So Much For Sarcasm
Incredibly, that safety warning I mocked yesterday turns out to have a legitimate foundation in reality. Thanks to all of you who sent in this link: Infants & Toddlers Can Drown in 5-Gallon Buckets:Large buckets and young children can be a deadly combination. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received reports of over 275 young children who have drowned in buckets since 1984. Over 30 other children have been hospitalized. Almost all of the containers were 5-gallon buckets containing liquids. Most were used for mopping floors or other household chores. Many were less than half full.
Of all buckets, the 5-gallon size presents the greatest hazard to young children because of its tall, straight sides and weight, even with just a small amount of liquid. At 14-inches high, a 5-gallon bucket is about half the height of a young child. That, combined with the stability, makes it nearly impossiblefor top-heavy infants and toddlers to free themselves when they fall into the bucket head first. A child can drown in a small amount of water.
Out of curiosity, I measured the capacity of the tennis ball bucket, and it was 4.5 gallons. So certainly differently-shaped and not as large as the standard 5-gallon bucket, but still similar enough to be required to carry The warning label.
Seriously, I must have been one of the most cautious parents ever (I am still laughingly called "Mr. Safety" by both Gloria and Eli 10.5), but this would have never crossed my mind.
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