The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 17,300 Playground Swing Sets made by Playworld Systems Inc., of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The clevis bearing on the swing set can wear out and cause the swing to detach, posing a fall hazard to children.

There are seventeen different swings involved in this recall and the model numbers can be found here.

These were sold through authorized dealers nationwide to day care centers and children's learning centers from January 2007 through February 2008 for between $770 and $3,100.

If you have one of the recalled swings, you should immediately remove it from the swing set until a repair kit can be installed. The company has sent direct mail notices to consumers, but for further information you can contact Playworld Systems at (800) 233-8404 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit their Web site.

A lot of people in the technology industry consider Microsoft to be pure evil. It turns out that they aren't completely evil after all. The company has partnered with the Companions in Courage Foundation to deliver gaming kiosks to children's hospitals around the country, loaded with an xbox 360 video game system, games, and TV shows and movies.

The kiosks will also let hospitalized kids play games and chat with other kids in other hospitals over a private network. The first batch was installed at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children's Hospital of Orange County in California.

"Entertainment, creativity and personal connections can be important factors in alleviating some of the isolation and discomfort these children experience each day," said Companions in Courage founder and National Hockey League Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, speaking of kids who are in the hospital for an extended period. "These gaming stations are a perfect complement to the interactive playrooms."

The mission of Companions in Courage is to build interactive playrooms in hospitals throughout North America. "It's extremely gratifying to witness the joy and excitement of these children and teens when they have a chance to break away from the normal hospital routine, and make new friends while playing video games," said Cynthia Sparer, executive director of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian.

For once, I have to say -- and this pains me to no end -- good job Microsoft!

Wanderlust has struck my five-year-old.

"I've never been anywhere in the world," she told me recently. "Oh wait. Except for Ohio."

It's true that since we've been parents, our travel has been limited to in-state campgrounds and beaches (except for one apparently exotic weekend in Cleveland). Our vacation budget just isn't that large, nor is the level of energy I have for traveling with small children. But we do love a summer road trip and this year we have no fewer than four planned, all of them a considerable distance away.

When the kids were babies, we planned the bulk of our driving around sleeping and eating times. If the kids were snoozing or feeding, they weren't complaining. But now that they're older, I'm discovering that it's both easier and harder to travel with them. They no longer fill their diapers only miles after leaving a rest area, nor do they need to breastfeed in the middle of a traffic jam. But they also get bored really fast, their antsy legs wanting to run and play.

There you are, at home in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains, just South of San Francisco when your son, a straight-A student out for a hike in the woods, calls and tells you that he's broken his leg and isn't really sure where he is. Naturally, you'd call 9-1-1 immediately and get the search and rescue teams moving. Now imagine they find your son, only his leg is fine and the only tripping he's done involves magic mushrooms.

That's the situation Matthew Rosenberg's mother found herself in. When she got the call from her son, she immediately contacted emergency services, just as any of us would have done. The problem is, after spending between $5,000 and $10,000 to do the search, Matthew was found standing -- uninjured -- at the bottom of a ravine.

"He wasn't normal," said Capt. Bill Finch of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and part of the rescue effort. "He was like one of those guys who's been drinking a lot and starts saying, 'I love ya, man.'"

There was an episode of Leave it to Beaver where the Beaver decides to fake being sick so that he can get out of going to school. I remember the doctor (who still made house calls) telling Beaver that he shouldn't pretend to be sick because it means the doctor can's visit people who really are sick. That lesson has always stuck with me. Unfortunately, it seems Matthew missed that episode.

I don't know if it's fair to make Matthew or his parents reimburse the state for the cost of finding him, but it sure seems to me that he ought to think about doing it anyway.

Barbie, the iconic American fashion doll, is destroying the youth and the culture of Iran. So says Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, anyway. Najafabadi is Iran's Prosecutor General and he wants restrictions on the importation of Western toys in order to preserve Iran's Islamic culture. Iran is, according to Najafabadi, the third biggest importer of toys in the world.

It's not just Barbie, of course; Batman, Spiderman, and Harry Potter are subjects of Najafabadi's ire as well. "The irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive culturally and a social danger," he wrote in a letter to Iranian Vice President Parviz Davoudi.

Iran requires women to be very conservative in their dress and Barbie, of course, does not meet that expectation. There have been attempts to create alternatives that do conform to Islamic law, but they have not been successful. "We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed," Mr Najafabadi said.

I'm not sure if it is possible to prevent the influx of Western culture or even if they should even try, but I suspect ultimately it will be the children that will decide what sort of toys they really want to play with.

This past weekend, I took the kids camping (didja miss me?). We went with five other families we'd met through Jared's preschool. All told, there were eleven adults and thirteen kids in our group. We all had adjoining or nearby campsites and shared the kitchen area and fire ring of the central-most site.

Both Jared and Sara had a grand old time running around the woods of Samuel P. Taylor State Park with their friends. They found a log bridge that crossed the stream, hid in a hollowed-out hole in a redwood tree, chased lizards and banana slugs, and generally ran themselves ragged getting in touch with nature.

