Here’s another in the category of ridiculous product recalls. H&M stores voluntarily stopped selling a pair of water shoes because, get this, water makes them slippery. There have been no reports of injuries but H&M felt compelled to remove them anyway.
Want to make some easy money? Get a pair of these shoes, run outside when it’s raining, and then sue H&M for big bucks for not telling you water makes the ground slippery.
There is much lore about how Santa Claus came to be. And lots of cynics will tell you it?s part of the commercialization of Christmas, a plot by the retailers and greeting card industry to get people to spend lots of money each year.
I have my own theory on the origins of Santa Claus. The whole concept was devised by a parent, probably one with at least three kids like me. Think about it. Santa only brings presents to good little boys and girls. Parents are always looking for some enticement to get kids to behave. And, Santa is always watching to see if you?ve bad or good. Simply brilliant! Now we just need to work this into other times of the year?
News yesterday of yet another child product recall, this time for the Bumbo chair. We’ve used the Bumbo chair for years and it is a great product. It allows babies to sit up before they can do it themselves. Thing 3 loves to sit in his Bumbo and watch his brothers play. It’s like he’s one of the big boys.
The reason for the recall is not due to some product defect. Rather, it is due to misuse, and frankly, lack of common sense on the part of some parents. While the Bumbo is good for keeping babies “stuck” in the chair, it isn’t fool proof, and babies can sometimes get loose. It clearly says this when you buy the product. Not to make light of serious injuries which have occurred, but it seems obvious not to put a Bumbo on a table or counter, or anywhere the baby could get hurt if he falls out. If you put the Bumbo on a carpeted floor, the baby won’t get hurt when he falls out.
So the company will now put large warning labels on the Bumbo, saying not to place on surfaces where the baby would get hurt if he falls out. They even published a gallery of videos showing safe use of the Bumbo. Isn’t this a little extreme? I mean, do parents really need to be told not to do stupid things? Should soccer balls come with a warning not to play with them near traffic? Should bikes come with a warning that you can fall off them? There aren’t any toys which, if misused, can’t cause some harm. Do parents really need to be warned about every one?
Once in a while…and it isn’t very often…I actually think I’ve got this parenting thing under control. I’ll be out with one or more kids, and get an almost out of body experience, where I can see myself and think wow, that guy makes it look so easy.
I had Thing 2 and Thing 3 (toddler and infant) to myself one evening after picking them up at daycare, so I decided rather than go home as usual, we’d stop at a new pizza place for dinner. Thing 3 usually sleeps in his car carrier, and Thing 2 loves to eat.? How hard could it be?
There was a long line to order food. Thing 2 started to wander off. My arm was about to fall off from holding the baby carrier. We ordered a slice of pizza and a sandwich and found an empty table. When I went back to the counter to get the drinks, and Thing 2 couldn’t see me anymore, he started crying and everyone was staring at the dad who looked to be in way over his head. Then Thing 3 woke up and needed a bottle. Why didn’t I just go to McDonald’s drive through?
But then everything seemed to line up perfectly into place. Thing 2 was happily eating his pizza and asking a hundred questions. I was eating my sandwich with one hand, feeding Thing 3 a bottle with the other, and keeping the toddler’s attention at the table, all while watching the Yankee playoff game on the flat screen TV on the wall!
This is where the out of body experience happens, where I can see the same strangers that were glaring at me earlier, now looking in awe at the dad who has it all under control. Or maybe they were looking at the mess of cheese Thing 2 had assembled under his chair and was now stepping on, or the baby spit up running down my shoulder. No matter, at least for a few moments, I was making it look easy.
Another dad sings about “all the crying and the whining” that’s part of putting kids to bed. I couldn’t have said it any better…
The way someone eats an Oreo can give interesting insight into their personality. There is even a psychological test on the subject. Thing 1 and Thing 2 eat Oreos in very different ways, and it’s right on with their different personalities.
According to the test, Thing 1 fits into the Twisted apart, the inside, and then the cookie category.
You have a highly curious nature. You take pleasure in breaking things apart to find out how they work, though not always able to put them back together, so you destroy all the evidence of your activities. You deny your involvement when things go wrong. You are a compulsive liar and exhibit deviant, if not criminal, behavior.
Thing 2 is clearly in The Whole Thing category.
This means you consume life with abandon, you are fun to be with, exciting, carefree with some hint of recklessness. You are totally irresponsible. No one should trust you with their children.
This video shows the two different styles in action. Regardless of how they eat them, Oreos remain a valuable technique for getting kids to eat vegetables/take a bath/stop fighting/clean up.
I can’t believe what I read in today’s Family Almanac column in the Washington Post. A mother of a 10 month old is asking how to get her toddler to listen to her and stop being so curious. I especially like this:
When we were on vacation, the rental home was full of objects he shouldn’t touch and I was bothered by all the “no’s” we had to give him. I also get upset when he won’t sit in his car seat.
What!? This has to be a joke. He’s 10 months old! I’m sorry you were so “bothered” by your kid on your vacation. Maybe you need to read about my vacation. If I had a dollar for every “no” I’ve given in the last 4 years, I would be RichDaddy instead of SuburbanDaddy.
Seriously, can someone be this clueless about raising a kid? I can’t wait until this parent has to deal with the terrible two’s, potty training, and all the other goodies waiting for them.
Here’s something you don’t see every day. A Student Driver sign on the back of a school bus. I was lucky enough to be behind one (going really, really slooow) so I took this picture. I guess things are different today. When I was a kid riding the bus to school, they didn’t let us take a turn at the wheel.
