Did these potentially dangerous toys end up in your kids’ hands?

With the holiday season winding down, you may have recently enjoyed watching your children rip the paper of the presents you bought them for Christmas or another celebrated holiday. They may have played for hours and thanked you endlessly (or at least once) for the gifts they received. However, you may want to make sure that the toys they play with are as safe as they appear.

Unfortunately, children often suffer injuries from toys, and in some cases, those injuries can be severe or even fatal, such as when a child chokes on a small toy part. These incidents are tragic, and by understanding what items may present serious hazards, you may have the ability to protect your children from injuries.

Toys to watch

Last month, a consumer safety group issued its list of top 10 toys that could cause harm to children this holiday season. The organization is known as World Against Toys Causing Harm, or WATCH. Their goal is to bring awareness to parents and hopefully influence manufacturers to create safer toys.

This year’s list of dangerous toys includes the following products:

• Marvel’s Black Panther retractable slash claw, which can cause eye or facial injuries
• A Cabbage Patch Kids doll that poses a choking hazard due to removable tutu and headband
• A plastic fruit-cutting set that comes with a rigid plastic knife
• A “stomp rocket” that sends foam-tipped rockets 200 feet into the air
• A VTech xylophone shaped like a caterpillar that comes with a small mallet that also poses a choking hazard

The list also includes other toys, and the main concerns seem to revolve around the potential for eye, face and blunt force injuries as well as potential choking hazards. The group also believes that providing warning labels on toys does not alleviate toy makers from needing to create safer toys.

Personal injury

Even if none of the toys on the WATCH group list made it into your children’s hands this season, they could suffer injuries from other dangerous or defective products. In some cases, the injuries could prove severe or, in worst cases, fatal. If your family suffers due to a dangerous product, you may want to explore your personal injury legal options for seeking compensation. A successful claim could allow you and your family to obtain monetary restitution for damages permissible under Connecticut state law.