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August 26, 2004

Safe at Home
By Chris Byrne

Did you know that September is National Baby Safety Month? Yeah, well, it
wasn't pre-printed on my calendar either. But thanks to a wonderful press
release we got here in the office, we are now completely "in the know"
about this month long celebration of progeny protection.

While this is probably a good thing, the waggish mind wants to ask, "Does
that mean that we don't really care about baby safety the other eleven
months of the year?" Does this mean you would be consumed with guilt if
you forgot to latch the baby gate on September 15 or if the car seat wasn't
properly attached, but if the same thing happened, say, mid-March you
could just shrug it off?

Probably not.

In fact, as one of my friends pointed out to me, it means that September
is the month when we should be extra careful with baby safety.

Oh.

You know, he said, it's a time when one should be mindful to check the
cupboards and the electric outlets to make sure they're baby-proof—just
like you change the battery in your smoke detector when Daylight Savings
Time begins and ends. (Don't tell me you don't do that. You could burn up
in your bed because you didn't bother to get out a step stool and dig a
9-volt battery out of your junk drawer. This is the kind of fear my mother
instilled in all of her children so we were always convinced that the house
might burn down at any moment, but it was perfectly all right for me at
ten-years old to walk the two miles home from a piano lesson through
Wilmington alone after dark.)

So, here it is September, or almost, and it's time to think extra hard about
babies and children and keeping them safe—as well as entertained. The
latter is particularly important, as I learned on a cross-country flight a
couple of months ago. Any adult knows that there is no such thing as "a
little colicky" at 37,000 feet, but that was the phrase the woman next to me
continued using as her offspring kept demonstrating the awesome capacity
of his lungs. The ear-splitting infant was finally quiet when presented with
a Dream Pet that I happened to have in my carry-on and which he gnawed
on contentedly for most of the remainder of the flight.

Safety, though, is a huge issue as it should be, particularly when it concerns
children and products for children. Of all the concerns expressed by parents
and caregivers, knowing that the products they are buying are safe is always
at the top of the list.

The good news is that you can be assured that if a product is from a known
manufacturer and is sold in the U.S. it is meeting some of the highest
safety standards in the world. That means pull tests, bite tests, materials
tests, almost everything that can be done to simulate the intended use of
a product. Read the label on the product and if it says it's for a certain age,
it's been tested for that age. Moreover, every product that has small parts
is required by law to bear a black-and-white box on the package that
advises that the product has small parts and is not intended for children
under three.

Note the word "intended" in the paragraph above, however. The
overwhelming majority of accidents and injuries that are "toy-related" (as
opposed to "toy caused") come either from neglect or misuse. In fact, the
number one most common cause of toy-related injuries comes from people
tripping over them. Hence, stepping on a LEGO brick at two in the morning
as you wander mole-like around the house is not "caused" by the LEGO
brick, but is "related to it." It is a fine distinction, but having been on the
defending side of litigation when I worked at a toy company it's an
important one.

So how do you ensure that toys and play remain safe and wholesome? First
and foremost, make sure that the toys are age appropriate for the child for
whom they are intended. Second, supervise play. This doesn't mean
hanging over every thing a child does, but it means making sure that a
child knows the proper way to use a toy, that he or she "cleans up" the toy
(avoiding that LEGO toe-stubbing) and be aware of the children as they are
playing outside.

Check your children's toys regularly. Getting banged up comes with the
territory, but if something is broken, take it away. If a beloved stuffed
animal is fraying, stitch it up. Around the house, products from companies
like Safety First have wonderful things that keep little fingers from pulling
open cabinet doors or sticking things in outlets (more on that in a moment).
Children are naturally curious and for a toddler, everything is a toy. So once
junior can pull himself up on the coffee table, it's time to move the
Hummels, unless you're looking for a no-fault way to thin out a collection,
though that tactic only works once or twice.

Read directions when assembling things. Really. You may have a degree in
engineering and that's great, but if there is a screw left over because you
thought, "Well, I can just follow the picture on the box," that's not such a
good idea. We know of one father who had a couple of pieces left over
from a crib he was assembling, which seemed okay. Until he realized that
they were the pieces that were required to keep the sides from crashing
down. He had to take half the crib apart because the insertion of these
pieces was Step 32 of 70 steps (or thereabouts). The baby wasn't in the
crib when he learned this, fortunately.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, use common sense. If a child is
riding a bike, insist on all necessary protective gear. Make—and enforce—
ground rules about play. And remember that kids are going to test ground
rules; that's part of what they do. When it comes to safety, it's all right if
your kids think you're a big meanie if the result is that they are safer.
Don't be swayed by the fact that the neighbor kids are allowed to
skateboard without kneepads, for example.

You can't protect children from everything that happens to them, nor would
you want to. Experience is how children learn. When he was very small, my
brother Larry, for example, learned just how electricity works when my
brothers and I convinced him to stick the narrow end of a teaspoon into an
open electrical outlet. It's not something that either of us would repeat as
adults, and Larry's son has been told that outlets are not toys pretty much
since the day he was born. But it was kind of amusing then—at least to all
of us except Larry.

Toy companies have full departments devoted to safety, and toys are
checked at every step along the way so when you buy them you can be
confident. Toy companies are quick to announce voluntary recalls when
something goes wrong, and the Consumer Products Safety Commission
has a wonderful Web site for recalls. Of the more than 150,000 toys on
the market at any time in the U.S., there are perhaps only a dozen or so
recalls a year—and most of those are precautionary.

Your role in a child's safety with toys is really the most important factor
and makes a vital difference. Take the time to examine, supervise and
communicate with your kids and every month can be a safety month.

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