead paint recalls now. I once lived in an apartment that had asbestos in the ceiling. Upon moving in I was told that, as long as I didn’t try to actually dig into the ceiling, I’d be fine. And you know what? It didn’t phase me in the slightest. I doubt that would be my reaction today. More likely, I’d make call into a HAZMAT team…
So, after the first batch of recalls the wife and I dug through all of our daughter’s toys and were relieved to find that we owned none of the offending implements of childhood pleasure.
Not too long after that, though, we saw a report on the news regarding some plastic bibs. It wasn’t an actual recall. A consumer advocacy group had run some tests on a series of bibs and found they had very high levels (versus the standard set by the federal government) of lead. And wouldn’t you know it, we had one of those bibs. In fact, we put it on our daughter every night for dinner.
It certainly would have been poetic, or ironic depending on your point of view, if she had been wearing the bib as we watched the news report. That didn’t happen. But when I one day include that little slice of our family life in a book, that’s how it will play out.
Of course, it won’t be elevated lead levels that’s the problem with the bib…it’ll be something like the bibs are all possessed by some nefarious spirits from the dark nether regions.
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November 9th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I too have been keeping an eye out for toys/items with potential lead paint issues. Everyone is worried about how this will affect the upcoming shopping season with little Johnny/Susie not getting the toy that they may want due to lead issues. My solution is go out and buy your children books. Not only do we need to increase literacy, but you don’t need to worry about lead issues.
November 10th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Well, that’s pretty much the way it’s going here. But, of course, the kid makes it easy. I’m not exaggerating when I say that her very first word when she wakes up in the morning, and very last thing she says at night before falling asleep is “book.”
November 11th, 2007 at 12:23 am
My sister’s kid likes books too, especially sticker ones. Which of course leads to their thousand dollar furniture from Pottery Barn and wherever else being covered with little tidbits of white paper they couldn’t scrape off after my niece plastered it with Dora the Explorer.
The one comfort I do get from all these recalls is that once upon a time we probably played with very similar asbestos-molded, lead-paint-covered toys with no such thing as recall and we turned out okay.
Mostly.
Cough.