My DD was almost burned by a novelty lighter at the Dollar Store today!

[mamacatnv]

You won't get an answer to that question I asked related questions like that and they seem to be buried unanswered in this thread.

[/url]http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=5934969[/url] the lighters in this clip are scary.

Dollar store items are notoriously on the recall lists. I hate dollar stores and don't even like to take DD into them for a lot of the reasons being discussed here. They are cluttered with items that could pose harm. It is not the clerks fault, "he just works there".

Maybe the clerk is the owner, most of these stores are chains and product placement may be dictated by a corporate marketing dept.
Were the lighters located appropriately? Probably not but to place ALL the responsibility and blame onto the store IMO is wrong, parents have responsibilities also.

What if it was a bag of hard candy and a child got it into their mouths and choked? Would the store be on the hook for the display or should the parent be responsible for the child? Sadly, in our society the store would most likely be sued and forever forward hard candy would have to be requested at the counter, there would be a sign out sheet and a daily limit.

Consumer beware - when I enter a hardware store I am more cautious with the kids than when I enter a bedding store.

 

[Todd&Copper]

From the article linked above:

The legislation comes after an ABC12 report involving a Beaverton woman. Laura Fowler called us last month after she bought a novelty lighter thinking it was a toy.

That's what I said OP could also do - contact the local media! I am sure it was lost among the "perfect, non-touching kids" responses, but aside from that, I don't think there is anything much she can do. No real harm (meaning her kid isn't injured or maimed) so she can't sue Dollar Store for damages.

 

[heidica]

Check this out

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2007/10/playing-with-fi.html



It is not the stores fault, the OP's fault or the dd's fault they just need to be banned.

I think the most significant line out of that article is:
“We are the only country in the western world that doesn’t have a general safety standard for lighters,”

Oh, and add me to list of bad parenting for not knowing what my kid is doing 24/7.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

Teach your child to "look" with their eyes and not with their hands.

I am glad you DD was not hurt, but I fail to see why this is the stores fault.

 

[DisneyPhD]

FWIW - it was the OP herself that referred to her 7 year old as a baby ("her" baby)....

Yes, that is what I was referring too (but I can see how I wrote it you might read it wrong). I can't figure out why people are saying it is the parents or child's fault? Are people jumping all over this just because she called her DD a baby? We all know her DD isn't a baby (including the OP, but sometimes when we are concerned for our child's safety, we still feel like they are still the little baby we started out with. )

I am just trying to figure out the hostility going one here. I don't really know the OP, is she someone who likes to complain a lot on Dis? Sometimes people get feed up with a certain person and will jump on them when it seems odd to someone who doesn't know the whole story.

 

[sha_lyn]

I DO see your point, I honestly do. At the same time, you KNOW that no serious harm would have been done if she HAD in fact touched the flame of a lighter, and either way, a good lesson was learned - not to take everything for face value and to BE CAREFUL!

What? Of course the OPs daughter could have been seriously burned.
Sure breif contact with skin wouldn't have been big deall, but what if her hair or clothing caught on fire etc.

ETA-all you have to do is read the article that was linked to early. Children have been seriously injurred and 1 died after playing with what they thought was a toy.

I don't see how it is the stores problem when your child is 7 and you should have been supervising her. I would have used it as a prefect time to say "see what happens when you touch things when you don't know what they are". If she had no intention of buying the item why touch it at all?

The lighters were not labled as lighters. They appear to be toys/keychains and are within arms reach of small children. That is the stores problem.

This is a nutty thread. If I'm at the dollar store with my children, there is a good chance we're there because they want to spend their own $ on crap. Yes, I will allow my children to pick up items when they are shopping - I confess, I've shopped, and picked up items, and ended up not buying them. I didn't realize there was a "you touch it, you buy it" rule. Lighters should not look like toys, never mind being in easy reach of children. I'm in NJ, a very unfriendly to smokers state, and I really can't recollect if lighters are on the counter. As a mother of 5, I do not have my eyes on all of my children at all times. Maybe I should've stopped at one so that I, too, could be the perfect parent. But then again, I can't imagine how calm and quiet things would be around here!

GREAT POST

Here in NJ just about any smaller sized store you go into will have lighters on the counter...7-11, Dollar Stores, Rite Aids, Gas & Gos, and the like. These lighters are shaped like regular lighters, guitars, cell phones, race cars, guns, bottles, and just about anything you can imagine. Some have safetys, some do not.

