You will eventually need to cross a major street, so there is no avoiding the problem. Unfortunately there are many distractions that kids must overcome to safely do this. One is that they need to come of a certain age to realize that crossing a traffic intersection requires concentration. After you cross the intersection you can daydream all you want, but as we approach and during the crossing, keep your mind, ears and eyes on the task at hand. The reason is simply for safety. Kids and adults can easily be killed at an intersection. This happens regularly.

We see a lot of terrible driving here in Scarborough. In my predominantly Chinese area, it is no surprise that the majority of bad drivers are Chinese. Yes, there is a good representation of other nationalities. While most drivers are bad due to a lack of concentration on driving, their behaviour can still kill and maim the lowly pedestrian. This benign neglect is better than drivers who have selfish and arrogant attitudes, but not by much. Both will hurt you. All bad drivers are a hazard to pedestrians and cyclists. No matter that the pedestrian has right of way, this matters little when the pedestrian is struck and lands up in hospital, or worse, killed.

Many drivers who want to turn right now do not stop for a red light at intersections. I have even seen police do this. These “rolling reds” are especially dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists. When drivers are tired or distracted, they might roll through a red, not see a pedestrian and run over them. I have found it very difficult to teach my kids that, while they have a green light, many adults will drive through a red, even though they are supposed to stop. Kids are simplistic this way, expecting others to follow the rules, especially adults. Adults made them up, so why do not adults follow them? Unfortunately life is not so simple.

The hard reality of life is that in Canada more people get killed and maimed from vehicular crashes than any other reason. Drivers are not to be trusted. People here take driving as a right and not a privilege.

There are still some basic rules to the road that are followed by most drivers. These include driving on the right side of a road, and driving through a green light. Apart from these, all other rules are commonly breached. A pedestrian, for his own safety, must be certain that a driver will adhere to traffic rules or risk getting run over.

At a traffic light, each pedestrian crossing has three major hazards. This depends on whether the pedestrian is crossing with or against the flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian.

Pedestrian walks against the flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian: Threat 1: Car 1 signals for a right turn, but has a red light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before starting to walk. Beware the inattentive and dreaded ‘Rolling Red’ driver. Threat 2: Car 2 in middle of intersection signals for a left turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car does not enter pedestrian walkway, the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Threat 3: Car 3 signals to make a right turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. if in doubt, stop.

Pedestrian walks with flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian: Threat 1: Car 1 signals for a right turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before walking. Threat 2: Car 2 in middle of intersection signals for a left turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car does not enter pedestrian walkway, the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Threat 3: Car 3 signals to make a right turn, but has a red light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Beware the inattentive and dreaded ‘Rolling Red’ driver..

Pedestrian crosses from South-East corner to North-East corner. Pedestrian crosses in same direction as traffic. Mouse over for descriptions.

My little weed, when it comes to brushing his teeth, is really lazy. Other more interesting pastimes attract his attention, such as watching tv, fighting with his older sister, playing with whatever, anything is more interesting than properly brushing his teeth. Our dentist can attest to his lack of vigilance, which also reflects on the parent’s vigilance. That would be me. Disclosing tablets are chewed and use a red dye to colour plaque a brilliant red, showing my little weed where he was hasty. Recommended both by my family dentist as well as orthodontist, I cannot seem to find GUM Red-cote disclosing tablets here in Toronto, Canada.

I tried a Listerine mouth wash that was supposed to dye plaque, but it was an abysmal failure of a product. Fun, yes, but not effective. I used GUM Red-cote when I was a kid, and frankly if my parents used it more often on me I would have better brushed teeth and gums. Both my family dentist and orthodontist recommend it but cannot seem to order it. Why I am not sure.

A quick search on Google shows that Amazon sells it, 40 tablets for $3.99. I’d get that but shipping is extra, and I’m in Canada, so they will not ship to me. I then found Sunstar Canada, 1-800-265-8353, who seem to own the GUM brand in Canada and say that my dentist can order Red-cote directly from them. These tablets are not distributed to local retailers such as Walmart, Shopper’s or PharmaPlus. I know because the Sunstar customer service lady told be, but I also look at all these stores and came up with nothing.

GUM Red-cote disclosing tablets tint plaque bright red, showing your kids where they missed brushing. I want to buy some.

Alas I must wait for my dentist to do the order and patiently wait for her return call. In the mean time maybe I will see if Amazon will ship to Canada.

Searches on Google Images reveal there is a GUM Red-cote disclosing liquid. My dentist has never mentioned this to me, and I have never heard of this before. I wonder if this is available in Canada? Further phone calls to Sunstar are required. This image seems to be from a Malaysian web site.

