Recently in Safety Category
It's a sad day in the Valley when the Build-a-Bear Workshop store in the Northridge mall gets robbed at knifepoint. According to police, the incident occured just before closing time yesterday.
But how long will it be until something like this happens in the middle of a busy Saturday, with children cramming the store?
Two different schools in different districts on opposite sides of town are grappling with charges that teachers or staff abused students, both on campus and off. In one case, the allegations involve a well-liked, respected veteran instructor at Santa Monica Middle School; in the other, an assistant principal was shipped from campus to campus by other staff who knew about the charges!
Shellshocked parents are looking at incompetent administrators in their schools, and a character history that seems to mean absolutely nothing. How many more children have been hurt that we don't even know about? Personally, I'd say homeschooling is looking better and better.
I hadn't been in a Whole Foods market in about two years. But today, I spent almost $25 (a pittance at WF, I know) on organic/nontoxic/hypo-allergenic cosmetics for my kids.
Full disclosure: As a parent, I tend to be lax about keeping synthetic stuff away from my children. I was microwaving my bottles a few years ago before anyone knew that wasn't such a good idea. And my girls were well into their toy biting phase way before the China Lead scandal.
So the point is, I have not been paranoid about this kind of thing to date. But when I started hearing about phthalates that are in something like 75% of all cosmetics, I thought a little paranoia about my kids health might be appropriate.
Phthalates, plasticizing agents added to synthetic fragrances, were found in a recent study to cause reproductive problems in small children. The study, published in Pediatrics this month, measured phthalates in the urine of 163 infants, whether they had been exposed to diaper cream, lotions and shampoos, and those cosmetics were linked to higher concentrations of the toxins. Creepy.
That's why I could justify spending $9.99 for a bottle of shampoo & body wash by Avalon Organics, and another $9.99 on a pump spray container of plant-based hair detangler made by California Baby. An added plus: the shampoo contains tea tree extract, which turns off lice. Very cool.
By the way, Target now stocks California Baby products and a few others like it, and I noticed Trader Joe's is selling Avalon shampoo for adults for about half the price it cost at CVS drugstore.
Last week, a Santa Monica Mom answered the door to the police after a neighbor tattle-tailed on her for leaving her 18-month strapped in his carseat while she ran in the house to retrieve her cell phone. Today's article goes into detail about the incident and why it plays out across L.A. everyday, even though it probably shouldn't.
What is your take on the issue? Vote in our poll.
Toy makers, including El-Segundo-based Mattel, have hired new Washington lobbyists to help educate lawmakers about the industry; critics say the move is an attempt to hold off any serious reform in consumer product safety of the toys. Here's Lisa Friedman's full story in today's DN.
California environmental enforcers pressured retailers Wednesday to immediately pull from shelves children's jewelry pieces that tested illegally high for lead. See Full story.
Stores where spot testing was done included Macy’s, Dollar Tree, and GAP Kids outlets throughout California. The 16 red-flagged trinkets include a "Molly 'N Me" necklace and a "Best Friends Two" bracelet. SEE A COMPLETE LIST of the tainted items at http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/LeadInJewelry.cfm.
Ouch. This nanny got caught on tape getting abusive when one of her two-year-old twin charges resisted going down for her nap. Angry dad Brad Roth started NannyAbuse.com to create a forum for parents to get more information.
Watch this clip from NBC: http://video.knbc.com/player/?id=192803
Here are two other inventive nannywatch sites that I've written about:
LAnannywatch.blogspot.com
ISawYourNanny.blogspot.com
See my story from a month ago:
By Barbara Correa
Nasty nannies beware. Parents everywhere are watching you.
Whether on message boards, Web sites or blogs, the Internet is abuzz with reported sightings of rogue nannies slapping kids, leaving them unattended or worse.
Now, nervous moms and dads are finding total strangers out there willing to watch their backs and report any nanny abuse. And what some are reporting is fueling new concerns about the largely unregulated industry.
On LAnannywatch.blogspot.com, launched a year ago, a mother describes how she discovered that her nanny was dropping her infant twins off at a private house every day, paying another woman to watch them, and then pocketing the difference.
The nanny would then go to work at other families' homes or run errands.
The mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is pursuing legal action against the nanny, said she checked references and did a background check on the nanny, who seemed legitimate.
