Mis-Lead: Toxic Metal Continues to Find Its Way into Children's Products

Nothing says “sweet dreams” quite like a lead-laced sleeping bag.

Nothing says “sweet dreams” quite like a lead-laced sleeping bag.

One of the most upsetting things for me, as a first-time parent, was realizing my daughter’s first-ever sippy/straw cup contained lead paint. I’d spent HOURS looking for the perfect cup — one that stored her drink in glass (because of all the gross chemicals that leach into water from plastic); had a silicone straw (for the same reason); and yet was encased to prevent breaking if thrown or dropped. So when I discovered a cup from a “green” company that ticked all of those boxes, I felt like I’d hiked to the top of a parenting Everest. 

That bubble burst in a (not-so) glorious fashion a few months later when a friend sent me an article that confirmed the unthinkable: the demarcations on the glass portion of said sippy cup were done with lead paint. And the silicone straw? It contained cadmium. 

I was livid. Frustrated. Upset. How was this even possible? Isn’t lead paint — particularly for items INFANTS will come into contact with — banned? Would there be a recall? Was the company — which sold and continues to sell many of its products at Whole Foods — going to issue a massive apology, be completely ashamed, and explain away the matter as a manufacturing error? 

The answers astounded me: there would be no recall. Having lead paint on a surface infants and toddlers drink from is somehow still legal (there are certain restrictions, but they’re a joke, particularly when you consider the amount of lead that is safe for babies and toddlers is ZERO). 

Worse yet, even though the company (Green Sprouts) offered to replace the glasses with “paint free” ones for free, there was no real apology (and certainly not a recall). Rather, they explained it away as “within legal limits.” And I say again: NO AMOUNT OF LEAD IS “SAFE” FOR ANYONE, LEAST OF ALL SMALL CHILDREN. Even small amounts of lead exposure, particularly for infants and toddlers, can cause intellectual disabilities, brain damage, kidney failure and possibly death. 

Lead paint should have gone the way of dinosaurs, blast into extinction by the meteor of public awareness. But instead: it persists — presumably because it’s dirt cheap — and even companies with “green” in their name and mission continue to use it with reckless abandon.

Skip ahead two years. I’m at Walmart looking for a camping chair for my daughter when I stumble upon this adorable rocket ship sleeping bag from Ozark Trail (Walmart’s own line of outdoor gear). It feels soft, like cotton, and since my daughter is currently obsessed with all things pertaining to space, it seemed like the perfect purchase. I was trying to figure out what the lining was made out of when I instead found a tag indicating the sleeping bag (for some inexplicable reason) contains lead and “can be harmful if chewed.”

All of the anger I felt two years ago came flooding back. Like many three-year olds, my daughter still puts WAAAYYY too many things in her mouth, and the odds of her eventually suckling on her sleeping bag are pretty high. So while on one hand I’m grateful they at least had the wherewithal/legal foresight to mark the bag with this disclaimer — our sippy cup manufacturer gave no such notice — I’m still beyond upset that lead is still widely used in consumer goods, particularly those made for children. 

This. Is. Not. O. K. 

So how do we make it stop? We could storm the legal bodies that set the limits (namely the CPSC, in the case of consumer goods), but no one really seems to listen to anyone unless money is exchanging hands. And let’s be honest: whether out of necessity or simply the desire to save, the vast majority of consumers are more likely to roll the dice on a cheaper product, rather than invest in a more expensive item that has been rigorously tested and certified to not contain harmful materials. Such products do exist in some consumer categories, but they are cost-prohibitive for many families (infuriating when you consider lead shouldn’t be allowed in any products regardless of price tag, and no companies should allow it under the flag of “well, it meets [lackluster] government regulations”) .

So what is a consumer to do?

For starters, look closely at product labels. If it has a “contains lead” warning, don’t buy it. If it includes a warning about how it doesn’t meet safety requirements for the state of California — the state with the strictest regulations — don’t buy it. Companies make merchandising decisions based on sales. If we keep buying it, they’ll keep making it. If we don’t buy it, they’ll eventually stop. It’s economics 101.

And if you buy something with no such warning label that is later determined to contain anything unsafe: raise a stink. Call them. Write them. Demand they do better, and stop buying them until they do. 

Because contrary to many idioms, “love” isn’t the universal language — money is. And until we start speaking with our wallets, products containing lead and other harmful materials will continue to find their onto store shelves.

Tips and Tales to Help Our Littlest Students Get Ready for Their First Day (and Bid Farewell to Pre-Preschool Jitters)

If I learned one parenting trick from Fred Rogers (spoiler alert: I’ve actually learned dozens), it’s that anytime I subject my kid to a new experience, it’s crucial to set expectations before we arrive. Helping your child understand what’s going to happen—and giving it a positive spin—can be crucial to avoiding meltdown, tantrums, crying fits or even just basic jitters (our children, much like us, all express their anxieties in different ways).

