Just kidding so don’t rail on me,if you have young ones.I’m alittle older 49,I made it to this point O.K. I remember my parents loading us into the station wagon,no seat belts,windows up mom and dad smoking away.Helmets when we were young,what?We even played hockey on the ponds,no helmets,and during highschool games we had helmets but no face cage.Do remember lawn darts? pelt guns, firecracker wars,ramp jumps like Evil Knevil.Im glad I got to do all of that and more,sure beats sitting inside playing X-box games. Just to let you know seatbelts and helmets are the way to go.
It’s only a problem here because we are scared of our own shadows.
I had a chuckle when I heard a manager in the toy factory in China say, “the owner just did not do his homework on America, and did not realize how over protective they are to every imagineable danger.”
Imagine the joy those toys would bring to the poor in Africa/India.
We are way too spoiled.
In relation to the lead issue this is a silly statement.
If the toy can be made in exactly the same manner without lead (which is poisonous) then why would anyone ever PREFER the lead version? Sure, give my kid the lead version! (that’s just dumb)
I was thinking the same thing.
In one sense I believe we are “Over protective”. OTOH I think it’s plain silly to think that making something safer is “overprotective”. Keeping your kid off a bike jump or from climbing a tree because it’s “too dangerous” is overprotective. Having him/her wear a helmet while he’s on the ramp is just being smart.
Many times I read “Well I used to”…well we used to also have a much lower age at which we die and a lot more permanently injured kids as well. Often time “we used to” seems like a nicer place, but that’s because most people saying it are the ones that made it through unscathed. Try asking that question to a parent who’s kid is dead because they weren’t wearing a bike helmet…or maybe a mad hatter or two from when “We used to” use mercury a lot with our hands.
~Matt
**Im glad I got to do all of that and more,sure beats sitting inside playing X-box games. **
I’m 30 and did all that too. I’m sure my son will do ramp jumps (he won’t know who evil knevil is though), he’ll probably play football with his friends with no pads, but why wouldn’t you want them to wear a helmet or wear a seat belt? If one can still do the activity in the same manner but have less chance of brain injuries or death isn’t that preferable? And how you get from having to wear a seat belt and a helmet to being forced to sit inside and play video games I don’t understand.
“I think it’s plain silly to think that making something safer is “overprotective”.”
Really? Try thinking that one all the way through. There are many many things we could make “safer.” Driving a car is more dangerous than walking to work. Better get rid of your car for the sake of your kids. Electricity can be dangerous. Probably be safer if you didn’t have electricity. Get rid of it for the sake of your kids.
Sounds a bit overprotective to me.
I guess I thought there was a proven link between lead poisoning and various ailments, neurological problems, what have you. If I were a parent, but I sure wouldn’t want my child chewing on a toy coated with lead-based paint.
In relation to the lead issue this is a silly statement.
If the toy can be made in exactly the same manner without lead (which is poisonous) then why would anyone ever PREFER the lead version? Sure, give my kid the lead version! (that’s just dumb)
Lead paint, especially in bright colors provides superior coverage to non lead based paint products. Last time I looked bright colors are almost exclusively used on children’s toys. If you can save a full coat of paint on the production line by using lead based pigments that equates to quite a savings.
This is a result of consumers and Wal Mart, constantly driving to cost of things downward, the shortcuts take place. I highly doubt this is the only illegal product being used in manufacturing in China.
Really? Try thinking that one all the way through. There are many many things we could make “safer.” Driving a car is more dangerous than walking to work. Better get rid of your car for the sake of your kids. Electricity can be dangerous. Probably be safer if you didn’t have electricity. Get rid of it for the sake of your kids.
Sounds a bit overprotective to me.
That’s because your analogies are not analogous. Seat belts, helmets, helmets with face cages, removing lead, outlet covers, etc, etc are all about making an activity safer and not eliminating the activity itself.
Here’s the short version of the problem with lead paint:
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/health/leadpoisoning.htm
" Even at low levels, lead poisoning in children can cause IQ deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and other behavior problems. Pregnant women poisoned by lead can transfer lead to a developing fetus, resulting in adverse developmental effects."
The government has spent billions and billions of dollars on programs for abating lead paint in older residential construction because of the problem.
And that’s on something far less likely to be gummed on by a toddler than many of the toys in question would be. Kids that age would be putting that Cars army truck thing in their mouths and chewing on it all the time.
So in this case, I feel like the recall and crackdown are well-warranted.
First I said “making something safer”, getting rid of something or not using it is NOT making it safer. That being said certainly you can take things too far by making things safer as well. As with all things you have to do a cost/benefit of some sort. Simply asking that lead not be used in paint is a pretty straight forward request.
