Single Dads

Hello everyone!  Back from the holidays.   They were busy.

I certainly didn’t get a whole lot of everything, but come to think of it, I don’t really need that much.  The real highlight of my holiday was spending time with my daughter.  Now, SHE cleaned up.  Is it a popular vice of co-parents that they completely and totally overspend for the holidays?  I think that Grace has every Princess toy known to mankind now.  Yet, I still am finding that I need to get her more.  She really needs a tent.  Also some new clothes, even though she already has quite a few.  but the temptation to keep buying clothes (she’ll be four in a few months, and she’s always growing) is ridiculous.  I’m never sure that her mother is going to buy her clothes.

Anyway, I’m back.

Remember when a few weeks ago, I called for someone to put up a website that had a list of toys proven to contain no lead?

Well, in spite of my calling of “dibs” on the idea, someone did it.  I find it sad that no one in America respects the power of dibs anymore.

The Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys, which is available to the public at http://www.healthytoys.org, shows how the commonly purchased children’s products rank in terms of containing lead, cadmium, arsenic and other harmful chemicals. It comes in time for holiday shopping — and amid the slew of recalls.

This is for your information, you parents out there, single or otherwise.

The main problem now is what, exactly, to buy my daughter for Christmas?  There’s only so many clothes that I can buy, and books, although great for three-year olds, get a little boring after a while.  I’d love some suggestions; feel free to leave some ideas in the comments.

More good news for children this Christmas season.  According to a news report released today, apparently the Food and Drug Administration believes that the flu drugs made by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline might have the unfortunate side effect of giving children neurological problems including hallucinations and convulsions.  Fortunately, the government is considering warning labels on these items.  How appropriate.

I am not a humorless individual, and quite often I can see the underlying humor in a lot of bad news.  Unfortunately this is not one of those times.  In my new role as an occasional entrepreneur, I think that someone could make a fortune on creating a website where a parent or other interested party could search and locate certain products such as:

• Toys proven to not contain lead,
• Medications that have been proven not to harm children,  and
• Child safety items that don’t harm children in any way.

I would, as a single parent would sign up for such a Internet site with great relish, indeed.

There are other items that I think would go well in a website such the one I propose, but at the moment, the news that proven influenza medications might make certain children convulse in their beds has dampened my ability to consider additional consumer products that might go on such a site.  I will, however, claim “dibs” on such an idea.

We live in an age of discovery, which is a fact that I am thankful for daily.  I am convinced that the powers that be mean well, even if they tend to come across little tidbits that can have lasting health impacts on you and yours just a little bit late.  The good news for children’s medications comes from the New York Times:

SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 19 — A Food and Drug Administration panel of advisers voted Friday to ban scores of popular over-the-counter cough and cold products intended for children under the age of 6 because they have not been proven to work and can cause injuries, a Food and Drug Administration panel of experts voted on Friday.

I find your lack of faith disturbing, says the US Government.

Actually, perhaps I am a little bit disturbed by the above news, especially since in the same article, one parent mentioned his belief that a pediatric cold medicine may have contributed to a brain injury to his child.

Possibly the worst thing about the article, though, was this quote:

Amy J. Celento-Stamateris, a patient representative on the panel from Nutley, N.J., said that she was worried that if the panel voted to remove all pediatric products from the market, parents would end up giving to their children products intended for adults, raising fears of overdoses.

“My concern is that by taking these medications off the market, parents have limited alternatives,” Ms. Celento-Stamateris said. “I’m not going to name names among my acquaintances, but people do use these medications to make their children get some sleep.”

I think that in the long, cold calculus of medications that can permanently hurt your children versus you, and them, losing sleep, the mathematics is clear.  Sleep loses.  I’ll bet that the person who gave their child that cold medication who now has to watch them go through multiple operations because of the side effects has REAL trouble sleeping at night.

I gave up on sleeping the first night my daughter came home.  I figure that I can make it up in, say, year 2018 or so.

The classic “Good news, bad news” scenario in government continues.  I read the headline of this MSNBC article with a happy heart and skip in my step… until I read the punchline.

WASHINGTON - Congress approved legislation Thursday adding 4 million children to a popular health care program, setting up a veto fight that President Bush probably will win but handing Democrats a campaign issue for next year’s elections.

Here’s my point.  Who cares if there is a campaign issue for next year’s elections?  Wouldn’t it be a better, happier result if the kids that need to have health insurance actually have it?

Here’s a touch more from the article, which I suggest that you read, because I would rather that nothing be taken too much out of context.

Analysts projected the legislation would allow about 4 million of the estimated 9 million uninsured children in the United States to gain coverage.

Sounds expensive, but for some reason, that seems ok by me.  You can call me Pro-Kid.  A few billion dollars for heath insurance for kids certainly looks positive on the surface.  Perhaps it’s time to do a bit of research.

At least the cribs didn’t have lead in them or something, but I think that I’ve reached the end of my rope for products from China.

WASHINGTON - About 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs have been recalled after three children became entrapped and suffocated.

The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Friday, more than two years after a California lawyer says he alerted the federal agency about a 9-month-old who died in a faulty crib.

Via MSNBC.  Now for the kicker:

Products are safe’
Simplicity Inc., of Reading, Pa., manufactured all the cribs, which were made in China.

“We feel comfortable that our products are safe,” Simplicity President Ken Waldman said in a telephone interview.

The newer model cribs are safe, even though the 1-year-old died in one of the updated versions, Waldman said. “There are other factors involved with that case,” he said, refusing to discuss the details because of the investigation.

This could be a tough Christmas shopping for my girl, since there is a distinct possibility that I might only shop at locations where I can easily determine where a particular product is built without opening a box. 

Last week, I had the honor of attending a Virtus meeting. Now, for those of you that don’t know, these are meetings on Child Safe Environment that I had attended because I have a child in a Catholic preschool.

Whether or not that you think that this might be a touch ironic, I would have to say that this was a good, good class, with a lot of decent information. I did watch two movies (some of which featured actual child molesters), received a workbook with scores of info, and had a classroom discussion.

All of this is great, but it leads to the question: how the heck did we get to the place that parents of children in school had to attend a workshop on how to keep their children safe? Is this a recent phenomenon in hideousness towards children? Or worse… was it always this bad?

Yikes!

I suppose that I would say that this is a great class to take for anyone, whether they are a parent with a child in a public school, or a priest that would have children assisting them in church on Sundays. Take a look at the website - the link is included above. But always remember the reason for the class; your kids are, unfortunately, at some risk. Act accordingly.