It was in the newspaper and all over the social media sites. Thousands of children have been treated for ingesting a common household product......laundry detergent.
The laundry detergent in these cases is the kind that is packaged in a 'pod'. A clear membrane that dissolves when it comes in contact with liquid.......or saliva. Many of these pods contain brightly colored liquids on one side and powdered detergent on the other. The colorful side is usually in a swirl pattern of two colors. This must make the dirty laundry very excited when placed in the washing machine with such sexy soap.
I understand that kids will be kids. I'm reminded of the time when Blanche was in high school and had a friend over. For some reason they thought it a grand idea to play pitch and catch in the house.....with a stick of butter. It was all fun and games until one long overthrow of the butter stick landed on Mother's new rug. I thought it was hysterically funny.....Mother...well,... not so much.
Back to the pods. As I read the article, I could not keep a thought in the back of my mind from raising its babbling head. Where in the world were these people keeping their laundry detergent pods?
Most new parents, and even those who have been around the block a time or two, learn early on that household cleaners and such belong either up high, out of reach, or in a locked cabinet.
The manufacturers of the pods have come under fire for all these accidents. Some have taken measures to help make the pods safer for children...........Excuse me?
The last I knew, very few children do the laundry, especially those who are not even a year old. These things are not toys! They are laundry detergent!
One grandmother gave a nine month old child a pod because she thought it was a teething apparatus. Again, the question is raising. Did they keep the pods on the kitchen table? Are they so pretty that parents are displaying them in a bowl, like a bunch of fruit? Maybe they didn't have a table to eat off of and just use the washer and dryer as a multi-tasking piece of furniture. The pods must sit right between the salt and pepper.
Perhaps adults are using the pods as a focal point for meditation, spinning them while focusing on the bright swirling colors, then forgetting to put them up out of reach, because they are so relaxed and stress free.
I think parenting-sense just left the building with Common and Elvis. Someone saw them headed to the laundromat.
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