Swarming is when a large group of at least 6 kids converge on a single individual and basically gang up on the individual. In the case of this Grandmother, she was verbally assaulted and had playground bark and dirt thrown at her. The group of Black kids had a small Chihuahua dog that growled at and scared the 5 year old boy, leaving him afraid and in tears. The Grandmother was too weak to pick up her Grandson.

Other swarmings can be much more violent. The group can take the person’s possessions and beat them up. Thankfully this was a group of Black juveniles that did no more than scare the Grandmother. Other swarmings that I personally know of in my area have resulted in the theft of a bicycle. There is usually some hitting and punching of the individual who is swarmed.

The effect on the Grandmother was traumatic. She called police, who are usually very ineffective in these and other such cases. This time they did arrive but could not catch the group of kids. The Grandmother now feels she will not ever go back to the park. I have tried to tell her that if there are other families around it is quite safe and there is no risk, but she was adamant. I am sure that her Grandson was also traumatized but we did not raise the subject when he was within earshot.

She said that most shocking was the fact that the group’s youngest members, possibly 6 years old, could swear and insult like a seasoned sailor. Kids that have learned to swear like this are very rare here, and shocked the Grandmother. It shocked me as well when I was swarmed, but now I often see this behavior from very young Black kids in my area.

The trigger for the swarming, says the Grandmother, was that the oldest girl started swearing at her and the Grandmother tried to correct the girl. In hindsight the Grandmother did say that this was a mistake that she regrets. I do agree with her. The best form of action when verbally assaulted by such kids is to bite your tongue and walk away. No good can come from talking to these young Black kids.

The grandmother has been living near the Glendower area for over 20 years and has never had such an incident occur to her before. It was shocking to her that such a swarming could happen to her so near to her house where she felt so safe. This is so unfortunate but is not unheard of. Many people in my area do not venture out of their own existence and do not meet Black kids at the park, on the street, or at their school. Because of my Little Weed I have encountered this very early both at his school and at the playground after school.

The grandmother was racked with some guilt because she now thinks so badly of these Black children. She feels she is much more racist now than two days prior, and this pains her. We live in a multicultural society here in Toronto and seek to live together in relative peace. While we are brought up to treat all races equally, when you are attacked by some group, in this case a group of Black juveniles, this does change your thinking. As I have stated before these swarmings by Black juveniles are rare but not uncommon in my area, and I have also been swarmed by Black juveniles. Guilt ridden she may be, but this will soon melt away for this Grandmother, as her eyes are opened.

I believe the shock to this Grandmother and myself is that we live in a civilized Canadian society. Kids are respectful to elders and elders do their best to show kids the proper way to live. This means that if a child, even one you do not know, makes an error, you have a duty to help the child. This may be helping the child get up after s/he has fallen on the ground, or trying to correct a child’s language if s/he has erred. This is our social norm, for better or for worse. “It takes a village to raise a child” comes to mind.

In the neighbourhood of Glendower in Toronto, when dealing with young Black children, this social norm does not exist. This Grandmother followed what she thought best, it backfired on her and she was swarmed. Unfortunately this Grandmother should have minded her own business. I believe she has learned this lesson now. This break in her social norm clearly pains her, but self preservation will override past upbringing. When this social norm is broken, people who do not know each other will be more reluctant to help each other. This cannot be good for society in general.

I do not know these Black children, so I do not know how and who raises them. I will not guess at the socio-economic reasons for their behaviour, but it is troubling to have such kids in society in general. How they will travel when they grow older is their business. One thing for sure is that I do not want to cross their path and will be most reluctant to offer any form of assistance, unfortunate but necessary for this Grandmother, her Grandson and myself.

Links:
Growing up Without Men, CBC

McDonalds recalls Shrek glasses over fears of toxic cadmium levels

Fear not the monster Shrek, for he is not to blame. But if not Shrek then whom? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned consumers early Friday to immediately stop using the glasses available for purchase from McDonalds, on concerns about toxic levels of cadmium. Twelve million glasses are recalled. Who is to blame? There are at least three parties involved: McDonalds, ARC International, of Millville, NJ, and presumably the Chinese factory that produced the glasses. So common is the fact that China makes most of our products and the fact that so many toxic products have been traced back to China in the past makes this a very good educated guess.

Certainly we will not knowingly poison our children by giving them drink in toxic glasses. Certainly McDonalds or supplier ARC International would not knowingly supply toxic glasses to their loyal customers. Recalls are a body blow to a business’ reputation, expensive to rectify and very bad for business. Certainly the Chinese factory would not knowingly use toxic cadmium paint on glasses, risk their own health and factory reputation? Yet somehow this situation came to pass and now has come to light. Who is at fault and how can we prevent this from happening so often?

Let’s play the blame game.

