I don't know that I ever had an intention of my first impression to my readers, while I know probably only currently consists of my best friend, Inevitable Investigation (II), to be a rant, but this article just set me off first thing this morning. Please take a moment to read even part of this article if you haven't already:
Did Bumbo Ignore Child Safety in Favor of Profits?
Now let me take you back roughly twenty years ago, and you will find myself and my younger cousin, El Mira, contained on a cushion-less couch, because the cushions were barracade style on the floor, with a coffee table reinforcement. I was two, with a rather dislike for El Mira (I was the baby! Me, me, me, me, me!) and El Mira wasn't more than a couple months old. Yet we did just fine in our miniature compartment. No portacrib, no actual walls, just enough room to mooch around a bit for El Mira, and a stern warning about leaving her alone from my mother, who was close by watching us, so I knew I better keep my act straight.
Yes, I understand the Bumbo would have been used for El Mira in today's day; however, my family may be lacking in some things, but common sense is hardly one of them! Because even in our little fortress, if one of us somehow had managed to wriggle our way out, there were blankets and pillows stacked all around that coffee table and the floor on the other side of the cushioned wall. And once again, my mother was close by WATCHING us. This seat is a baby sitter, not babysitter. My sympathies do go out to these families and their children that were hurt, especially prior to the recall, but seriously? At what point did you think that it was alright to leave your newborn at a height of what was approximately three feet off the ground, unattended, in a seat that already had a precaution on the side about not being used on an elevated surface?
I see parents are also saying that there should be a safety belt in place. Fair enough. I can agree and support that entirely; however, if you're not paying attention to your child, and they're buckled into this thing on top of it, and they flip the whole entire thing off the table, guess what? They're still falling, and now they're stuck to it, so there's not chance it may fall separate from your child causing less injury instead! Then you're filing a whole new set of lawsuits.
Of course I'm guilty of leaving my child unattended for a moment before. As a matter of fact, the first time he decided to roll I had gone to dart into the kitchen to make myself some cocoa and a bottle for him, and when I returned to the living room he'd rolled off our foot and a half high couch and on the floor, and was lying there looking at me like, "Yeah, what of it? Can I get that bottle now?" Granted the good old blankets and pillows method was there to catch him, just in case. I guess this rant is essentially this--Bumbo, I think you're doing just fine, and will probably purchase one of your seats for Cub, who will be here in roughly two months, and will probably have Bug, who's four, trying to figure out how to squeeze his own butt in to it at some point. However, I will not be leaving my child unattended on a counter in my kitchen in the seat, while I wander off to do some mundane household chore, nor will he not be guarded by many a pillow and blanket, just in case. Parents, just keep an eye on your kids! It's that simply really.
~Momma Sauwce