Camping is a wonderful activity for families. First off, it's a cheap vacation -- we paid $20 a night for our site and that could accommodate two families. There are no fancy restaurants to splurge on, so your food costs are pretty much what they would be at home. Once you have some basic gear -- a tent, sleeping bags, a stove, and flashlights -- your costs really are minimal. And camping is a great way for families to have wonderful shared experiences.

So with that in mind, I thought I'd share some tips I've learned over the years as well as this last weekend.

The grass is greening, the trees are budding and red and yellow tulips are popping up everywhere. It must be Spring! Along with Mother Nature's show, one of the most reliable indicators that Spring has actually sprung is the sounds of children out and about in the neighborhood again. And just in time for the warmer weather, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued their updated Public Playground Safety Handbook (pdf).

According to the CPSC, public playgrounds see more than 156,000 injuries each year requiring emergency room treatment. April 21-25 is National Playground Safety Week and the CPSC wants to remind parents, teachers, childcare personnel, school officials, playground designers and inspectors what to look for when evaluating the safety of playground equipment.

The handbook is quite technical and geared more towards those who build playgrounds than those who play on them. But for parents, the CPSC offers these tips to keep in mind to avoid injuries when hitting the playground:

• Always supervise children on play equipment to make sure they are safe.
• Purchase playground equipment that meets the latest safety standards.
• Maintain at least 9 inches of protective surfacing, including shredded/recycled rubber, wood chips, wood mulch (non-CCA treated), sand or pea gravel under and around playground equipment to cushion children from falls.
• Check that protective surfacing extends at least 6 feet in all directions from play equipment. For swings, extend protective surfacing in front and back of the swing, twice the height of the suspending bar.
• Repair sharp points or edges on equipment. Replace missing hardware and close "S" hooks that can cause injuries.
• Never attach ropes, jump ropes, clotheslines, pet leashes or cords of any kind to play equipment due to the strangulation hazard.

If this is the year you finally install your very own backyard playground, here is some inspiration.

My friend recently became a mother and received one of the most simple and beautiful personalized baby items I have ever come across, a laser-cut wooden block.

The six sides of the block each bear different information about the baby: his/her full name, the pertinent birth numbers (date, time, weight, length), name of the proud parents, day of the week and city & state of birth, the baby's initial (first or last), and the bottom side can hold a special message up to 40 characters long from the special gift givers.

The 2" blocks are made of solid maple and are a lovely way to commemorate special event that are sure to be treasured heirlooms for future generations. Available at Craft E Family starting at $15.50 with free shipping.

(Be sure to check out their other lead-free building block sets for gift ideas for older kids too!)

As my wife and I prepare for the arrival of our third child, we've been surveying the stash of gear that fills our garage to see what is usable and what has not survived the first two. One of the big questions is whether or not we need a new stroller -- There's the cheap one that was falling apart when Sara used it, the nice one that Jared had whose footrest broke, and the fancy one Rachel's mom got us when Jared was first born that was more trouble than it was worth. Chances are, we'll end up getting a new one.

If so, I've found a line of strollers that sure looks pretty gosh-darned cool. The Roddler series from Kid Kustoms offers "vintage tins and fins for your tots." These retro strollers harken back to the days of drive-ins, malt shops, and fins the size of surfboards on cars. The three-wheeled strollers come in a host of colors and options designed to make sure you -- and your kids -- are the coolest cats on the block.

The only downside that I can see is that they start at $2,000 and go up from there. Of course, knowing my tastes, two grand wouldn't come close to covering what I would want. Still, if you can afford them, these are pretty hot rides for your little one.

Do you bribe your kids? Do you think you should? Do you think every time you do it that someone up there is keeping track of your parenting decisions but that you had no choice? If you do, I am sure you are not alone.

My son is not old enough to need to be bribed, yet. At least I don't think he is. I gave him what amounts to basically an entire English muffin on the car ride home yesterday to keep him from advising me, loudly, once again, that he does NOT prefer to be in his car seat any longer. He is one.

Parents of children of all ages seem to bribe them. Perhaps not all the time, but when the occasion calls for it. Some do it just to get the kid to do something they don't want to have to work hard to get them to do. Cash works well for that. So does candy.

When I was a kid I fondly remember being about eight years old and preparing to spend the night with my grandparents, who lived about three hours away in the country. My mom, not wanting to part with me at such a young age when it came down to it--even though she'd thought she would be fine with it and had driven me down there one Friday night to stay alone with them Saturday night--secretly offered me $25 to come home with her the next day instead of staying.

I proudly announced to my grandparents the next day that I'd thought about it and that I would take the $25. That bribery sort of backfired on my mother, but it is a funny story we tell to this day.

Some parents turn to bribery when they see no other solution. It worked for my mother--at least that one time. Some parents consider giving anything in return for good grades or doing chores bribery; others see it as a way to get good results while keeping everyone happy and teaching the kid not only about good grades and taking part in the family responsibilities, but business too.

