Maybe it’s because we’re parents now and tend to be more tuned in, but there seem to have been an awful lot of recalls lately. We’ve been pointing them out as they’ve come up over the last few months, but we thought we’d update you on the newest recall and recap what’s happened over the summer.

Just in is the recall of car seats from Cosco, Eddie Bauer and Safety 1st. There is potential for the center front adjuster strap to loosen during use. While the car seats don’t need to be returned you do need to follow up to get a free repair kit. Find out which models are affected on the Dorel Distribution Canada website.

Working backwards, in August was Mattel’s big recall of Polly Pocket, Doggie Day Care, 4 Batman and Barbie toys that contain tiny but strong magnets that can attract to each other if swallowed and cause potentially fatal intestinal perforation or blockage. To find which toys are affected and how to follow up, visit the Mattel website.

Before that was Fisher-Price’s recall of Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer and other toys whose surfaces contained lead paint, toxic to young children. Interestingly Mattel and Fisher-Price are actually one and the same, so you’ll find the recall details on the same page of the Mattel website.

It all started in June with the Thomas & Friends recall of Wooden Railway Toys, again because of lead paint. If you haven’t packaged up your Thomas toys already, while explaining they’re going to the works yard to be refinished but they’ll be back in service again soon, visit the RC2 website.

And these are just the big recalls. The Canadian Toy Testing Council’s website is a great source for all things toy – including recommending toys and books, reports on new toys and other consumer info. They also link to the very handy Health Canada Consumer Product Safety recall site which lists all the above recalls (and more).

It’s hard not to worry about the potentially hazardous toys already littering our homes, but we figure the best way to cope is to be more aware moving forward. And since – car seats aside – all the recalled products were made in China, for us this is a great excuse to shop for toys made closer to home, even if they do cost a little more. We’ll also be asking the grandparents, aunts and uncles we know to consider doing the same.

Note: we’ll continue to update you about new recalls in our daily emails.

While we’ll no longer be updating our list of things to do around town that aren’t affected by the strike daily, we do have something new today:

Tomorrow, September 5th from 11 am – 3 pm, at Whole Foods in West Vancouver you can drop by to get ideas for easy & healthy snacks and also sample new products. Yum!