Toy Recalls

The other night when my husband was saying goodnight to our 6 year old, she told him that she has stopped playing with one of her favorite stuffed dogs, because she read on his tag that he was made in China. She has heard a little about the recalls, and we have tried to act very nonchalant about the whole thing, mostly just saying "Just don't put toys in your mouth" and asking that she (as always) keep most of her toys away from her sister.

Sometimes its hard to tell when she is truly upset about something, and when she is trying to use a situation to her advantage. For example, a couple of nights ago she decided that she wanted one of her parents to sleep with her, saying that she has nightmares. So I asked her what she was having nightmares about, and one of the things she said was "the China recalls." How do you respond to that? Is it really that frightening to her? Possibly. But, that was one of those nights when she was pulling out all of the stall tactics to stay up later. And earlier, my toddler had been taken one of my older daughter's baby doll toys that she had been playing with, and my girl said, "Mommy, she can't play with that! It was made in China!" Again, is this genuine concern for her baby sister, or simply a way to get her sister to stop touching her things? (She gets VERY irritated, particularly when, as she claims, her sister has "licked" one of her toys!)

Regardless of whether my daughter's preoccupation with the toy recalls from China stems from real concern or not, it is quite upsetting to me, as a parent. There are so many other things that we have to worry about, we shouldn't also have to worry about whether the toys that our children play with are safe for them.

For anyone who is interested in either looking to see which toys have been recalled, or signing up to receive e-mail notification for anymore recalls, you can visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx for more information.