She said she suspected nothing until someone in the neighborhood told her what was going on. The nanny was fired, but the mother said she posted a message on the blog to warn other parents about the scam.
After a rash of news reports showed secret videotapes of nannies slapping or beating children in the 1990s, some families took to installing hidden nanny cams.
But with the evolution of the Internet and the ability to post and blog in real time, citizen "nannywatch" sites have boomed.
Smacked on street
A recent thread on Peachhead, the huge Yahoo group for parents in Los Angeles, details the saga of a little girl named "Holland" who was seen being smacked on the street by her hired guardian.
On Oct. 30, one Peachheader -- as the site's members are known -- posted a description of a 3-year-old on Ventura Boulevard and Laurel Canyon Boulevard holding a lunch box with "Holland" written on it. The nanny was allegedly screaming at the girl and hitting her on the top of the head.
A few hours after the first post went up, mothers swarmed into action, calling local preschools to ask whether anyone had a girl named Holland in their class.
By the next morning, a message went out announcing that the child had been identified and that the parents were handling the situation.
"I couldn't get it out of my mind," said Priscilla Sanchez, an infant nurse in Encino and one of the mothers who started calling schools when she read about the bad nanny.
"It reconfirms why I don't use a nanny," said Jessica Gottlieb, a mother of two in Sherman Oaks.
Gottlieb is is a frequent visitor to ISawYourNanny.blogspot.com, a watchdog site that allows anyone with a computer to post a performance report on a caregiver.
Child left alone
One report filed on the site over the summer assails a grandmotherly caregiver who left a 2-year-old girl alone at the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square food court while she went to Panda Express "to get a bowl of chow mein."
"Why I didn't give the woman a tongue lashing, I don't know," the poster wrote. "Maybe it was because she had an accent and I wasn't sure she'd understand.
"Point of the story: Don't leave your child alone in a mall. ... This carelessness could have cost the child her life."
Gottlieb said one reason for the increase in nannywatch sites is that parents are not being selective enough when they hire. They're also learning the hard way that you get what you pay for.
"My kids go to an expensive private school," Gottlieb said. "The nannies I see there are not going to be up on that Web site."
Unfortunately, a lot of working families are looking for deep discounts on nannies.
Employing a nanny was once reserved for the rich and famous. But today, it's unusual to find a dual-income L.A. family with little children that doesn't use one.
Pat Cascio, president of the International Nanny Association, said that when she started her Houston nanny agency in 1983, there were only about 20 such businesses nationwide. Now there are thousands.
Registry virtually unknown
In 1987, California created a voluntary background-check registry called Trust Line, a database that lists in-home child-care providers who have no criminal convictions or child-abuse reports.
But the registry is virtually unknown among parents, and it only checks for certain crimes committed in California, said Cascio.
Professional nannies working on the tax rolls say that while the sites and blogs might hurt the industry overall, they also make good nannies look even better.
"The majority of what I'm reading (on ISawYourNanny.blogspot.com) is illegal immigrants. It's a little disappointing -- you have a lot of people who are ... trying to get the best deal in terms of pay," said nanny Amanda Casabianca.
Casabianca said her $18- to $19-per-hour salary puts her among the highest-paid nannies in the business.
She said an abundance of people willing to work for low pay allows more working people to employ nannies, but it also hurts quality.
"There's so many nannies," she said, "and no regulation, no licensing."
barbara.correa@dailynews.com
Nasty nannies beware. Parents everywhere are watching you.
Whether on message boards, Web sites or blogs, the Internet is abuzz with reported sightings of rogue nannies slapping kids, leaving them unattended or worse.
Now, nervous moms and dads are finding total strangers out there willing to watch their backs and report any nanny abuse. And what some are reporting is fueling new concerns about the largely unregulated industry.
On LAnannywatch.blogspot.com, launched a year ago, a mother describes how she discovered that her nanny was dropping her infant twins off at a private house every day, paying another woman to watch them, and then pocketing the difference.
Nasty nannies beware. Parents everywhere are watching you.
Whether on message boards, Web sites or blogs, the Internet is abuzz with reported sightings of rogue nannies slapping kids, leaving them unattended or worse.
Now, nervous moms and dads are finding total strangers out there willing to watch their backs and report any nanny abuse. And what some are reporting is fueling new concerns about the largely unregulated industry.
