Reading another MSNBC article here talking about the Yo-Yo Ball and how the CPSC is now going to formally investigate them — because they've (*gasp*) injured several kids.
That's not my problem. My problem is that this is just like the “coffee is hot” thing from McDonald's several years back. Now, I know that to many of you, the fact that coffee is hot isn't surprising. (Yes, yes, the particular coffee being served was way hotter than it needed to be, etc., etc.)
This Yo-Yo Ball thing is absurd on a number of levels. Is the CPSC going to try to get all Yo-Yo's off the market? What about extension cords? Water hoses? All these things can get wrapped around a kid's neck (or anyone's neck, for that matter) if they're swung about in the air. (Yeah, like most of you, I would have doubted most people are swinging these things around their heads — but I saw the local news report on KING-TV here in Seattle with the Bellevue kid showing what he was doing… SWINGING THE DAMNED THING AROUND HIS HEAD.)
I feel sorry for the kids that got hurt by this, but any toy can be a hazard. Back in my day, we'd run around outside playing “guns”. Some of us would fall and scrape our knees, or hit our heads on tree branches in the woods — that didn't stop us from having fun. This is truly all pointless.
If I were to list off every toy that injured a kid that I know, the list would be long. And my childhood would've been a lot less fun.