Safe Toys – 2012 Update

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By Terry Orr

Parents a special note just for you:

You are responsible for ensuring that the toys your children play with are safe!!

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As adults we need to ensure that the toys we purchase and or provide children are safe for them to play with - Here are 10 tips from Gifts.com on How to Buy Safe Toys:

1. Adhere to age guidelines indicated on the packaging.
2. Do the toilet paper tube test, "anything that can pass through the tube is too small to be given to a child under 3."
3. Check if a part can be bitten off or swallowed.
4. Avoid toys that have a string, ribbon or chord longer than 6 inches.
5. Make sure that the toy has a nontoxic, durable finish.
6. Avoid toys with sharp points, edges, or breakable parts.
7. For ride-on toys, make sure that it is sturdy and stable. Also, make sure that your child has the proper safety equipment to use it.
8. Toys with a decibel level higher than 100 can be harmful to the child's hearing.
9. Avoid toys that have shooting and throwing projectiles, it can cause injuries.
10. Check the Consumer Products Safety Commission for announcement on recalled toys.

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We should conduct periodic review of toys to ensure that they are in good order, age appropriate and still safe for our children.  I believe this should be done three or four times a year – especially before birthdays and holidays.

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Keeping abreast of the latest news on toys may sound daunting, but with subscribing to some of the watchdogs internet websites and blogs – there will forward you emails alerts.  In your normal conversations with other parents this topic will probably also come up with a product has been recalled or someone is asking advice about new toys.

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A final note on the topic of toys and safety – putting the toys away!  As a parent and grandparent this has been a pet peeve of mine for decades.  Stepping on or tripping over toys.

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References and links:

• http://kisbyto.blogspot.com/2011/08/safe-toys-basics.html
• http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/safe_toys.html#
• http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-resources-by-risk-area/toy/?gclid=CPLnqN_7w7ECFQhN4Aod3xcANg
• http://www.healthystuff.org/get-stuff.php?group-report=Toys
• http://www.toysafety.org/
• http://pediatrics.about.com/od/safety/a/1206_safe_toys.htm   
• http://cpsc.gov/

Celebrating Yo-Yo Day

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By Diane Forrest

Have you ever rocked the baby, walked the dog and gone around the world in one afternoon?  You could have it know a little bit about a yo-yo.  These are a few of the many tricks you can do with a yo-yo.

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Did you know that the yo-yo is the world's second oldest toy?  Many believe the origins of the yo-yo were as early as 500 to 1000 B.C.  The picture above shows a young boy playing with one in 400 B.C.

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In 1923, Pedro Flores, a man of Filipino descent, began building yo-yos in America. He built the yo-yos by hand, and discovered that America's youth were fascinated with them. In 1928, Flores built the first yo-yo factory, mass producing the toys in California. He also began to hold yo-yo competitions to promote the toys, which started the first round of yo-yo mania in the United States.

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Donald F. Duncan Sr. first saw yo-yos in action around the time Flores began to hold competitions. He noticed how quickly the toys captured the interest of kids and decided to get into the business of making yo-yos. In 1930, Duncan bought out Flores, who was then hired to run Duncan's promotional campaigns.  For the next 25 years Duncan's yo-yo's were made of wood, then he partnered with another company in 1955 to make them from plastic.  Due to the popularity of this toy, this day, National Yo-Yo day is in honor of Donald Duncan who's birthday was today.

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To celebrate yo-yo day, why not find your old one and try to remember some of the tricks you learned as a kid.  I have to admit that I was all feet when it came to playing with this toy, but Im brave enough to give it another try.

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Safe Toys Basics

Choosing safe toys and making sure the toys your kids play with are age appropriate and haven't been recalled, you can help to keep them safe by taking special precautions with the following potentially dangerous toys and toys that include hazardous parts, including:

• Magnetic Toys - toys with small magnets, such as the Polly Pocket dolls and accessories with magnets and Magnetix Magnetic Building Sets, should be avoided by children. Unfortunately, if more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can become attracted to each other and can cause a blockage.
• Small Parts - toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under age 3.
• Ride-on Toys - injuries from riding toys lead to many toy related injuries, so make sure children wear all appropriate safety gear, including helmets and pads, when playing with ride-on toys.
• Projectile Toys - younger children improperly playing with projectile toys, including air rockets and darts, can get serious injuries, including eye injuries
• Chargers and Adapters - many children toys now include batteries, chargers, and adapters, and to avoid thermal burns, it is important that adults supervise the use of all chargers and adapters.
• Loud Toys - several toys tested by the Public Interest Research Group this year exceeded 100 decibels, which can cause hearing loss
• Children's Jewelry - there were many recalls of children's jewelry in recent years because they contained high levels of lead, which can cause lead poisoning

Age Appropriate Toys

Avoiding toys that aren't age appropriate is often harder than you would think, especially if your younger child has older siblings. While the latest Lego Star Wars set might be perfectly appropriate for your 8 year old, the small pieces would clearly be a choking hazard for your 2 year old. So what do you do?

Since it can be hard to always trust your kids to put their toys away, the safest thing to do is have a 'safe zone' where such toys are off limits and where you know that your younger children can play safely. This can be a childproofed room or gated off area of a larger room. Alternatives can be to have your older kids play with their toys in rooms that are off limits to younger kids or simply be diligent about making sure they pick their toys up.

Kids can also sometimes get age inappropriate toys as gifts, when friends or family members don't respect the age restrictions on labels. Having a policy that you only let your kids play with age appropriate toys and either returning the toy or keeping it until your child grows into it, can help to make sure he doesn't get injured by it.

Toy Safety

To keep your kids safe while playing with their toys, it is also important to:

• quickly take recalled toys away from your children;
• regularly inspect toys, and then either fix or throw away broken toys, especially if they have chipping paint;
• supervise your younger children while they are playing;
• discourage children from putting toys in their mouth;
• double check the warning labels on toys you buy online, see they are not required to include choke hazard warnings on their toys;
• review the Trouble in Toyland report about hidden toy hazards; and
• avoid home trampolines, ATVs, and nonpowder guns, including BB guns, which the American Academy of Pediatrics says are 'weapons and should never be characterized as toys.'

And since you never know which toy will be recalled next, do your own inspection before you let your kids play with new toys. Although it isn't really practical to do a home lead test on all of your child's toys, you can check for small parts that you can easily pull off and other design flaws.