Green Treehouse

If your child loves fruit or singing Wiggles-style about fruit, they’ll love this adorable Organic Fruit Tote by Under the Nile Organics.

Under the Nile Organics proves that fruit is fun and yummy, yummy….

August 7, 2008: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (”CPSC”) has announced a voluntary recall of Fisher-Price Learning Pots and Pans Toys (Model No. G6685), which have stackable pots and pans, a lid and shape-sorting blocks.

According to CPSC, “Missing screws in the blue toy pan can cause the clear plastic cover to come loose and release small balls, presenting a choking hazard to young children.”

For more information about the recall or to learn whether your toy may be affected by the recall, check out the CPSC news release here.

Every parent knows all about bad toys. I’m not talking about the kind of toy that gets recalled because it’s bad in the unhealthy or dangerous sense. I’m talking about the toy that is bad because it drives you absolutely insane. Be it the noise. Be it the appearance. Be it the fact that it drives your child insane, which then only further pushes you to (or over) the edge.

I vividly remember the first bad toy to enter my life as a parent. I still cringe when I think about it. To make matters worse, I’m the one responsible for inflicting the pain on myself. I purchased the toy. On an impulse, I bought what looked like a cute and innocent little steering wheel–kind of like those lil’ driver toys, minus the classic features like a turning key and stick shift. It looked just perfect for entertaining my baby, who was then around nine months old.

What I didn’t realize when I bought the toy was that it made more than just typical car sounds. The toy also randomly belted out–in the most annoying, high pitched voice–expressions, like let’s go driver. The slightest movement was enough to get the toy talking! I learned this when I hit a bump while driving away from the store (by the way, the toy startled me so much that I immediately hit the break, thinking, turn around, take that thing back to the store–but I didn’t).

The toy never stopped irritating me. It even seemed to irritate my baby. Visitors even thought it was annoying.

That toy now sits in the closet. Way in the back. I simply can’t get rid of it. It reminds me that there are too many wonderful toys on the market to have to suffer through bad toys. Of course, I could always donate it to charity, but how could I live knowing that I inflicted a bad toy on another family?

‘Tis the time of year when bad toys are on the brain. Or, at least will be once the kids tear off that wrapping paper.

So, what’s your bad toy story? Has a bad toy made you a more conscious toy shopper?