Possibly one of the biggest and most attended birthday celebrations is baby’s first birthday. Aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews all show up to celebrate the big day. While the birthday cake sits vulnerable on the counter being assaulted by dirty little fingers, mom and dad sit on the floor sorting out the toys.
There’s a pretty good chance the parents aren’t doing a mental tally of how many flame resistant toys there are in the lot, or what type of toy safety regulations they had to go through before they hit the market.
No, most parents are just thinking how they’re going to bring the baby down from their sugar high. You just assume that the toys are safe and that the powers-that-be have done their jobs to make sure your baby isn’t going to be gnawing on some brain stunting chemical cocktail.
Unless you’re ordering unregulated toys from unknown companies in cyberspace, there really isn’t a lot to worry about. Most manufacturers, in conjunction with American toy associations, voluntarily recall toys if they suspect there might be a problem. They don’t take chances. If you happen to hear of a baby toy recall, don’t panic. Yes, bring it back. Ask the retailer why the recall was issued. Sometimes it could have been a problem with one particular toy, when the other nine billion of them on the market are perfectly fine. If anything, you should be reassured that the toy companies take child toy safety that seriously.
