This is information that bears repeating. Those beautifully colored laundry packets are tempting to young children who think they might be a tasty treat. Keep them away from children. If you need more information, click here.
But seriously. Did anyone really need to click the above link?
Cleaning products are dangerous to ingest and should be kept away from children.
End of story.
Right?
No.
On my morning news I saw a woman, indignant. Sure, there are warning labels on the packaging but toddlers can’t read. (?!) She feels the detergent industry should take it a step further and make the actual packets childproof.
Now, I don’t happen to use these handy little packets. I pour my detergent in the machine the good ol’ fashioned way. But if the packets were actually childproof how would they dissolve in your machine and clean your clothes? And here’s a thought. How about keeping your cleaning supplies away from your children?
Just a thought.
We are losing our grasp on personal responsibility each and every day. A news reporter felt her opinions on this subject were newsworthy and valuable to the viewers at large. Heck, he probably thought the laundry companies should take note.
I disagree.
When I was about 2 years old I ingested Drano. (Which might explain some things, you may be thinking, but that’s for another blog post.) My mother was horrified. I remember her nails digging into my armpits and I remember water splashing onto my face. Luckily, there was no permanent damage.
And yes, my mother was horrified.
With herself.
She was unloading groceries, pregnant with my sister and thinking about getting dinner started. She set all the cleaning supplies that she had purchased by the stairs, ready to be transported to the basement cabinet that was higher than I could reach. Then, she started to pull things out for dinner. While she was distracted, however, I saw pretty blue crystals and thought they might taste yummy. They didn’t.
My mother was terrified but thought quickly. She raced me to the tub and cleaned out what she could. She then called poison control. They gave her advice and as far as I know, no further action was needed. Apparently, I hadn’t ingested enough. Thank goodness Drano tastes yucky.
After the terror subsided, my mother was embarrassed. And angry. With herself. She didn’t blame the company for making the crystals blue and pretty. She didn’t blame them for not having a childproof cap. She chastised herself for not keeping a closer eye on me and for leaving Drano within my reach.
Personal responsibility.
Just a thought.
Theycallmejane's Blog 
Couldn’t agree more. Your common sense is refreshing!
I saw a local news station promo about this, but I didn’t stick around for the story. I have to say, I agree with you whole-heartedly. Label or no label – I have to ask not only what happened to personal responsibility, but what has happened to good old-fashioned common sense?
Totally agree with you. I don’t even BUY cleaning products…it’s all vinegar & baking soda for this lady; however my toddler still managed to find some Comet that my husband was cleaning with & eat some. Everything was fine. He was just a little unhappy because it didn’t taste as nice as he thought it would. I on the other hand was beside myself, angry & frightened. And completely justified for refusing such products in my home with small kids!
Agree! You might well have been listening to the conversations in this household. The Nanny Society means that everything that possibly *could* go wrong is now someone else’s fault. The result is a society taking no personal responsibility and drifting towards becoming unthinking drones. Besides which, I have to tell you that as someone with only one useful (now arthritic) hand, all this baby-safe paraphernalia drives me up the ferkin wall. I am not old but I have an inkling what it feels like to be old and all of these Krypton Factor hermetically sealed, twist and turn doobries on packaging must be hell on earth for the elderly – and I happen to think that the elderly matter just as much as the kiddiliwinks.
Those lids and things are a complete pain and I’m not even old! Yet. 😉
So true! 🙂
Aren’t you just so old-fashioned? Me too. Somewhere along the line being responsible for our actions seems to have disappeared and one day we will all pay for it I fear.
Amen. As a Nation we have come to expect others to protect our children. Two years ago a toddler slipped through the fence railing on a dangerous trail at Chimney Rock and fell to his death. The trail was closed for the summer. ‘Scuse me…but you don’t take toddlers on dangerous trails and if you do you hold their hands or carry them. No toddler should have even been on the trail and certainly not able to run to the side and through the fence.
Impeccably stated. Especially when we’re talking about babies and little kids. Oh, and… in general… in a country that seems to want to point a finger at someone else (always), attach a lawsuit (if possible), and deflect any personal responsibility or consequences in one’s own choices.
Are you crazy? Don’t you realize the danger here? If you go around saying things like that then there is going to be mass unemployment as the ambulance chasing lawyers have to find useful things to do with those expensive educations. Who knows…they might become bloggers – and then where would we be!?
No…better to leave it that the big, bad corporations are to blame so that we all know where we stand.
One of the reasons things cost as much as they do is the expense to make everything child proof as well as idiot proof. No one is responsible for themselves anymore. It’s always someone else at fault when things go wrong. And more than that. I remember sitting on the floor of my bathroom crying in pain because I couldn’t get the top off my prescription after oral surgery…it was child proof and apparently me proof too.
I completely agree with you! I think many people just play the blame game instead of taking responsibility for things. It is upsetting. On a different side of the blame game coin, I see this daily as a high school teacher. Many students would rather blame everyone else for their lack of turning in work, than take the responsibility that they, in fact, didn’t do it. Hmm.
Things go wrong, and sometimes we have to accept that it was our fault and not blame everyone else. It’s called being an adult isn’t it?
Yikes! Good thing there is still some common sense in the world… even if you are hoarding more than your fair share! 😉
My hubs and I were just talking about this very topic. That is what is wrong with our country..no one takes responsiblity for themselves anymore.