New Recalls - Yikes!

We now interrupt our otherwise fun and thought-provoking messages for this important recall update. I got an email about this yesterday - it concerns Banzai inflatable slides.

 

Perhaps you, like me, haven't reached the level of success with which comes your own real, in-ground backyard pool, for which you may want a slide like this. If you have - you rock! If not, your kid may go to a friend's house or other event where they have one. Just in case, please be aware of the danger of side deflation that causes injuries. This kind of thing can happen with those large inflatable slides at summer fairs and carnivals as well.

For more recall news, please see this list of the major recalls issued in 2011.

It Only Takes a Second

Okay, I know we got off to a humorous start this week, but this is too important to save for another time.

I recently wrote about child safety issues in the context of our discussion about the parenting skills article.  In response to that, a friend shared a story with me on Facebook – a story that has been at the forefront of my mind ever since. Now, I want to share it with you.

Safe In Your Arms

We briefly touched on this issue in “Miss Independent.” Rounding out our list of the top 10 parental skill areas is safety.

Frankly, I can’t believe this is at the bottom of the list, after religion and life skills and health. Does it matter how well our kids eat or exercise or whether they go to church if they’re gone?

Safety is a huge issue for parents in today’s world. Not that it wasn’t years ago, but there is such significant media focus on this now that worries about our kids’ safety are almost always in our minds to one degree or another. I asked readers to think about this not only as a separate issue, but also as it relates to cultivating independence in children.

Swimming Safety

I get regular parenting tip e-mails from parents.com, and I wanted to share today’s, which has to do with swimming safety.  Anna, like many kids, loves the water and is virtually fearless in it…. but she can’t swim yet.

So, I thought this list of tips and reminders (from Parents.com) was helpful for those of us with water babies – after all, you can never be too careful!

I love the lake!!

Miss Independent

[Proving there’s a song for everything.]

In our continuing examination of our “parental competencies,” we come to number 4, which is “Autonomy and Independence.”  To succeed in this department, according to the article, “you treat your child with respect and encourage him or her to become self-sufficient and self-reliant.”