Anyway, I particularly liked the Mini Chunky stuffed sheep sold by one of the sites she references, ethicalsuperstore.com.

Not only is this toy (among others) hand-made of natural ingredients, it is socially responsible as well:

Hand knitted, it has beautifully made features, including a perfect set of little sheep ears! Sewn on features make it resilient and safe.

Variations in wool colour come about because the wool is dyed naturally with plants and vegetables, making them safer and more environmentally friendly. Each soft toy is signed by the person who knitted it, so you know that every last stitch was made with care.

About the Producers: Kenana Knitters started in 1998 in Njoro, Kenya. The primary object being to help rural women find some much needed income, utilizing their spinning and knitting skills. The group buys homespun wool produced locally, the knits it into toys, clothing and other accessories.

Ethicalsuperstore.com facilities are located in the UK, but their shipping page indicates that they do ship internationally.

Post from: Blisstree

Non-toxic stuffed animals

This article describes how the jacket can be used to enforce a ‘geo-fence’ which alerts you when your child leaves a certain location via email or text message.

The appropriately named Bladerunner specializes in equipment for police and security services, and recently started offering a school uniform in slash-proof Kevlar. For the tracking jacket, it teamed with U.K. firm Asset Monitoring Solutions (AMS), a maker of tracking and security technologies.

While some are sure to cry Big Brother on this one, Martin Taylor, sales director of AMS, insists that the benefits can cut both ways. “Kids want their independence,” he told The Guardian, “and parents might be more willing to allow them to go out more on their own if they could check up on where they were from time to time and know they would be immediately informed if there was any trouble.”

I think this is an interesting concept for younger kids who may have a higher chance of going missing unintentionally, but what happens when a kid realizes “if I take my jacket off, they can’t track me.” Another drawback is the $500 price tag and $20 monthly monitoring fee.

Post from: Blisstree

GPS jackets for kids

I walked out to get the box that was sitting on the front porch and as I leaned over to pick it up, I noticed the slogan on the side that said.

“Ask moms who know.”

I stopped for a second, a little surprised by this phrase. Are dads too stupid to know? Aren’t there any fathers or collective parents who know, or just moms? If this were on the side of a breast pump package or something clearly mom-oriented I could understand a clearly mother-oriented slogan, but a stroller seems relatively androgynous. Does being a mother provide special insight into the mechanics of well-built strollers before ever actually having used it?

In the process of writing this I Googled the slogan to see if it was on other products of theirs and found that apparently it is. I found this blog by someone who noticed the same thing. I love the caption of the Graco Pack ‘n Play on the post, “For moms who know, and the rest of you can go to hell.”

I’m surprised they haven’t adjusted it to reflect that modern fathers are very involved. Am I truly offended? No. Maybe a little irked that I dumped a couple hundred bucks on an item from a company that thinks I’m not quite all there. I can get that for free elsewhere. Just as long as the thing doesn’t collapse they could have scrawled personal insults on the box with a Sharpie and I’d still use it. I just find it interesting that in today’s politically correct world they would maintain a slogan that alienates dads.

The more I thought about it I began to question why they don’t have a child-oriented slogan in the first place. “For safe and happy kids” or some junk like that. They’re clearly pandering to moms.

The stroller isn’t for the parents, it’s for the kids. However, the parents are the ones who spend the money, so companies continue to sell the image of babies and parenting rather than focusing completely on product attributes.

Post from: Blisstree

Graco thinks dads are stupid

At the suggestion of a commenter on a previous recall post, I would like to assemble a list of people’s favorite healthy and safe toys. If you’ve got favorite (homemade or purchased) toys, please contact me and let me know about them. Either leave a comment or email me at bill.fezzie at b5media dot com

Credit for this list lays with CFO.