Blame McDonald’s Corporation: McDonalds is a vile and immoral company bent on extracting the maximum amount of profit out of their addicted customers. They want to cut costs at all expense to health or quality. They gouged their supplier ARC International, who eventually buckled under the intense pressure. What could ARC do but supply what the customer wanted? What could the Chinese factory do but follow the specifications of the contract and fulfill the order with toxic cadmium paint, knowing full well it poison that will be shipped.

Blame ARC International: McDonalds drive a hard but fair deal, expecting a fair price for their order. ARC took the McDonalds order, and to increase their profit margin, twisted the arm of their Chinese factory to use the cheapest paint, even though the factory knew that toxic cadmium paint can harm people. What could the Chinese factory do but fulfill the order?

Blame the Chinese Factory: McDonalds and ARC International drive a hard but fair negotiation. The Chinese factory thought that no one would know the difference and that testing of the paint would never occur. The factory has done this before and no one noticed. They substituted the toxic cadmium paint to save costs. What the difference anyway? It’s only a small change to the specifications? Cadmium has been around for such a long time and we’re still Ok?

Further investigation needs to be done. You can be sure that the blame will be passed around like a hot potato. Certainly it is clear that the world has a problem with many products made in China. It is not possible to test all products that we import. Customs cannot even spot inspect all import shipments for contraband drugs, much less test products for toxic substances. The Chinese know this and so do everyone else.

I do not have the solution to this massive problem, but for sure quality control and penalties need to be implemented. The problem is so clearly identified. There should be a huge disincentive to whichever company is at fault here, because our health depends on it. China is a relatively uneducated country with a very different culture, moral system and standard for consumer products. Their standard is by far much lower than ours, largely because it is unregulated by the Chinese government. Factories can be unscrupulous by choice or inadvertently and benignly ignorant. Either way the result is the same: dangerous products are imported from China with little chance of being caught. As someone who is fluent in Mandarin, has a minor in East Asian studies (China/Japan) and has lived in China for a couple of years, I know enough to take nothing for granted.

One of the reasons I have stopped buying inexpensive products from Walmart and Canadian Tire is that I cannot determine the risk that these products have on my family. It seems too easy for unscrupulous companies to use toxic paints and too easy for me to be deceived. If I have the choice I will not take the risk.

Maybe I am naive, but I expect my government to protect me. Is this too much to ask?

Note: Comments to various news agencies are quite funny. Many state that McDonald’s food is by far more harmful to children than the toxic cadmium paint on the glasses. One needs to shake one’s head at their wisdom. Warning: Do not eat the food.

1. I bought a Singer sewing machine, which was made in August 1958. How old is it?
2. Bag one is 15 lb of potatoes and costs $1.99. Bag two is 10 lb of potatoes and costs $1.33. Which bag is cheaper per pound and why? Show your work.
3. A 5 lb bag of tangerines costs $3.77. A 12 lb box of oranges costs $4.99. Which one is cheaper per pound and why? Show your work.
4. You want to borrow the book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, vol 2 from the library, so you place a hold on it. You are 473d out of a total of 701 holds. Each hold can be borrowed for one week. How long do you have to wait? Answer in years, months and weeks. You are 8 years old. How old will you be when you can borrow this book.
5. Your Big Sister sells Girl Guide cookies. She has 2 cases. Each case has 12 boxes. Each box has 12 cookies. How many total cookies does she have? She then sells 4 boxes. How many cookies does she have left? Show your work.
6. Heinz ketchup in a fancy bottle is on sale at $2.99 for 1.25L. No Name ketchup costs $1.99 for 1L. Which ketchup brand do you get more ketchup for you money. Do not base your answer on which ketchup tastes better. Show your work.
7. I bought 3 bottles of Gummy vitamins that contain 190 vitamins in each box. There are two kids in the family that take one vitamin each day. How long will the three vitamin bottles last?

Toronto is nearing 1 month of no garbage pickup

Toronto is in the midst of a municipal worker’s strike. We’re coming up to almost one month without city services such as garbage and recycling pickup. To tell you the truth, though I would like to take the kids to the swimming pool on a hot day, the lack of garbage pickup has not bothered me much. Then again we do live in the suburbs. Yesterday a new temporary garbage dump has opened less than a kilometer from my house, so maybe I’ll change my mind within the next month or so.

It took more than 3 weeks of no garbage pickup to accumulate enough garbage to warrant a trip to the makeshift dump. And even then we only had one bag of garbage. You see, our family recycles a lot, so green and regular garbage is minimal. We also compost all vegetable kitchen scraps. When maggots were making their appearance, I decided it was time to dump.

Sure the weather has not been very hot, so this has helped keep the smell down. Our garbage is stored in sealed containers, so flies cannot enter. There is the smell, slightly stronger than usual.

Our recycling bin is near full, so we need to make some plans in the next couple of weeks, but recycling contains no food or meat, so it does not smell. Keep it dry and away from the rain and it can be stored for long periods of time.

