Community Corner
Toy Product Safety: Foot Stuck In Playhouse
There are web sites available to help you understand items in your home that may be a problem.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has a web site parents can visit that lists recent alerts regarding children’s toys and other items parents may have concerns about such as cribs, playpens and car seats. As a new parent I checked this information daily and was positive every toy purchased for Kenny had been checked for safety and was worthy of a place in his toy box.
But I underestimated Kenny.
It started out like any other day. Kenny was stuffing Hot Wheels through the window of his Tyco farm house and then the shrieking started. I raced around the corner to find his foot firmly stuck in the farm house window. I have no idea how he got his foot stuck in the window, and the window clearly did not appear large enough for a foot to get stuck or Tyco would have warned us of such a thing.
But stuck it was and, try as I may, it would not come out.
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His foot swelled rapidly and it became obvious that desperate measures would have to be taken, so I did what any panicked mom would do. I called 911.
At first the dispatcher thought it was a joke, but Kenny’s cries of terror from the background convinced her I was in real trouble. Before I knew it, a fire truck was in front of my apartment and four young men were staring down at Kenny with puzzled looks on their faces. Puzzled looks quickly turned to grins and they explained the only way they could remove it was to cut it off.
The farm house that is.
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But Kenny wasn’t about to let that happen and he took off running, slamming the farm house against the ground like a peg leg.
The fireman chased him around the house trying to corner him. When one finally caught him, Kenny buried his teeth into his arm and drew blood. They began the process of cutting off the farm house. When it finally came off the fireman took pictures of Kenny in a fire hat and told me the visit was on the house.
I could hear them laugh all the way back to their truck. I called Tyco the next day and shared my story. To my surprise they sent me a letter of apology and a new farm house.
Check out the Consumer Product Safety Commission website for an updated list of product recalls here.
