http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21711927/

D:

o_o

So, I wonder how many stupid people are stockpiling them now?:|

That stupid *****, now I know how she got me!

wait, why were they eating the dots 0_o?

Is it candy or a toy?

You arrange the colored dots on the grid, and then you spray them with water and they fuse together. It's like an arty crafty toy. But seriously, you'd think they'd realize they were making them with dangerous chemicals...

We couldn't even open the store on Tuesday until we tracked down every last Aquadot in the building.

they're eating them because they're toddlers. and that's what toddlers do.

I think the real question, though, is what responsible parent would buy their toddler a 'toy' in which they could easily swallow and/or choke on.

...that article was very poorly written. the redundancies were ridiculous.

no no no.. lets *not* go blaming the parents on this one. kids eating beads is a fact of life. that sort of thing just happens. when you've got a toddler running around, they'll put anything and everything in their mouth.

Now if the kids were drinking bleach, then I'd agree with you. The parents need to keep that stuff out of the kids' reach. But small beads like this shouldn't even pose a choking hazard and so are not worth worrying about (though a kid might try and stick one up their nose too).

They're not a choking hazard?? So why make beads that are "easily ingestible" without testing the chemicals used it them?

Okay.

These toys are not meant for toddlers. These toys are meant for older children. These toys are reactive with water. They're designed to be. Adding water to them causes them to fuse together. If you swallowed a handful of them the right way you'd end up with a bowel obstruction.

The original recall happened because a 20 month old toddler swallowed a few dozen beads. A few dozen! A two-year-old! We're talking about an unsupervised baby being given a toy meant for a child three to four times his age and left alone long enough for it to basically scarf down the whole thing. A 20 month old doesn't even have the intelligence to figure out what to do with the goddamn thing. The whole issue is being trumped up by a bunch of parents who, when asked why their child had time to consume the entire contents of the product, stammered, clenched the fists, stared at the ground in silence and after several seconds muttered out "well it's not my fault" to the nearest TV crew.

No, no, this is definitely irresponsible parenting, just like the irresponsible journalism behind the whole controversy. You have to eat dozens of them to experience the tranquilization effect (and that's if you're a toddler). It's also not a goddamn 'date rape drug,' although the media certainly likes using that term because it paints the picture of a mincing chinese man trying to molest your baby and that sort of thing sells ads I guess.

Maybe they didn't think a 20 month old would be given the product and be unsupervised long enough to eat dozens of the beads?

WMMR in Philly had these a few days ago and were playing with them. Apparently they taste pretty awful. And if I remember right, they're marked 'Four and up'

You'd think parents would supervise their children, or pick toys appropriate for their age level.

My mother-in-law bought that for my daughter (who's 5). She's not going to eat them. However, my 1 1/2 yr old son will. She took it back.

Jon, 20 month old babies cannot be supervised 100% of the time. They're walking by that age. You turn your back for 5 minutes and those beads are gone.

When you have a kid, you child-proof your home. You put the little locks on the cabinets, you put the covers over the door knobs. You put the thing over the toilet. You do this, not because you want to be able to leave your child alone for hours on end without supervision, but because toddlers can get into stuff faster than you can blink.

Chewbubba has an excellent example. You buy these toys for a 5 or 6 year old. He/She is playing with them on the counter. You also have a 2 year old. The 2 year old waddles over to the table, reaches up and grabs a handful, and crams them in his/her mouth. You see it happen, so you run over and try to get them out, but by the time you get there the kid could have very easily swallowed several. Even more likely if they taste bad, because the kid is more likely to swallow them to get the taste out of his/her mouth than to hold them in his/her mouth. Now, imagine that you're using the restroom while this is happening (or preparing meat to get dinner ready, or any # of things). Suddenly, you're not in a position to run over and stick your fingers in your kids mouth.

Worse, once the kid has swallowed them, 90% of parents are going to think "Well Billy's not choking, they're just beads. He'll poo them out." Next thing you know, he's acting funny and you have to take him to the ER.

