NATICK - "You can't win these days," Kari Canney, 29, said with a sigh. "The more informed you are, the more nervous you are."
Canney was not just enunciating a general principle of life in the information age. She had something specific in mind: the epidemic of tainted toys that has added an unexpected layer of anxiety to the holiday shopping season. Millions of toys have been pulled off store shelves in recent months, with each week seeming to bring news of another toy found to contain high levels of lead paint or other potential hazards.
As Canney fed her baby daughter, Mia, on a bench in the concourse of the Natick Collection, she was wondering what would be safe to buy. Soon her baby will become a toddler, and naptime will be replaced by playtime. And then what? "I'm definitely going to look into what toys we do buy her," said Canney, who lives in Framingham, "because safety is the most important thing."
That other important thing associated with toys - fun - has been eclipsed by safety concerns, to the frustration of shoppers. "It's been disheartening," said Diane Lynch of Franklin as she shopped for young relatives in a Framingham toy store. "You think that toys are safe, and that these companies have your best interests at heart, and that they take the necessary precautions so that the rest of us don't have to get lead-detection kits."
Given recent events, some parents are prepared to play the role of lead detectors. "Anything with bright painted colors, I'll be on the lookout," vowed Peter Kendall, 35, of Framingham, as he looked at his 2-year-old daughter, Sophia. "I'm a little leery about it all." His preferred gifts for her this year: "Books, videos, things she can't put in her mouth."
Parents have had to absorb a lot of bad news about toys in what has become known as "the year of the recall." Toy companies have been forced to recall millions of toys, mostly made in China, because they contained harmful levels of lead paint or loose magnets that posed a choking hazard to young children. The issue took a bizarre turn two weeks ago when 4 million craft kits for children, called Aqua Dots, were recalled from stores because their colorful beads were found to be coated with a toxic chemical that metabolizes into the "date rape drug."
The upshot is that question marks are swirling around the once-benign process of holiday toy shopping, driving home the lesson that the price of parenthood is eternal vigilance.
"I wouldn't really call it anxiety," said Kathy Johnson, 35, of Clinton, as her two young children squirmed nearby. "I'd call it prudent shopping. I'm constantly looking [at ingredients], between food and toys and anything else. It's something I've done since they were born." She laughed ruefully at the notion of constantly scrutinizing something as seemingly innocuous as toys. "Ignorance is bliss," Johnson declared.
In a consumption-driven culture that is often unable to find the line between "enough" and "too much" when it comes to material goods, some parents can discern a silver lining in the current concern over toy safety. Kimberly Duckworth of Natick thinks it might be easier to achieve her goal of limiting the gift-giving when it comes to her children, ages 3 and 1. "They get inundated with so much stuff," said Duckworth, 40. "Maybe this is a way of saying 'No, really, it's OK. The toy could be toxic. So just bring a book.' "
Erica Rothenberg, 35, of Marlborough is also taking the opportunity to make a quiet statement about materialism. In buying gifts for her two children, ages 3 and 8 weeks, she will probably steer clear of painted toys in favor of basic items like wooden blocks. But for the most part, she said, "I'm making my children's presents this year."
Some parents are taking the recall scare in stride, shrugging it off as so much overreaction. "When I was a kid, my mother bought these toys, and I played with them, and I'm still here," scoffed Susan Klein, 32, of Lake Tahoe, as she shopped in a Framingham toy store. Klein, who was visiting relatives in the Boston area, said that "information overload" has made many parents "neurotic."
Arlene Flecha, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the commission has not received any reports of injuries related to lead in toys. What parents should be most concerned about, she said, are toys with small parts or loose magnets, which can lead to choking. With respect to the recalls, Flecha said, consumers should be "informed but not alarmed."
This year, 61 toy brands have been recalled, an increase over the 40 toy brands that were recalled in 2006. When it comes to units of individual toys, the commission keeps track on a fiscal-year basis. In fiscal year 2007 (Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007), 25.6 million toys were recalled from stores, compared with 5 million in fiscal year 2006.
Joan Lawrence, a vice president at the Toy Industry Association, said toy manufacturers have been retesting products to ensure that the toys that arrive on store shelves are safe. The association has set up a website, ToyInfo.org, and a hotline, 1-888-884-TOYS, with information about recalled toys.
In addition, Lawrence said, the association has urged Congress to legislate mandatory safety-testing standards for all toys that are sold in the United States, whether they were manufactured in the country or abroad.
In the meantime, parents will approach the toy shelves over the next few weeks with a wary eye.
"Buyer beware, right?" said Kendall. "It's definitely a real shame."
Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.
