Suffolk County, New York enacted the nation’s first Bisphenol-A (BPA) ban on Tuesday when it voted to ban BPA from bottles for children 3 and under.
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Verizon Wireless Sues "Velveteen Rabbit" Telemarketers
By 2.26.09
Hooray for Verizon Wireless! Wait, what? The cellular carrier has just filed a lawsuit against Feature Films For Families for illegally telemarketing. Specifically, they’re accusing the company of using an auto-dialer to cold call hundreds of thousands of Verizon Wireless customers earlier this month, which is illegal according to NJ state laws (where the suit was filed) and the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Oklahoma Legislature Has Cocaine (The Drink) Party, Stays Up All Night Debating Ban, Grinding Teeth
By 2.25.09
Should an energy drink be allowed to brand itself with the name of an outlawed drug? A state lawmaker in Oklahoma says no, especially not when kids can buy it, and he’s trying to get the drink pulled off of shelves in the state.
This 'Velveteen Rabbit' Teaches You The Triumph Of Love. Also Of Telemarketing.
By 2.18.09
Oh no, someone’s gone and made a terrible looking half-animated, half-live action, religious-on-the-down-low version of this beloved children’s book. That’s bad enough, but then they decided to direct-market it to households by cold calling strangers and offering them a “producer’s guarantee” that if they don’t like it, they can purchase other movies from FamilyTV.com for $4 each. Update: Here’s how the company producing the film is sneaking past the Do Not Call rules.
Chicago Considering A Partial Ban On Bisphenol-A Products
By 2.12.09
Chicago might become the first place in the United States to partially ban the sale of products that contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), the chemical that some studies have shown may have harmful effects on humans. They’re proposing to forbid the sale of any BPA product intended for children. Canada banned the chemical last year, but the FDA has so far come down on the side of manufacturers.
Seven-Year-Old Writes Perfect Complaint Letter, Gets Park Fixed
By 1.24.09
Louisiana seven-year-old Sydney Hotard fixed her broken playground by writing a well-crafted letter to her Parish President. Hotard was concerned that the plastic slide needed to be “more slippery” and that a nearby exposed electrical panel might be “dangerus.” Upon receiving the letter, Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet was so charmed that he ordered municipal workers to immediately fix the playground.
Gap Kids Planting Headless Tots For Spring!
By 1.23.09
This may be one of those posts where it turns out nobody else is bothered by it, but seriously, wtf is up with Gap Kids? Their little headless mannequins have always been a bit off-putting to me, but now they’ve gone full-blown Anne Geddes and placed the bodies in a weird context that makes them seem even creepier than usual.
By 1.13.09
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From Wikihow: 12 ways to teach your kids about money.
Hooray! CPSC Agrees To Exempt Some Natural Items From Product Safety Act
By 1.8.09
Step back from the ledge, makers of lovingly hand-carved wooden dolls: the Consumer Product Safety Commission has lurched into action and tentatively agreed to exempt some materials and items from the lead-testing requirements in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
By 1.3.09
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We know tween girl clothes aren’t sexy; we also think pre-tween clothes shouldn’t be promiscuous.
By 12.31.08
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Chairwoman of Chinese dairy company pleads guilty in melamine case, may face death penalty. [Reuters]
KidsSave Software Helps Your Child Track Investments
By 12.22.08
KidsSave is a kid-centric application (Windows XP only, with an OS X version coming out next year) that lets your child track allowances and other types of “income” and teaches the benefits of saving.
New Ideas For Kids' Books About The Lean Times Ahead
By 10.13.08
Last week, Slate published a list of children’s books about poverty, unemployment, shoe-eating, dust bowls, depressions, and recessions. From a late-19th century series called The Five Little Peppers through to 2007’s How To Steal a Dog, the list captures over 100 years of poverty-level slice of life–what we might call the Plight of the Raggedy Children.
FDA Considers Banning OTC Cough Medicines For All Children Under 6
By 10.2.08
Pediatricians are asking the FDA to recall all OTC cough medicines for children under six years old, and the FDA is holding a public hearing on the subject today. One reason this has only recently become an issue is that when the FDA originally set rules for OTC cough medicines, they were based only on studies for adults, not kids, writes the Associated Press. Although there’s a low risk of unintentional overdose—the AP says about 7,000 children are admitted to ERs each year—the other issue is that there’s very little evidence that they’re effective.
This Inflatable Walmart Decoration Is Adorable. And A Murder Scene!
By 10.1.08
We’re trying to figure out who this inflatable crime scene is meant for. With its puffy cuteness, built in lights, and “castle” style walls, it looks like it would be a perfect entrance to a backyard Halloween party for kids. But with its “crime scene noises” and someone-is-being-murdered vibe, it seems more appropriate at a celebration for short police academy graduates. Either way, it can be yours for $125 and a relinquishing of any sense of good taste. [Update: this post is meant humorously—I belly-laughed when I first saw the product.]
The Video That Got A Grandmother Escorted Off JetBlue In Handcuffs
By 10.1.08
JetBlue really doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone! Remember Marilyn Parver, the grandmother who was arrested for videotaping a fight between two other passengers, and then refusing to delete it? Well, it seems that after the whole thing had blown over — JetBlue had to go and send the woman a nasty email in which they accused her of being “argumentative, condescending and belligerent” and refusing to obey the instructions of crewmembers. Dumb! Now Parver has released the tape in question and we can’t see anything wrong with what she did. The fight is one of those basic “I’ve been on a plane for a really long time with your out-of-control child and I’m having a nervous breakdown” altercations. Nothing cookies and hugs wouldn’t fix!
Target's Generic Meds Are Maybe Too Generic
By 9.10.08
We’re big fans of Target’s smart approach to package design for medicine. They may want to give a little more thought to their OTC generics, however—how about using more distinct labeling for the children’s line, for example? One reader explains why this would be a lot safer.