Every convience store I know of has a counter that is much taller than those at places like the Dollar Stores. Lighters on the counter at a convience store would be out of the reach of small children.

 

[kidshop]

I can totally see my ds picking up something at a register and looking at it, and I wouldn't think a thing of it!. He is 8. A lighter should be in a SEALED package. Period. Picking up an item, loose in a box by a register within reach is not a crime or even an unusual occurance....for anyone. It is not frowned upon. They put things by the register so you will handle them and hopefully go on to buy it. What if an 80 y/o woman picked it up and accidently lit it? Should she not have been touching it either? Puleeze!

I would never have expected it to be a lighter.

 

[storzo]

Every convience store I know of has a counter that is much taller than those at places like the Dollar Stores. Lighters on the counter a convience store would be out of the reach of small children.

My DS has been able to reach the counters of stores since he was about 5 or 6 and he is not usually tall. In fact he is very small for his age.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

This is EXACTLY what my mom would have said to me if we were in this situation, and if I HAD burned myself (and I use the term "burn" lightly, because running your skin underneath a lighter for a mere second doesn't BURN the skin, it may cause a little pain, but in no way would it cause permanent damage) my mom would have told me that I shouldn't touch things that weren't mine and that she didn't want to hear about it, maybe next time I will think before I touch.

And in no way is it the stores fault. Go into any gas station, 7-11, or convienience store and you will find an assortment of lighters in every shape you can imagine.

IMO, it's no more the stores fault that your daughter chose to touch the lighter as it would be if a child with peanut allergies decided to open a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup and eat it. Is that the stores fault, too?

Wow, I can't agree more... and its the same thing I would say to my nieces and nephews, children, friend's children, etc.

There are so many hazards everywhere we go we just need to have enough common sense not to touch things and play with them if we don't know what they are - adults and children alike!

I think we all need to take responsibility and stop putting the blame on someone else

 

[UtahMama]

DS11 only touches if he asks permission or plans on buying. He's been out w/other parents and they've said they're suprised that he asks permission to touch something in a store. Sorry, but there's nothing worse than a book that's bent up or toy that's been obviously played w/by some kid who had to touch or finding the "right" shirt and noticing some sticky kid handprint on it b/c the child had to touch.

Please come to my house and train my kids NOT to touch everything they see?

J/K but I had to slap a novelty lighter out of my 9 year old's grasp at a gas station in our neighborhood with a firm "DON'T TOUCH THAT"! It seriously looked just like a toy and was near the novelty CANDY right at kid level . I can see the danger here.

Reminds me of the Candy Cigarettes of the 70's (back in the day).

 

[pepperw23]

Thanks - -I was beginning to think I was insane. I'm so surprised at the number of people who claim that their children never touch anything in stores. I don't see anything wrong with children touching merchandise. It's the freaking Dollar Store - it's not a museum! Most things are in packages, and my kids have never broken anything. Ever.

I'm also shocked that people think it's fine to keep lighters that look exactly like backpack keychains at a child's eye level, and just rely on the child not to touch them.

Add me to the list of those that agree with ya. . I

 

[cnj]

OP, I agree with you. I hope the store removes them from where children can reach them.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Reminds me of the Candy Cigarettes of the 70's (back in the day).

I was just thinking the same thing. Of course Candy cigarettes set our kids up to glamorize smoking, but didn't actually cause an immediate danger to children. These do.

The link posted before about the Michigan senator who is trying to outlaw them has pictures of 100's of these lighters. Some in the shape of dolls. It really seems like a much bigger concern then kids who can't keep their hands to themselves in stores. Here is the link again. click on it to see the news report. http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=5934969

For the record I would most likely use it as a teaching moment in my kid too, just to show them to be careful about what they touch. Just becasue life is full of teaching moments, not because the child was wrong to touch it. Heck this thread is a teaching moment for me because I did not know about them.

 

[sha_lyn]

DD and I jsut watched the video...
Heck there were some that looked like toy cars, barbie dolls etc.
They need to be banned IMHO.

 

[**pixie**]

In my opinion, it's irrelevant whether you allow your children to touch or not. I am outraged that The Dollar Store would put these "toys" at a childs height. I would think that common sense would dictate to the managers that they should be placed out of a child's reach. Any unsuspecting person could be injured. I strongly feel that these items should be banned, or at the very least be appropriately labelled and packaged.

