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- Is It Time To Ban Baby Walkers?
TOP OF MIND
Consumer Reports calls for federal ban on baby walkers
If you go on Amazon right now, you'll find a plethora of "Baby Walkers" to choose from, ranging from $40 up to nearly $200.
But if you live in Canada, buying one of them is forbidden, and if you're caught selling, advertising or importing them, you could be slapped with a $100,000 fine.
Canada made the decision to ban the product 20 years ago after they discovered it was leading to serious pediatric injuries and deaths.
And now, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is calling on the United States to ban them as well.
The important bits
According to data from the safety commission, an average of 3,000 infants a year were treated in emergency rooms for walker-related injuries between 2004 and 2008.
In 2010 and 2022, additional safety standards were put into place to prevent stair falls and tip-overs, but there were still nearly 2,500 injuries reported from 2021 to 2023.
The data shows that while stair falls have been reduced, head and neck injuries are still common. Another danger? Inadvertent rolls into pools or hot stoves. Parents often don't realize just how fast their toddlers can move in the products.
What's interesting is that in 2018, The American Academy of Pediatrics also called for a ban, but instead of focusing on the safety concerns, they just simply pointed out how they don't actually help babies learn to walk, and in some cases can delay normal motor and mental development.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is hoping to get Congress to help with this, pointing out how a federal ban has to be approved by them.
What's it all mean?
Well, it certainly doesn't mean we should wait on Congress. Trying to get them to agree on anything is like trying to get your family to agree on what they want for dinner.
But the good news is that you don't need to wait on a federal ban, you can impose a household ban! If you have a baby walker in your house, it might be time to throw it out. Not only can they be dangerous, but as mentioned above, they're not even effective! Better alternatives are stationary activity centers and playpens.
DID YOU HEAR
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Pack your bags, we're moving to South Burlington, Vermont! It's the safest city in the U.S., according to WalletHub's annual Safest Cities in America report. South Burlington is home to 20,000 residents, and is located in a truly beautiful area next to Lake Champlain and a handful of state parks. Next on the list? Casper, Wyoming, followed by Warwick, Rhode Island, Burlington, Vermont, and Boise Idaho. Check out where your city ranks here.
🫣 The scariest thing this Halloween? Boo baskets!
Have you gotten boo'd? It's the latest Halloween trend that has some moms saying, "Enough is enough!" Apparently, this new tradition involves sneakily dropping off a small basket of Halloween goodies on your neighbor's doorstep. People have started posting their "Boo Basket Hauls" on TikTok. And while some people are eager to contribute to the festivities, some parents are correctly pointing out that this just means more work for them.
🕵️ Investigation into TikTok produces alarming results
TikTok launched an internal investigation after Forbes released a fairly incriminating report last year. The report claimed TikTok was aware that teens (as young as 15) were stripping on TikTok's live feature in exchange for "gifts" from adult viewers. Now new insights from the report are being released, and they're not great. The report found that you can become "addicted" to TikTok in less than 40 minutes. It also discovered "beautiful people" were pushed more by the algorithm. Sadly, there's more.
🤖 3 ways to grow your emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is not only important when it comes to parenting, but also in relationships and even at the workplace. In fact, emotional intelligence training has been linked to increased employee engagement, improved customer satisfaction and higher salaries. Here are three science-backed strategies to boost your emotional intelligence.
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North West says her mom Kim Kardashian hasn't cooked dinner in over two years.
BITES WITH KIYAH
We have known for quite some time that processed (and especially ultra-processed) foods activate the reward pathways in our brain, which can influence (and even drive) our behavior to consume these foods. Maybe it's just my algorithm, but lately it feels like the headlines about the role of ultra-processed foods on health keep getting scarier.
"UK toddlers get nearly half their calories from ultra-processed food, study finds."
"Ultra-processed foods dominate children's diets from toddlerhood to middle childhood.”
and… "If you serve your kids processed foods, you're basically killing them."
Ok, that last one I made up ... but that's how it can feel reading these headlines. At least, that's how I often feel. Meanwhile, food prices remain sky high and we parents are burnt out. If I feel this way with all my training, how does the average parent make sense of these headlines?
That's why I wanted to address this question head on. Read, or watch, my thoughts on whether processed meals can still be healthy.
@KiyahDuffey is the co-founder of Kizingo Kids and an expert in nutrition.
HERE’S A QUESTION
According to a new study, spanking may not be as harmful as we once thought. Researchers found that spanking explained less than 1% of changes in child outcomes. They also suggest that previous studies, which did find a link between physical punishment and negative child outcomes, did not account for children's pre-existing behavioral problems.
What do you think? Is spanking effective? |
Last week, we asked you if your kids were up-to-date with their immunizations, and for the first time ever, our poll was unanimous. Everyone said "of course!"
RECALLS
Fisher-Price has recalled more than two million infant swings after the products led to at least five deaths in the past ten years.
The recalled Fisher-Price Snuga Swings were sold at Amazon, Toys R Us, Walmart/Sam's Club, and Target nationwide from October 2010 to January 2024 for about $160. The swings represent a suffocation hazard after five deaths were reported between 2012 and 2022, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The infants who died were aged 1-3 months and had been put to sleep in the swings. In nearly all the cases, the infants were unrestrained and bedding materials were added to the product.
According to Fisher-Price, the swings were not made for sleeping, and "when any bedding material is added, the headrest and body support insert on the seat pad can increase the risk of suffocation."
The company will provide a $25 refund to consumers who remove and destroy the headrest and body support insert. See full instructions here.