Recalling responsibility

Dear People of Earth,

Today I’d like to discuss a little thing called, personal responsibility.  It no longer exists on this planet.  I can say this with certainty because of the recent Bumbo seat recall.

I’d like to begin my tirade by thanking all the friends and family who alerted me of the recall.  It was really kind of you to care about my son’s safety.  I care about his safety also.  That is why I follow the clear directions on the side of the Bumbo, “Warning-Prevent Falls- Never use on any elevated surface”.  This warning was added to the seats in 2007 after an initial recall.  Now there is a recall of the 4 million seats, because 34 babies fell out of the seats while they were being “used on the floor or an unknown elevation”  According to Boston.com there were 21 reports of skull fractures in infants.

That is horrific.  Any injury to a defenseless infant is a tragedy, but I’ll tell you what else is horrific.  A co-worker of mine has a relative who has been known to leave her baby in a Bumbo on her kitchen counter.  I had an interesting conversation with a friendly gas station attendant who told me he takes his 11 month son to the movies in his Bumbo seat.  He props it right up on the movie theater chair.

I’m sharing these two instances, because I don’t understand why people can’t take the blame for their own actions.  If my son is fussing and squirming in the seat, I take him out of it. I also make sure someone is always directly supervising him while it is in use.  I don’t know exactly how the 21 infants were injured, but the term “unknown elevations” is suspicious.

I’m not saying I’m a perfect parent.  In the interest of full disclosure, I accidently whacked my son’s head with a refrigerator door when he was two months old.  Did I blame GE for having the freezer door at a height that would injure my child?  No.  I just kissed him like crazy til he stopped wailing and chided myself for being the world’s worse parent.  I took the responsibility.

I’m not being paid by Bumbo, but I need to give the product some kudos.  At his last appointment my pediatrician recommended it to assist my son in learning to sit on his own. I’ve been propping Vince in it since he was 2 1/2 months old (always with supervision) and he enjoys singing songs, reading books, and playing with toys from this seated position.  The seats works well when used properly.

As a self declared liberal I rarely side with or feel bad for corporations, but in this case I do.  Bumbo International has never claimed to make anything more than a baby floor seat.  It’s not to blame for the ridiculous adults who carelessly prop their children up on “unknown elevations” or place the chair on hard surfaces without supervision.  Now it has to endure the humiliation of an international recall.  You can find more information at this link, but essentially what it boils down to is that they will send you a restraint belt to add to your existing seat and a new larger sticker with additional safety warnings.

I don’t intend to discontinue using this product.  I do intend to continue to use is on the floor with adult supervision.   I hope others do the same.

Love,