1. Riddell Collectible Mini Racing Helmets
2. Kipp Brothers Bendable Dinosaur Toys
Cracker Barrel Travel Art Sets
J.C. Penney Disney Winnie-the-Pooh Play Sets
J.C. Penney Delux Art Set
J.C. Penney Breyer Stirrup Ornaments

Post from: Blisstree

6 toys recalled yesterday, I’m sick of this crap

The products recalled include:

Johnson & Johnson Pediacare Infant Drops
Tylenol Concentrated Infants Drops
Wyeth’s Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops
Novartis’ Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips
Prestige Brands Holdings’ Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough

A representative for the companies sites “rare instances of misuse” that could cause an overdose as the reason for the recall.

Full story on MSNBC.com

Post from: Blisstree

Infant cold medicines pulled from shelves

However, I never saw that E.T. glass. Mom and dad told me we’d go in a few days and in that time all the E.T. decorated glasses were puled from the market due to high levels of paint on the glass. Noooooooo!

Anyway, I thought an anecdote would shed a little light on how long the presence of lead in consumer products has been a problem and offer some variety to my usual posts about lead toy recalls. This time, KB Toys is voluntarily recalling the Wooden Pull Toy Wagon With Blocks, Flip-Flop Alphabet Blocks and the 10-in-1 Activity Learning Cart.


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Post from: Blisstree

E.T. glasses in ‘82 and more lead toy recalls in ‘07

On the most recent list of items I find the presence of a Baby Einstein product to be particularly interesting. The product name alone sound somewhat pretentious and it’s claims somewhat steep. However, the fact that it contains unsafe levels of lead means that there is a good chance it could affect children in a manner opposite to the claims of making them an Einstein.

This has passed the point of ridiculous.

Although the dangers of lead are often discussed within the context of media fear mongering (Will your child be dead by 11:15? Find out tonight at 11 on WNEWS.)  here is some information from the National Safety Council about the health effects of lead exposure.

Post from: Blisstree

More Chinese toy recalls for lead content…. AGAIN!

1. the toys are not from China

2. the toys are clean

While making sure that things are relatively clean is clearly important, what if the cleaning agent itself is harmful to a child? Over at GNMParents.com they’ve got a great post on cleaning kids toys naturally. In addition to these simple clean up steps, many people have the natural cleaning trifecta of lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda already in their homes.

If you’re worried about dust mites in things like stuffed animals, freeze them in a plastic bag for a week. Although this is remeniscent of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, it will reduce the number of mites in the stuffed companion.

Post from: Blisstree

Cleaning toys naturally

“Amid a fresh wave of toy recalls yesterday, a consumer advocacy group said it had found hazardous levels of lead in many toys made out of vinyl plastic, potentially expanding the scope of testing and recalls of contaminated toys.

A random testing of more than 50 plastic toys found high lead content in 11 of them, according to Mike Schade, a campaigner for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which helped organize the testing.”

Among the results of the tests performed by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice was that the level of lead in a Go Diego Go backpack was more than 7 times the legal standard. Two other particularly egregious offenders were a Superfly monkey and a pair of Circo Lulu boots.

I’m beginning to find this almost conspiratorial. In this NYT article alone, the following fourteen products are mentioned:

Go Diego Go backpack
Superfly monkey
Circo Lulu boots
Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys:
- black cargo car
- Toad vehicle
- olive green Sodor Cargo Box
- green maple tree
- signal base accessories.
Target David Kirk Happy Giddy children’s garden trowel
Target Sunny Patch Safari children’s chair
Toys “R” Us vinyl baby bibs
Wal-Mart Neon Writing Slate
Wal-Mart Spider-Man pencil case

Just a small reminder, ingesting lead can cause severe neurological problems… so why aren’t these things tested BEFORE they get into children’s hands?! Maybe it really is time to start playing with cardboard boxes.

Post from: Blisstree

More Chinese toy recalls for lead content

“The truth is that the only new things a baby needs are a crib matress and a carseat. They need about 3 outfits, a few sleepers and about 10 onesies/bodysuits at a given time.”

It’s an interesting comment made in light of a child’s birthday and subsequently “drowning in new toys.”

Post from: Blisstree

Baby Needs