Happy holidays, guys: last year, 13 kids died while playing with toys in the US , and over a quarter of a million children were sent to the ER by their own toys. The biggest lesson here? Scooters are time bombs.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has a report out on just how dangerous our tots’ toys are, including some pretty gruesome details. But like any governmental report, it breaks it down neatly first:
Males accounted for 154,800 (59 per cent) of the estimated toy-related injuries in 2011.
Of course.
For children 12 years or younger or children younger than 15 years old, nonmotorized scooters continued to be the category of toys associated with the most injuries (25 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively)in 2011.
Again, not surprising.
The top three specifically identified toys that were associated with the most estimated injuries for all ages in 2011 were: nonmotorized scooters (57,400, or 22 per cent); toy balls (21,100, or 8 per cent); and toy vehicles (14,000, or 5 per cent).
Lots of choking hazards floating around. Speaking of choking, it happens a lot, and it’s awful:
A 5-year-old boy choked after the handle of a 21″-long foam-covered toy baseball bat became impacted in his throat, blocking his airway. He died later in a local hospital.
Ugh my god.
There were three fatalities involving balloons. The victims — 2 males and 1 female — between the ages of 8 months to 4 years, died of asphyxiation after aspirating balloons or balloon fragments.
A 9-month-old girl was found unresponsive on an adult bed. She was lying on her back with her head and upper torso hanging off the front of the bed into a plastic bin containing numerous toys, which almost filled the bin. She died of positional asphyxia.
Ugh.
In conclusion, just give your kids an iPad or ask them to use their imaginations. You can read the full report here [PDF].