There have been some minor accommodations in our shopping habits. When shopping I also note the packaging. If it’s shrink wrapped in plastic I take a pass. They are hard to open, are somewhat of a safety hazard, and cannot be recycled. Saying “no” to these packages is easy. I’ve also stopped trimming our trees because there is also no yard waste pickup. If I trim our trees, where do I store the branches?

I’ve actually come to the conclusion that we could live with garbage collection every other week. It’s not so bad, as we simply don’t have a lot to throw out. With every negative event, there is always a positive aspect.

Dollar Store toys are terrible quality that breaks easily, is unrepairable and disappoints your kids

I have never been a fan of Dollar Store* toys for my kids. They return home with plastic toys of very low quality, even by Chinese standards. The recent Toronto city garbage strike brings home the need to reduce our consumption because the city, temporarily, will not pick up our trash. I continue to press my case to both my parents and my kids that Dollar Store quality is false economy.

Dollar Store visits are treated as adventures for the kids, where the Grandparents can dote on them. The kids love to be able to go into the store and know they will walk out with at least one new play toy. I, on the other hand, would rather buy a toy of better quality, one that will last longer and will not break at the least movement. This means that most times the kids are not able to have a new toy each and every trip. To the kids, newness and immediacy wins every time. They play with the toy at the store, and then bring it home with them.

I see the disappointment on the kid’s faces when their cherished Dollar Store purchased toy breaks on the first day. They come to me with tears in their eyes, asking me if I can fix it. I inspect the toy and realize, quite quickly that with such low quality plastics and mechanics, there is no way to fix these toys. Invariably they walk away heartbroken.

As a result of many years of Dollar Store visits, we have accumulated a sizable mountain of broken toys, toy sets with missing pieces, and, though I cannot prove it, toys that are probably not safe for my kids. Only after they have grown up a bit will they entertain the idea of throwing away their novel purchase, broken or not. To throw away their toys without their agreement is met with great indignation.

Are we training the new generation to expect planned obsolescence, when the plan is single use? This would be a terrible precedence for my kids and the world in general. What happened to high quality for a modest price, where you buy and use a product for quite a long time, and when it breaks you can fix it. Single use products are highly wasteful, as evidenced by Toronto’s continually diminishing trash landfill capability. It’s not healthy for the environment, it is a waste of resources for people in general, and not very beneficial for my kids.

I vote off this continuing cycle of consumption and hark back to buying fewer but better quality products. Products must be high quality, last a long time, and be fixable in the event that they do break. Ofcourse I am willing to pay a higher price for them. In the long run, because they last much longer and are fixable, they would certainly be much cheaper than the “one use then throw away” Dollar Store model of consumption.

*A Dollar Store is a retail establishment that specializes in products that sell for $1 or $2CAD. Most of these products are cheaply made in China. There are good and bad Dollar Stores, the better ones have many outlets throughout Toronto. The quality of goods, in general, is pretty terrible. Expect the product to not last more than a single use, if that. Universally, toys from the Dollar Store are of very low quality, often so low as to be largely unusable by a child, much to their disappointment.

I suggest tobogganing. What could be more Canadian than tobogganing? At -10C the weather is not too cold nor too windy. ‘Bogganing is healthy and relatively safe. We head off to the local large and medium hills, side by side. The sun is shining and we climb and make one on the medium and four on the large, all great runs.

The 6th run is from the large hill. We start smoothly, but as we rapidly descend the ‘boggan begins to veer left. I, in the rear position, shift weight right, but the curve of the hill and snow is too much and we cannot correct. Can you guessed what happens next? Yes, momentum continues to carry us in a forward direction at rapid speed, while said ‘boggan veers on a leftwardly course. Of course the little one has no interest in this theoretical non-colinear progression until the inevitable reality check: we faceplant.  More specifically the little one faceplants. Technically it wasn’t the whole face, only the anterior right of the top of the head and the right side of the face, but to the little one, a face plant none the less. This did not go over very well, and he immediately wanted to go home. I bring out the big guns.

“Not everything turns out as you expect. Sometimes things suddenly change. All you can do is hang on, pick yourself up and carry on”.

So convincing was I that we did another 2 runs for good measure, and called it a day. The little ones learn so easily, so freely. It’s got to be a gift.

There are times when you wonder just who is listening and who is coaching.

Hotwheels. So many cars, picked up from here and there. Does he really play with them all? Not. Nevertheless there are all sorts of cars, trucks, emergency vehicles and a couple of motorcycles. We needed 2 cases to put house all his cars, and we keep finding more in the house. They’re like weeds. It’s all for fun.

Almost his complete collection of Hotwheels

Guess who took the blurry photo, that’s close in height to the handrail?