Parents, if you have ever been given something for your kids, or even bought something used for them, there is one thing you must do.
Sophia Justice, 5, is care free now, but about this time one year ago, Sophia ended up in the emergency room. The trouble started after her mom, Luciana Justice, brought home a used Easy Bake Oven.
"All of a sudden I heard, 'Mom!' and I ran into the bedroom where she was playing and sure enough she had the Easy Bake Oven on her hand," Luciana said.
Sophia ended up in the ER, surrounded by doctors.
"I think after maybe 30, 40 minutes, they gave up and said we need to call the firefighters," Luciana said.
Sophia spent three hours in agony.
"They came and they looked and they got a bunch of tools and they worked hard, hard on that thing and they got it out. It was a relief," Luciana said.
When the family returned home, Luciana turned to the Internet. She learned the oven that had been purchased used had been recalled years earlier for the exact issue that snared Sophia and had not been fixed.
"I felt horrible because I did that to her, I gave that toy to my daughter," Luciana said.
There are hundreds of toy recalls each year, but there is a tool that can help parents.
"If you have the name of the product you can look it up on recalls.gov. Even if it was several years ago you can still check up on that," said Leah Napoliello with the Houston BBB.
Fortunately Sophia has no permanent damage to her finger. Her story shows how important it is to check out every product given to your kids as gifts, or even toys passed from one family to another.
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