Recalls »

[11 Mar 2010 | Comments Off | ]

The bracelets contain high levels of cadmium. Laboratory analysis determined that in certain tests, over 20,000 micrograms of cadmium were released from the snowman alone. Cadmium can be toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.

Recalls »

[11 Mar 2010 | Comments Off | ]

The testers can fail to give an indication of live voltage, resulting in the operator falsely believing the electrical power is off, posing a risk of serious injury or death from electrical shock or thermal burns.

Recalls »

[11 Mar 2010 | Comments Off | ]

The nailers could have a faulty feeder that can allow nails to be ejected sideways, posing a serious injury hazard to the user or bystanders.

Baby, Consumer Reports, Featured, News, Toddler »

[10 Mar 2010 | Comments Off | ]
Do Baby Wordsworth DVDs help your baby talk?

Do Baby Wordsworth DVDs help your baby talk? Although quite chatty now, our daughter wasn't an early talker. I clearly remember the worry I felt when her doctor expressed mild concern over her lack of words. As a parent, it's hard not to obsess over such developmental milestones, and you do what you can to help your child learn and grow. One tool many parents turn to are educational DVDs for babies and toddlers, some of which focus on language. However, a new study suggests that such tools do not actually help young children learn new words or improve their overall language skills. The study focused on the Baby Wordsworth DVD, which is part of the Baby Einstein series. Ninety-six children aged 12 months to 24 months participated in the study, and half watched the DVD regularly for six weeks. Parents were told to use the DVD as they would any other type of children's media, allowing them to decide whether they would watch the DVD with their child. Every couple of weeks, the researchers tested both groups' knowledge of the 30 words featured in the DVD by showing the children pairs of pictures and asking them to point to the one showing the word. The parents were also interviewed about their child's use and understanding of these words. At the end of the study, there were no differences between the groups in overall language skills, or in the numbers of words understood, words said, or pictures identified. Learn more in the

Parenting.Com »

[10 Mar 2010 | Comments Off | ]

I am the second child in my family and always felt like I got plenty of attention but now that I have my own second child I am suddenly feeling…short shrifted.