From BoingBoing comes a link to the W.A.T.C.H. website where they list the “10 Most Dangerous Toys”
W.A.T.C.H. stands for World Against Toys Causing Harm – what a lame acronym.
And are they ever a bunch of safety-nannies. (Ninnies?) Sheesh.
Here are a few examples:
The Pyramid Stacker:
The Pottery Barn Kids stacking toy, which contains multi-colored tiers, includes pyramid-shaped rigid, wooden parts, intended to be stacked upon a solid-wood dowel. A toddler who falls on the inflexible toy could suffer severe impact injuries. The manufacturer fails to provide any warnings despite marketing the toy for toddlers as young as “12 months”.
OMG! Your kid might fall on the non-soft toy. You should only ever give your kids soft toys to play with. Like mud.
The Sky Blaster:
“Sky Blaster” is sold as an “All In One Rocket & Launcher!” The manufacturer warns, among other cautions, not to aim at “the eyes or face of a person as an injury could result”, and further instructs that users must “[a]lert all within range when launching Sky Blaster.” Remarkably, despite these concerns, children are also encouraged to “bend fins … to achieve spinning flights”.
OMG! Who would sell a rocket to kids!
The Fear Factor Candy Challenge:
These “Fear Factor” pouches containing “spine-chilling spiders”, “mystery meat”, and a “buzzard buffet”, pose a “candy challenge” to children, asking: “[I]s fear a factor for you?” The grotesque buffet, available in the toy aisle, is based upon the television series which sometimes features contestants competing to eat as much as possible in the shortest time. Toy aisles should not be used to encourage food-eating competitions, which invite potential choking and ingestion injuries, particularly for young children.
OMG! Not candy!
What a bunch of ninnies and safety-crats.
Wrap your kid in bubble wrap for the rest of his life why don’t you? What’s childhood without a maiming or a loss of an eye?
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While I don’t really advocate the maiming of children, I do have to say that I am continually dismayed by the parents who think that their children need to be protected from all possible injury.
Don’t wrap every corner in your house with rubber. Let your kid bonk their head once in a while.
How is your child going learn from their mistakes if they don’t get hurt?
