The horrible melamine scandal that has hospitalized tens of thousands of babies in China has been traced back to a company that also manufactures candy. With Halloween coming, and candy floating around everywhere, be sure to check your own candy purchases, as well as the candy that your children are “Treated” with on Halloween night (and thereafter). If you find any of the candies shown below, return them to the store, if possible, or throw them into a trash can that’s out of reach of your children and family pets.
Honestly, I’m afraid to test my water - I’m a little leary of what the test results would show. It would be interesting, however, to compare the water out of the faucet with the purified water that dispenses from the refrigerator. At any rate, if you’re interested in testing your water, you may as well not pay for the test!
Tylenol has voluntarily withdrawn several infant medications due to misuse and accidental overdose. (Apparently, I’m unable to read between the lines – I’m not sure how accidental overdose from misuse requires a drug to be withdrawn from the market, but I’ll take their word for it.) Tylenol is encouraging parents to discontinue the use of these medications in children under the age of two, and is providing a free $5 off coupon good toward several medications, including infants’, children’s, and adults’ dosages of Tylenol, Benadryl, PediaCare, and others. Depending on the medication you purchase with the coupon, the final cost should be $0, or slightly over. At our local Wal-Mart, Tylenol Children’s Pain Reliever and Fever Reducer costs $5.47…love the $5 off!
I love it when a company sees an obvious need, researches a method for solution, and then takes action to fulfill the need! In light of recent toy safety issues and recalls, Toys “R” Us, the most obvious of candidates, has taken several steps to assist consumers. With their new online product recall lists, in-store Safety Boards, and several other reassuring measures, Toys “R” Us earns a star for the day!
By request from my best friend in Seattle (thanks, Rebecca!), see below for the list of toy products recently recalled by Mattel, as well as other companies.
This recall was initially implemented last week, but has now expanded to include more products (regardless of expiration dates). If you have canned CHILI in your pantry, READ this article from WebMD. (Whew - Ranch Style Beans aren’t on the list!)
Read the full article here.
WebMD’s advice is to throw away any products from their list, but most stores will take back items that have been recalled, and exchange it for something similar, including food products.
2 SMRT 4 U is a website started by Hayden Panettiere (actress and Neutrogena cover girl) to inform kids of safe practices for instant messaging and personal website posting (through venues like AIM and MySpace).
There are some really great tips on this site, and all are appropriate for kids and parents alike. After you’ve perused the site, order up to two free 2 SMRT 4 U rings. It’s a catchy phrase for teens, and can also prompt peer-to-peer conversations about how to practice online safety.
Discount and Dollar Stores sell toothpaste at a greatly reduced price, though the actual contents of the tube can be very harmful. These discount stores have been under investigation for a couple of years, but the toothpaste is still being sold in some locations.
If you must purchase toothpaste from a discount store, be sure to AVOID the following:
1.) Expired toothpaste: This isn’t really harmful, but loses its effectiveness, and defeats the purpose for purchasing.
2.) Foreign manufactured toothpaste: If the toothpaste is manufactured outside of North America, it likely contains 10 times the fluoride of US and Canadian pastes, which can be EXTREMELY harmful if swallowed, especially in young children.
ALWAYS SHOP WISELY!
IMSafer monitors the instant messenger conversations of your children to help you balance protecting your children and respecting their privacy. The IMSafer service will only notify you when your child is engaged in a potentially dangerous conversation on IM.
Once you have installed the IMSafer software on any computer you wish to monitor, if your child receives an IM with content that is flagged by IMSafer, you will receive an email notification within 90 seconds that includes the screen name of the person speaking with your child, the community rating of that person, and the category of the flagged content.