To this very day, I recall many lessons I learned from Mr. Rogers as a child, so when my own little one came along, I was eager to share those same lessons with her through the miracle of online streaming (HOT TIP: you can watch old episodes for free on the PBS Kids app or on Amazon Prime). Add to that Daniel Tiger is a Mr. Rogers spinoff that has translated many of Mr. Rogers’ lessons (and even his songs) to cartoon form, and the parenting/childing lessons are nearly endless.

All a long way of saying: we’re big believers in setting expectations for our three-year-old. And with the first day of preschool just a couple weeks away, we wanted to make sure she knew what to expect. So we took a four-pronged approach. We:  

  1. Watched episodes of Mr. Rogers and Daniel Tiger that deal with “going to school.”

  2. Helped her get excited by letting her pick out a new backpack and occasionally talking about all of the fun things they’ll do.

  3. Signed her up for a few different 30-60-minute classes where she’s “all by myself” while one of us waits outside of a door (usually behind glass). Our local library is amazing and offers one such class for free, and our budget was eternally grateful for that. We also did gymnastics and swim, which required some cutbacks to pay the bills, but the end result is a child who seems to have overcome the bulk of her separation anxiety.

  4. Read some “first day of school”-themed books.

What we noticed with the “first day of school”-themed books is that there is an overwhelming presence of fear in many of these books, and we were a bit conflicted about that. Our daughter isn’t afraid of school—rather, she’s quite excited—so introducing the idea that there are things to worry about seemed, well… to create fears that otherwise wouldn’t have existed.

For example: our daughter wasn’t afraid of storms, or the dark, until she watched age-appropriate television shows about overcoming those fears. Instead of teaching her to not be afraid, they exposed her to the very notion that thunder is terrifying and monsters might be hiding in the darkness. Not at all what those shows intended, I know, but that was the net effect for a child who previously didn’t fear those things.

But all kids are different, and littles heading into full-day programs might be a little more concerned than those embarking on part-time adventures. So when it comes to books or television programs you’re selecting for your child, it’s imperative you have a grasp of how much anxiety your child is feeling (if any) and preview the material yourself before you share it with your child (something I obviously failed to do in the aforementioned scenarios—let my mistake be your cautionary tale). That way you can curate reading material to suit your need. If your child is expressing anxiety and fear, read stories that name those fears and can help your child overcome them. If your child is excited about school but is prone to anxiety and might feel nervous the moment they see you walk out of the door, avoid books that discuss fears in depth and instead look for ones that explain what a school-day entails. To help simplify things, I’ve labeled the below summaries based on how the books approach fear.

There are dozens if not hundreds of books out there on this very subject, and I’ve barely scratched the surface here. If you’ve read anything on the subject that you find to be out of this world, please leave a comment on this page with the book title, author and the approach the book takes. That way, parents who come here looking for back-to-school reading material have a more comprehensive pool to draw from.


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I Will Be Fierce!
Written by: Bea Birdsong
Illustrated by: Nidhi Chanani

Approach: Fears are alluded to, but in such a positive, indirect way it’s unlikely to trigger anxiety.

Perfect For: Kids 3-8, whether they’re going to school (or riding the bus) for the first time, changing schools or just need a little motivation to help them conquer the day.  

Summary: This tale is all about being the hero of your own story, no matter what the world throws your way. It’s so positive and life-affirming, its title phrase could even serve as a mantra for adults heading to work. Essentially, a little girl wakes up ready to tackle the day, and she does just that in near-epic fashion. The story mentions monsters, dragons and giants though the corresponding illustrations depict images from an ordinary school day. She repeats “I will be fierce” every few pages, with all other sentences being active “I will _____” statements. For example: she says “I will dare to walk with the giants” while waiting with bigger kids at a bus stop; “I will conquer my fears” and “I will make my voice heard” when working up the courage to raise her hand to speak in class; and “I will build new bridges” when approaching a kid sitting alone in the cafeteria.


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My First Day of School (A Pre-Level One Ready-to-Read Book)
Written by: Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Photographs by: Jill Wachter

Approach: No fear. This book is great for setting expectations about a school day and never mentions potential worries or anxiety triggers.

Perfect For: Kids going to pre-school or kindergarten for the first time who don’t know what to expect.

Summary: With just 1-2 rhyming sentences per page, this non-fiction book has a sing-song quality that helps kids grasp sentence structure, learn to read and hold onto the key message. It takes a very straight-forward look at the school day and even includes an appendix at the end that explains each part of a typical day (for pre-school or kindergarten) in short, easy-to-digest paragraphs. Topics covered include: arriving to class, free play, circle time, weather station, outdoor play, snack time, hand washing, imaginary play, block building, story time, music time, class pets and making new friends.


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Butterflies on the First Day of School
Written by: Annie Silvestro
Illustrated by: Dream Chen

Approach
: This book is about first-day jitters without any specific fears called out. It is a narrative that shows the different parts of the school day without necessarily naming them.  

Perfect For: Kids going to pre-school, kindergarten or possibly even first grade (especially if they will be riding a school bus).

