Uh-Oh Thomas!

They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight.
Red and green and brown and blue
They may all cause cancer too.

In case you haven't heard, a list of Thomas and Friends wooden trains have been recalled. The Chinese manufacturer failed to consider lead paint a bad idea for coating children's toys.

If you have little boys in your household, you probably know that:

Thomas is the cheeky one.
James is vain but lots of fun.
Percy pulls the mail on time.
Gordon thunders down the line.
Emily really knows her stuff.
Henry toots and huffs and puffs.
Edward wants to help and share.
Toby, lets just say he's square.

Our boys love Thomas trains. They also enjoy Thomas videos, Thomas books, Thomas stickers, Thomas clothes, Thomas blankets, Thomas lunch boxes, Thomas puzzles...the list goes on and on.

Although I usually shy away from surrounding the kids with character merchandise, I have always made an exception for Thomas because the train stories went beyond entertainment to teach determination and integrity, working hard and perseverance. All of the Learning Curve train sets are high quality and mostly wood.

I am thoroughly surprised that these products do not meet safety standards and I regret that I will have to tell the children why we are sending their Sodor Smelting Yard and cargo car back in the mail (as if I don't have enough to do already).

I guess Thomas might remind us all that Accidents Happen!

One more anecdote--- I had to printout the recall form twice because Jacob wanted to keep the first one; it had pictures of trains on it! Also, the above video is Henry's absolute favorite.