Parenting strategy for facing toxic flame retardant chemicals
(Read article summary)Toxic flame retardant chemicals, says a new study, are more prevalent than thought – even in couches. Parenting through the worry, one mom reasons through the set of concerns about kid safety that can inundate new parents starting with the crib bumpers and strollers and moving on to toys and ... now couches.
I have already bid a sad farewell to the Bumbo chair and have steeled myself to resist all of those adorable crib bumpers for sale in every kids catalog.
I have resolved that Buckeyballs, no matter how super cool, will not make an appearance in my home for the next two decades.
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And despite a few days of frantic, somewhat obsessive Internet research on the relative dangers of bassinets and cradles (do you know that there are no federal safety standards for those items???), I thought that I was pretty much through my pre-baby anxiety stage.
After all, I did my time during those months before Baby M arrived. (Do not ask me about the evils of pressed particle board. At least not around my poor husband, who I’m sure has already heard enough.) The Web is wonderful in many ways, but can be dangerous in the third trimester.
But then came more news this week about flame retardants.
It is not just sharp objects, stroller recalls and the dangers of plastic sippy-cups that should plague my mind and torture my Google, it turns out. Now, it appears, I must also fear my couch.
