| Keeping Kids Safe |
| Last week, I sent my kids outside to do some yardwork. They immediately came back into the house, telling me that "some guy" was hanging around across the street. My kids tend to overdramatize and exaggerate...I can't imagine where they get that from! I told them to get back to work. "But mom," my son looked panicked, "it's the Viagra man!" Viagra man...this wasn't processing. Boogie Man, that I know...but Viagra man? When I went outside to see the fearsome stranger, I was also concerned. My son was right! There really is a Viagra man, and for some reason he was hanging around our house. I snapped the photo you see on your right. |
| I am always warning my kids about strangers, and I force them to act out different scenarios, the stranger in the park, what if a stranger calls on the phone, etc. My oldest daughter has been through these talks numerous times, and then listened in as her younger brother and sister got the same spiel. Before I let her walk around the fair last weekend, I started in on my stranger speech, only to have her interrupt me. "Don't worry, mom! I'll only talk to strangers with candy!" My son chimed in, "or strangers with puppies in their car!" "I'll only leave the fairgrounds if a stranger says you're lying in the parking lot hurt!" "Or if he says he's an undercover police officer!" Back and forth they went, mercilessly ridiculing my safety efforts. |
| I really do try to keep them safe, so imagine how I felt when I saw that the lighted mouth toys I bought them at the fair were unsafe. They played with them on Saturday night, and early Sunday afternoon I noticed that my six year old daughter's toy was corroded around the battery. The seam on the toy had let loose, her saliva had mixed with the corrosion and was leaking back out into her mouth. This is the same daughter that has been in poor health, suffering with mono for the last 10 months. I took it back to the fair on Sunday and was promised that the carnival would stop selling them. Hopefully, it doesn't happen to any other Red Bluff kids. Oh, yeah, these toys are made in China! I wonder if the carnival owner will make any effort to contact the company that makes them...I'll bet there are many toys like this, not expensive enough to get national recalls on them, despite the fact that these are designed to go into the mouth. Our country needs to make its own toys. Forget about being dependent on foreign oil, we are dependent on foreign toys. |
| I cannot believe this was in my daughter's mouth... and that I'm the one who gave it to her! This incident put a damper on my fair experience this year. Anyone going to the Monster Trucks this weekend? I won't be going because it's too loud for me, but my husband will be taking the kids. They'll tell you all about it next week. In the meantime, if you own a Viagra jacket, don't be hanging around outside of people's homes. You're scaring the children. Frankly, you concern me as well. Why on earth would you wear a Viagra jacket, as good as announcing that... well, I do have some younger readers so I won't go there. Kids, we want you to be safe. If you see a man wearing this jacket, I want you to point at him and yell loudly, "It's Viagra Man!" Let's keep everyone safe. Sign the guestbook! www.redbluffismytown.com |