Whether or not we bribe doesn't seem to be in question. Rather, what we bribe with and how effective it is seems to be the hot topic of late. So what do you bribe your kid with? Does it change depending on the seriousness of the situation? Does it change depending on the week or does the same thing always work? Sometimes a little creativity is called for.

Daniel Madariaga of www.kidsizebribes.com offers a bad of goodies that parents can choose from depending on the severity of the situation. Others resort to a favorite standby: cold, hard cash. Perhaps that isn't such a creative measure but it certainly seems to work. It did for me when I was faced with the choice of spending the night or getting what, to me, at the time, amounted to millions.

Pic of cash by Tracy O.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 18,000 Backyard and Beyond Metal Water Bottles due to excessive levels of lead, which violates the federal lead paint standard.

The bottles, made in China for Downeast Concepts Inc., of Yarmouth, Maine, were sold at major retailers, gift shops, convenience stores, mass merchandisers and drug stores nationwide from February 2006 through February 288 for about $8 each.

The recall includes bottles with model numbers 67402, 67404, 67442, 67444, 67742, 60442, 67744, 67746, 67748 and 60448 printed on the hang tag. They were sold in green, pink or blue and feature assorted animal or insect graphics on the exterior.

If you have one of these bottles, you should immediately take it away from your child and return it to the store where purchased for a full refund. For more information, contact Downeast Concepts at (800) 343-2424 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit their Web site. You can also email the company at productsafety@downeastconcepts.com.

There are few things as fun to a kid as a house made out of a refrigerator box, but the creative minds at the Australian architecture firm Super Colossal turned ordinary hunks of cardboard into an amazing structure (complete with skylights!) that is sure to be the envy of all cardboard structure aficionados worldwide.

The Super Colossal Cardboard Cubby was created as an entry for a trade show contest and although people are clamoring for purchasing information, it isn't ready for market just yet. However, for the handy with access to giant hunks of cardboard, the directions are available on the website.

As I gather up broken or outgrown toys for donation and/or a huge garage sale, recyclable playthings seem especially brilliant to me.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 122,000 Rock 'N Ride Plush Rocker Toys due to a fall hazard. The base of the rocker an become unstable, allowing the rocker to tip too far forward or backward. The manufacturer, Tek Nek Toys, has received 35 reports of the rockers tipping over, including ten that resulted in injuries.

The recall involves eight different models of the Rock 'N Ride plush rocker toys: brown pony (shown at right), pink pony, pink unicorn, deluxe pony, deluxe bull, lil' penguin, lil' propeller plane and Clifford big red rocker. The rockers have a molded plastic base and were intended for children at least 18 months old and up to 65 pounds. Each has a button on the toy's ear, hat or dash that activates songs and phrases when pressed. The rockers included in this recall have a date code from July 26, 2007 through December 29, 2007. You can find the date code printed on a sticker inside the battery compartment.

These were made in China and sold at Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us, Kmart, Target, Atwoods, and Pamida stores nationwide and Internet retailers from September 2007 through March 2008 for about $30 each.

If you have one of these rockers, you should immediately take it away from your child and contact Tek Nek Toys for instructions on receiving a free replacement base. You can reach them by calling (888) 686-2728 anytime, or by visiting their Web site.

Dollar Tree is recalling 300,000 stuffed plush insects that contain plutonium and dinosaur boogers small parts that could pose a choking hazard to kids.

The recalled toys come in six designs: Lady Bug, Bumble Bee, Caterpillar, Snail and two Butterflies. The toys measure nine inches to 10 ½ inches in length. The lady bug is black with six legs, a red back with four black dots and orange eyelids. The bumble bee is black and yellow with six legs, sheer white wings and red eyelids. The caterpillar has four sections that are yellow, pink, green and orange with seven legs connected on each side and purple eyelids. The snail is yellow with dark pink eyelids and a two tone brown shell. One butterfly is blue and yellow with sheer purple wings with four orange dots and light pink eyelids. The second butterfly is a two tone pink with blue eyelids and sheer green wings with four yellow dots. The product number is 903995 and UPC is 6 39277 03995 8 with a date code of 71.

The products were sold through Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1, and Deal$ stores nationwide from March 2007 through December 2007 for about $1.

So far no injuries have been reported but parents are asked to immediately return the toys to where they were purchased for a refund.

You know what's starting to sound like a REALLY good idea? Skipping over the toys at the dollar store.

When the snow is nearly gone (only the piles left from clearing parking lots remain) which means one thing: baseball season!

Two California Little League teams got the surprise of their lives when Improv Everywhere (the same group that became frozen statues in Grand Central Station) turned an ordinary scheduled game into a major league event complete with JumboTron, sports announcers, screaming fans, real mascots and even the Goodyear blimp.

The confusion, disbelief, and then excitement in the kids and parents is amazing to see.

Thanks for the tip, Caitlin!