Parents Have Enough to Do

"Mommy said I could..."

This morning's news includes the fact that very young children are eating those laundry detergent pods, mistaking them for snacks. Naturally they get very sick soon after, and tragically, one child has died from doing so. Now the manufacturers are being blamed for making a product that looks like candy, with parents taking no responsibility for storing those detergent pods in a safe place, up and away from the kids. Those are the very same parents who let their kids freely eat other poisons that are packaged in bright colors, but which just take a longer time to sicken the children.

These include Snickers, Three Musketeers, Tootsie Rolls, KitKat, Twix, Rolos, M & Ms, Butterfingers, Starburst, Gobstoppers, Swedish Fish, Caramello, Sky Bar, Chuckles, Junior Mints, Whoppers, Milky Way, Twizzlers, Reese's Pieces, Baby Ruth, Charleston Chew, Mr. Goodbar, Mounds, Almond Joy, and Skittles, to name but a few. Perhaps the manufacturers of all those should consider new packaging to discourage youngsters from eating them too, relieving the parents of yet another heavy burden.