There’s nothing like watching a child dig through a pile of presents and experience their new favorite toy for the first time. However, it’s extremely important to know the toy’s safety precautions and read warning labels to protect from injury.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, emergency rooms treated over 224,000 children for toy-related injuries in 2019. Although no one wants to disappoint a child by refusing to buy them a toy, precautions are necessary to keep children safe.
Here are a few ways to help protect children’s eyes from injury:
When purchasing a toy, read the label. Be sure that the toy you’re buying has “ASTM” on the label. This means that the toy meets the national safety standards. In addition, read the age recommendation. This will tell you for which age group the toy is appropriate and safe.
- Inspect the toy yourself.
Toys with sharp points or edges or with removable parts can be a danger. It’s also important to examine the toy to determine if it would shatter if dropped or mishandled.
- Explain how to use the toy.
Giving a child instructions on how to properly use a toy is crucial. For example, children need to know that though the darts in a nerf gun are soft, they can still cause injury if aimed at the eye.
To be sure that the toy is being used how it’s intended, supervise the child playing with it. This can help prevent the toy being mishandled which could cause an injury.
- Separate toys by age group
Every toy is intended for a certain age group. If there are multiple children in the house, it’s important to keep toys intended for older kids out of reach from younger children.