On LAnannywatch.blogspot.com, launched a year ago, a mother describes how she discovered that her nanny was dropping her infant twins off at a private house every day, paying another woman to watch them, and then pocketing the difference.
Authorities said today they had not decided whether to charge a 12-year-old boy who was playing with matches that started a blaze in Agua Dulce that destroyed 21 homes. (See the full story)
What's your view? Should the kid be punished, and if so, how? Should his parents be punished? Respond to barbara.correa@dailynews.com and I'll publish the results.
Following on yesterday's suggestion to photograph or videotape documents and home contents, here's a local company that does just that and is offering a discount. Reporter Julia Scott lays it out in her story about Epoch Archiving in Chatsworth.
The other proactive thing to do is buy that disaster preparedness kit. I'm as guilty of not doing this as anyone, and while I tease my husband when he says I should keep a pair of sneakers in each car, I know he is probably right.
Other than shoes, the basics to have on hand, according to the Red Cross, are:
-- One gallon of water per person per day
-- Three-day supply of non perishable food
-- First aid kit
-- Essential medications/eyeglasses
See their Web site for more checklists.
All I can think about today is how scary it must be for a mother or father who is trying to decide whether to pack up the kids and head for safer ground or stay and try to salvage their house and valuables. The fires engulfing so much of the region still seem a world a way from most of central Los Angeles -- I can here children playing outside my window just as they would on any summer day.
But I can only imagine what so many families are having to deal with at the moment. A quick scan of Peachhead finds a lot of messages expressing concern and vowing prayers for firefighters and homeowners in the affected areas. And Peachheaders are offering a few good tips too. One post urges people to start photographing or videotaping the contents of their homes as a digital record in case they need to film an insurance claim.
Another good idea is to either take important documents with you, or make sure they are stored in a fire safe box in the house. And as officials keep repeating today, if you're in a questionable area, just get out. Don't go back for the pets or the pictures. Just go.
Everybody's talking about drugs today. Under pressure from the FDA, Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth today announced recalls of cough and cold medicines for kids under two citing safety concerns. The safety of these medications has been under scrutiny for a few years. As a parent, I'm obviously happy that possibly dangerous drugs are being looked at.
But what excites me even more is that all this attention might unveil the truth about these medicines, which took me three years of motherhood to figure out: whatever you think about the safety of chemicals like dextromethorphan -- the main ingredient in Robitussin and other syrups -- THEY DON'T WORK. At least they never did much for my kids.
When daughter number 1, the one that can't handle being sick, had a cough, she was determined to be miserable -- and force me to miserable with her -- all night long, cough syrup or none. The syrups seemed to have no effect on her whatsoever. Once I made the mistake of giving her one of the antihistamines in a Robitussin or Pediacare (I blessedly can't remember which). She was bouncing off the walls until dawn.
The only thing that has ever helped my little Tazmanian devil is Benadryl. The stuff seems to help her drift off and stay that way without the hyperactive side effect of those horrible antihistamines. I'm glad I finally learned my lesson and I only stock B and tylenol for headache now. I just wish this nugget of knowledge had come with my baby instruction manual.
If you're like me, you occasionally sit in the car outside your house while the kid(s) finish their nap. Well, after reading this, I'm not going to recline my seat anymore when I do that.
Check out this article from Slate Magazine about the risks from a collision when the seat is tilted back:
Death Nap: The dangers of tilting back the front seat of your car -- don't do it!
An excerpt: "One of the main functions of kids' car seats (once they've reached the age of about 3) is to make sure that their seat belts hit them at the right height.'' Apparently, the same goes for us big people
Words to drive by.
About this blog
BARBARA CORREA
Barbara Correa writes about work and family for the Los Angeles Daily News.
Recent Comments
Steven Rosenberg on What's in Your Water?: Can you be
Owen D. on Northridge mall safe for kids??: Actually,
Toni on Wife rating scale: do you put your cold feet on husband to warm them?: We need to
Vanessa on Hovering Parents, What Gives?: instead of
Rick on Lets hear it for the dads: Thanks for
Rachel on New cable series: Cool Kids Parties: I'm thinki
Toni on MOM's Drive-Through Guide to Greater L.A.: I like the
Eric on Santa Monica Mom busted for leaving kid in the car unattended for 45 seconds: This IS un
Sue Doe-Nim on Santa Monica Mom busted for leaving kid in the car unattended for 45 seconds: I saw this