Recall the ball

I was cooking dinner in a kitchen that not only was recently picked up but even swept. Yet, right there I saw it, a toy ball. It was sitting right in the middle of the floor. If you remember my post about the toothpick, you know that my daughter has broken an elbow falling over a desk at school (and on a bike with training wheels, in addition to putting a toothpick completely through her toe).  Everything I see is an accident waiting to happen.

I picture those old cartoons where the character slips on a ball and goes bouncing all over before landing hard on the ground.  This gets me to thinking about how dangerous a ball can be. I mean left in the middle of a kitchen, where you might be carrying a knife or something hot, think of what would happen if you slipped on it. Or what if it were left on the stairs?

Yet how many kids toys come with balls? This particular ball is from an entire line of toys that come with small balls (not small enough to be choking hazards). I have several of the toys so at least a dozen balls. I pick them up and put them in their bin at least a dozen times a day too. Yet, there was an escapee, right in my kitchen. 

I think, it is pretty common sense to not leave balls on the floor or stairs to be tripped on. Then I remembered that I thought it was common sense to not put a baby in a Bumbo seat on the counter from which they could fall. Or how would a baby slide down and get their head stuck under a stroller bumper bar if they're buckled? Then again, people have won lawsuits because they burned themselves on hot coffee.  Most of us would complain if our coffee wasn't hot.

I don't mean to make light of recalls. Some are very important. When a carseat doesn't properly work, that's an important recall. When a stroller collapses during use, that's an important recall. I wonder though if so many frivolous recalls are going to result in people no longer paying much attention to recalls. Maybe the safety commission will think this same thing and reevaluate how recalls are done. If not I am waiting to see when they recall the ball because my house is full of them.