 

[DisneyPhD]

In my opinion, it's irrelevant whether you allow your children to touch or not. I am outraged that The Dollar Store would put these "toys" at a childs height. I would think that common sense would dictate to the managers that they should be placed out of a child's reach. Any unsuspecting person could be injured. I strongly feel that these items should be banned, or at the very least be appropriately labelled and packaged.

The thing is a lot of the real accidents and even deaths (due to fires set by them with kids playing with them) didn't happen in stores, but peoples homes. Proper packaging isn't going to help it once they are out of the store. Just having them around kids poses a risk. We don't have lighters around my house (no one smokes) but if my child went to someone else house and found it laying around.........................

They really should be outlawed. Adults who feel the need to have a lighter can have one that looks like what is.

 

[famofsix]

I'll bite. I have said numerous times in my posts that I do think the store should not have them right where kids can grab them. I too would tell the manager that is was unsafe and I would hate to see a kid get hurt. I would however remind my child that I told them not to touch anything. If my kid put it on the counter to buy I would inspect it and see what it was. Then I would say yes or no. I am having a hard time however believing that the kid picked up the lighter and flames just "shot out" from it!!!! Even if it had no safety on it I don't think flames would magically appear. Overall I think it was a bad spot for them in a store but there are tons of hazards in any store that are at kid level. My kids try to touch stuff but I just keep reminding them not to. Am I a perfect parent? I don't think anyone is a perfect anything. I do however think that things aren't always black and white.

Mouse House, did you see the video where the dalmation's trigger is the hat?You press on the hat and fire comes out the mouth. I appreciate your point of view to at least locate them out of the reach of children.
I have a completely different opinion of the standard bic lighter that has the safety one them, my kids know what those are and have been taught not to touch them.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=5934969

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

This is a nutty thread. If I'm at the dollar store with my children, there is a good chance we're there because they want to spend their own $ on crap. Yes, I will allow my children to pick up items when they are shopping - I confess, I've shopped, and picked up items, and ended up not buying them. I didn't realize there was a "you touch it, you buy it" rule. Lighters should not look like toys, never mind being in easy reach of children. I'm in NJ, a very unfriendly to smokers state, and I really can't recollect if lighters are on the counter. As a mother of 5, I do not have my eyes on all of my children at all times. Maybe I should've stopped at one so that I, too, could be the perfect parent. But then again, I can't imagine how calm and quiet things would be around here!

God Bless YOU!!

With all the armchair parenting going on here, I would guess that ZERO Is the number of children to have to be a perfect parent.

happygirl, I know everyone's entitled to an opinion, and I had plenty before I had my two kids..but until you have walked the walk, telling a parent they should watch their kids 24/7, even figuratviely is very naiive.

OP, that could have been me with my two kids, and I bet a lot of others here don't want to admit that it could have been theirs, too. Even if the kid has been taught not to touch, would anyone want burning themselves to be their punishment if they made a mistake and DID touch. You can never be sure what a kid is going to do..that's what makes them so much FUN..

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Mouse House, did you see the video where the dalmation's trigger is the hat?You press on the hat and fire comes out the mouth. I appreciate your point of view to at least locate them out of the reach of children.
I have a completely different opinion of the standard bic lighter that has the safety one them, my kids know what those are and have been taught not to touch them.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=5934969

Oh I totally agree. My kids will not touch a lighter. I can definetly see why kids would be drawn to them and yes there should be a standard. I don't use lighters but I thought years ago they out those safety things on them? I guess it was just a passing fad. Eh. I know at our dollar store I have to ask the cashier if I want one of those barbecue lighters as they are packaged and kept behind the counter. Lighters in general should be at adult level imo since adults use them not kids. I do still think that in combination with that kids should not be touching stuff. Heck my Mom is a "toucher" in the store and I tell her all the time that she makes me nervous!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Oh I totally agree. My kids will not touch a lighter. I can definetly see why kids would be drawn to them and yes there should be a standard. I don't use lighters but I thought years ago they out those safety things on them? I guess it was just a passing fad. Eh. I know at our dollar store I have to ask the cashier if I want one of those barbecue lighters as they are packaged and kept behind the counter. Lighters in general should be at adult level imo since adults use them not kids. I do still think that in combination with that kids should not be touching stuff. Heck my Mom is a "toucher" in the store and I tell her all the time that she makes me nervous!

The link before with all the pictures of the lighters said they are supposed to have safety's and NONE of them did. Most of them are made in china and don't conform to the standards they should.