Summary: This is a charming narrative about a little girl who is excited to go to school, but starts to experience “butterflies” in her belly the night before her first day. Butterflies quite literally fly out of her mouth with every interaction, but as the day progresses there are fewer and fewer butterflies–and she ultimately reaches out to another little girl with butterflies to help her feel more at ease.  


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School of Fish: Friendship on the High Seas (A Level One Ready-to-Read Book)
Written by: Jane Yolen
Illustrated by: Mike Moran

Approach
: This book explores potential fears as abstract scenarios with quick resolutions.

Perfect For: Kids going to pre-school, kindergarten or possibly even first grade who are likely to experience first-day anxiety but respond better to stories a little further removed from reality.

Summary: This story follows a little fish on his first day of “school.” It shows him meeting up with friends, riding a “shark bus” and playing hide-and-go seek in a clam shell—and being worried that their friend might never find them—and losing their lunch box. The resolutions revolve around friendship and sharing. The story is told in rhyme, with 2-4 simple sentences per page.


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Superbuns
Written & illustrated by: Diane Kredensor

Approach: This isn’t a “first day of school” book, per se (I’ll explain why I’m still including it here a little later). Consequently, no related fears are mentioned.

Perfect For: Kids 4-8.

Summary: This story has no direct correlation to school, but I’m still including it in this list because of the import it places on kindness. Those first few days/weeks of school can be so crucial when it comes to making (potentially lifelong) friendships, but this can also be the time when some kids are first exposed to bullying. In Superbuns, kindness is one little bunny’s superpower. She spends her days being kind to everyone who crosses her path, even her kid sister Blossom who does not value kindness. But then a lost creature crosses their path, and Blossom—who is initially terrified—learns a valuable lesson about being kind.


NOTE: Many of the aforementioned episodes of Daniel Tiger are available in book form via Simon Spotlight. One such book, Daniel Goes to School, covers the first day of school (in that one, Daniel gets worried when he realizes his father won’t be sticking around for the school day). He learns that “grownups come back” and has fun playing with friends and partaking in everyday preschool activities. We’ve seen the corresponding episode of the show but haven’t read that particular book; I’ll update this post once we have it.

No Matter Who Wins, We Lose

Never in my lifetime has this country been so terrifying, so ugly, so very obtuse. No matter who wins November 8, we all lose.

One candidate because he’s a dangerous megalomaniac who built his campaign on a foundation of hate and refuses to comply with election results.

The other because she’s lost in the shadow of a pseudo-scandal that most people fail to comprehend (and frankly don’t even bother to try).

If he wins, we have failed as a nation. Because it means we're uglier than he is, and there will be no turning back.

If she wins, his opponent has already laid the foundation for civil unrest. His followers have quite literally threatened the election with their muskets.

And make no mistake: they have much more sophisticated guns than that.

I feel sad. Disgusted. Battered. Torn. This should be a time to excite, not a time to incite, but what started with Trump encouraging his supporters to punch protesters has turned into an all-out call to arms.

To say we’re entering into dangerous territory is to deny the obvious: that it has been dangerous for months, and grown increasingly so as more and more once-rational people turned a blind eye to serious indiscretions as they pieced together a weak case for voting for Trump.

"He doesn't mean what he says," they say. "You're taking it out of context," they say (even when faced with the context in its entirety). And to that I say: he has shown us, repeatedly, the kind of man he is. Which is to say: not a kind man at all. 

He was a known misogynist and racist well before this election even began. And yet you rallied behind him.

He threatened to have his opponent killed. Then imprisoned. And then admitted he might not accept election results unless he wins. He flip-flopped. He contradicted himself.

He has threatened to restrict freedom of the press – and accused the media of outright lies – despite all audio and videotape evidence to the contrary. And his numbers rose.

This thrice-married man with very public infidelities was caught on camera ADMITTING to being a sexual predator – and yet when women stepped forward to say, “Yes, it’s true, he did that to me,” it was as if you’d already forgotten how he lewdly bragged about grabbing women without their permission.

He’s promised to make America great again, but has yet to tell us what that means. What era will we return to? The one before women could vote? The one where black people had to sit in the back of the bus? Or will we roll back the clock to the 90s, an era without war but with ample financial stability – and our first President Clinton?

Because Trump has very publicly praised Bill Clinton’s presidency. There’s video evidence to prove it. Don’t believe me? Click that previous link. Still won’t believe me? Then you’re why we’re in this mess.

This is very dangerous territory, indeed. But it’s been that way for a while. We just feel it now more so than ever, with the election a few days away as we face the very real prospect of a very surreal future.

Is Hillary my first choice? No. Does Hillary have skeletons? Yep. Does she have some people donating to the Clinton Foundation that give me pause? Yes. But the same could be said tenfold for Trump and his foundation. But one key difference people keep forgetting: the Clinton Foundation has actually done some good in the world. Trump used his foundation to buy portraits of himself.

That’s telling. And if you don’t understand why – if you don’t understand just how dangerous it is to grant power to an egomaniac who has repeatedly demonstrated a quick temper but slow wit – then you haven’t read your history books. 

For the rest of us, the future is unsettling. Because no matter who wins, we all lose.

Trump has already made sure of that.