Those people don't have any business being parents then.


Dude, my parents are both addled addicts and I never got into **** like that as a kid.

Seriously it can't be that hard.

You *NEVER* swallowed anything you weren't supposed to? I really doubt that.

Neither did my crack baby little brother either.

I guess when your priorities are getting high and getting drunk you don't need some little kid swallowing a bunch of crap and harshing the vibe.

But really. Poor parenting. NEXT.

I swallowed a penny once.

Rob, I don't believe you. How could you even know? You were a child and wouldn't even remember. And *usually* if you swallow something, it's harmless. Just makes its way through your system and out. There's no way in hell you remember that time of you life well enough to say unequivocally that you never swallowed something you weren't supposed to. That's the most ridiculous claim I've ever heard you make (and that's saying a lot).

Because I would have heard the story about 9000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times like they tell about my older half-brother, who swallowed whole packs of marbles and crazyness like that while his dad was whailing on my mom with a belt.

not if your older half brother wasn't there to witness it, or didn't think it a noteworthy event, which is exactly my point. Small children swallowing stuff happens quickly, and happens often. Which means it's not something people worry overly about, except to try and make sure there are no hazardous materials about, and nothing the baby could choke on. Look at Vinny's example. Do you think his parents gave him pennies to play with? Do you think they were bad parents and left him alone to fend for himself for extended periods of time? I don't think either. And yet he managed swallow a penny! Dun Dun DUN! Oh no! Call the press! Call CPS! Call your Senator! Wait. Don't call them. It's not that big a deal. It'll be through his system in 24 hours, and he'll be fine (Vin, any lasting effects to having swallowed said penny?).

With these beads, the parents will either not know about it until the kids start getting sick (because they didn't see it happen, which does not necessarily mean they're neglecting the kid, just that the stepped out of the room to use the restroom or answer the phone or something), or will see it happen and put the rest of the beads away, but not be too concerned because they don't expect the beads to be dangerous. They're just beads after all.

Maybe that's what gave him t h e gay .

Not if there is never anything around to swallow.

Uh durr.

right, because "good" parents NEVER have anything around their house that could possibly be swallowed by a child. We don't live in a perfect world Rob. And you're sounding like an idiot trying to continue this conversation.

"good parents" make safe play areas.

Uh durr.

hahaha i remember seeing the commercial for those, it actually looked kinda cool.

to be honest... what is this crappy toy... wow you make patterns with beads that stick together... amazing... then you end up with a box of these things that end up being thrown away a few months later and the remaining beads and the rest of the kit end up in the next rummage sale

here's what i had to explore my creativity LEGOS AND CRAYONS i built some awesome stuff with my legos... even built stuff for my GI Joes

my future children will get the same stuff... LEGOS AND CRAYONS (i may also throw in an erector set... it was something i never had)

Kids aren't the same.

My daughter never got into anything and never put anything in her mouth besides food. We had a few of the cabinet lock-thingies, but it didn't really matter, she didn't bother with the cabinets. Same with the electrical outlet plugs. We put them in, but it didn't really matter, she never tried to stick her fingers in them.

My son, on the other hand, gets into everything. We've got the cabinet lock-thingies everywhere and we even had to get a couple of the doorknob covers, because he managed to open the bathroom door, go inside and lock it, and splash around in the toilet. And he sticks everything he can get his hands on in his mouth - his sisters markers, stuffed animals, even the shampoo on his head.

It's possible that Rob was somewhat like my daughter while his step-whatever was more like my son.

I never did.

So what you're saying is that we can breed the behavior out of our species by making everything extremely hazardous

Then watch as all the timid adventureless people go extinct because they're too afraid to thrive.

This thread went from an argument, to disturbing, to hilarious.

Thank you massassi.

I used to take EVERYTHING apart that I could.

I am going to take a girl on a date with these and suggest that we lick them to stick them together and build sculptures. I will put a rubber coating on my tongue.

Score.

I never swallowed anything when I was little either. I had something better. MY THUMB.

excellent.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}