~Matt
You’re blaming wal mart for a company in china making a toxic bib and toys? Shouldn’t you be blaming the company in China or even the Chinese government for not giving a crap about putting lead paint on something that anyone with any sense knows is going to end up in a childs mouth. Last I heard they still have kids in China that still put crap in their mouths like American kids do.
You may be right that they’re trying to make the most they can, but you’d think the slave labor would help their margins that much more.
"That’s because your analogies are not analogous. Seat belts, helmets, helmets with face cages, removing lead, outlet covers, etc, etc are all about making an activity safer and not eliminating the activity itself. "
Doesn’t really matter. The question is whether or not making life safer can lead to overprotectiveness, which it obviously can. We accept a certain amount of risk in everything we do. The question is always, “How much risk is it worth to have X?” There is obviously a point at which making life or any particular activity “safer” no longer is a good thing. A safer toy is not inherently a better toy.
**A safer toy is not inherently a better toy. **
But a toy painted with non-lead based paints will ALWAYS be safer and will not affect the design of the toy. The OP listed activities that still exist but are just done in a safer manner without really affecting the activity.
“And how you get from having to wear a seat belt and a helmet to being forced to sit inside and play video games I don’t understand.” - Tyrius
Except for the word “forced” which would hardly ever be the case, what’s there not to understand?
If a real kid or an overgrown kid spends all his time playing virtual games, it’s obviously going to take away from time to do real things. Those virtual junkies are unlikely to excell in anything useful unless they happen to be some whizz kid computer genius type, which would be a very insignificant percentage of computer game addicts.
If it wasn’t for my wife labelling me a tyrant (she plays them frikin computer games too!), all computer games would be banned from my house. I would much rather the kids be concentrating on their studies, learning useful general knowledge, getting empassioned learning martial arts, learning how to motoX, swim, in-line skate, play rugby, play some musical instrument, sing and dance, learn how to cook, help around the house and an endless list of anything else useful and learn to enjoy nature as well. Anything else is preferable over useless computer games.
Time is the most precious commodity we have. Once past it cannot be gotten back. Spending it playing computer games is about as wasteful as it can get to our most valuable commodity.
IMO, there are times when having the safety equipment allows the user to try even more riskier behaviors.
This is in my mind because I heard a discussion about American football vs. Rugby the other day in regards to concussions. IN rugby, players have to tackle with the arms and need to do so while keeping their head safe (like the NFL pre plastic helmet). Currently, with all the safe equipemnt, players rather than arm tackle launch themselves as projectiles. There’s more to the discussion, but I’m going to try something new and not ramble.
I thought back to me and my buddies, and the difference in how we played Smear the Queer without pads, and how we played football with helmets/pads (Yeah, the ones you go from JC Penny). With the helmets, we’d smash our head together all day long, if for no other reason than to get those cool “paint smears” on our helmets. LOrd, knows how many concussions we got out of that. Hold, on I’m getting another migrane again.
I look back to the crazy stuff we did without helmets (jumping off garage roofs to dunk basketballs, BB gun wars – below the shoulders of course, bike jumps, etc) and am just think of how we might have “upped the anty” had we had more “protective equipment”.
My 6yo son just asked me to put a facemask on his baseball helmet, because he thinks they’re cool after watching the LLWS. I wondered how many young kids got beaned in the face before someone realized “Y’know 6-7yo don’t have the pitching accuracy or the batting reflexes to avoid such situations”.
Some things are just “good ideas” when looking at the risk-reward of common situations.
I keep thinking back to our thread about seat belts and safe driving, and how we’d likely drive much safer if the steering wheel air bag was replaced with a 9-inch metal spike.
Now, about the paint. Geez, don’t use lead paint on children’s toys when non-lead paint is available for slightly higher cost. If that makes me over-protective, so be it.
**A safer toy is not inherently a better toy. **
LOL!
How many parent-child disagreements have originated from the basis of that statement? Countless.
I’m envisioning a mom describing a toy/situation as “there, that’s better” and the child responding with one word that sums it all up … “lame”.
Didn’t every cool toy essentially come with multiple choking hazards attachments?
“I remember …”
…all those things you mention as well as walking to school, in fact walking everywhere, playing in the park by ourselves, being sent to the store to buy dad’s cigarettes at age six, etc. etc.
The world is a more paranoid place these days.
Just after they stopped using lead based paint , there was a jump in moldy / fungus houses ?
We did the same .
We spent 100s of miles every summer in the back of a station wagon , no seat belts behind the rear seat , pulling my sisters hair . Ok kids get out for a picture, mount Rushmore - niagara falls - Red woods - Canada - golden gate bridge - Vegas - grand canyon - Zion -Yosemite . Good times , no aircon just a wet airline towel to cool off .
I thought back to me and my buddies, and the difference in how we played Smear the Queer
Really? How did you guys select teams? Did it start with “eeni-meani-miney-mo”? Please remind me how that one finishes.
It’s almost 2008 dude. PC up babe.