Child product recalls – are the products your children use everyday safe?

I am sure many of us have turned on the news in the morning and whether it is a newspaper, the television or the internet there are always seems to be some product being recalled.  As adults most of us are not always worried about these safety recalls, but it is a much different story when it involves children.  Many consumers myself included believe that items bought in a store our safe.  This unfortunately could not be further from the truth.  My blog will be mostly about these unsafe products and trying to provide a constant update and source for people to find the information easily.  There are many websites out there and it can be quite confusing about what is actually being recalled and what the possible dangers are.

To begin with there is Product Recall page on a federal government site.  This is a good starting point as it provides an official release, but you need to know the name and manufacturer of your product.  Also it just lists the products by date of release newest first and there are hundreds of recalls on the site.   Now the good news is once a product is recalled it has to be removed from store shelves, but one must remember there is a second hand market and in today’s internet age with Ebay, Craigslist etc. along with thrift store and yard sales these products still exist in the open market place and have often been repackaged.  The general consensus is to not buy anything second hand unless it is from a trusted source i.e. friend or relative, but even that can pose a risk, because the product might have gotten recalled after they no longer used it.

The bottom line is when dealing with child safety one should not just buy something because it is in a store or they heard great things about it.  With all the information at the tip of our fingers a little research can go a long way in protecting your children.  Look up a manufacturer and product name to see if there have been any concerns or recalls with the product in the past.  Also, sometimes just looking at a product you can see things that may pose a hazard to a child.  When it comes to your child’s safety one cannot just assume that a product that is being sold in a store even if its a store you have shopped in for years is safe.  In this day and age there are thousands of products being sold and there is no way the government can keep up with all the products.

Information is key and whether you are an expectant parent or already have children of your own, the marketplace is constantly being flooded with new children’s products and it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your child’s safety.