Strollerderby

Walkie-Talkie Teaches 3-Year-Old About Drugs and Sex

Posted by Jen Chaney

Deborah Pancaro's three-year-old son recently heard some weird stuff on his toy walkie-talkie. First he heard some guys saying "10-4." Then he picked up some chatter about marijuana and plans to visit a strip club. 

“They said we should go smoke some weed, and were talking about being in a strip bar, some really explicit things,” Pancaro told the Associated Press.

Turns out the Diego walkie-talkie the West Virginia mom bought at Wal-Mart was intercepting -- you guessed it -- truckers talking via CB radio. (Either that, or it was picking up dialogue from "Pineapple Express.") Pancaro sent a letter to Fisher-Price, manufacturer of the product, asking them to either recall it or fix the toy so it won't be so sensitive to interference. A spokeswoman for Fisher-Price says the company has tried to call Pancaro twice to no avail. Meanwhile, the Wal-Mart Web site says the walkie-talkie has been discontinued. No word on whether the boy has developed a sudden interesting in visiting a place called The Bada Bing.

Neither Diego nor his cousin, Dora the Explorer, had any comment on the matter. When approached by a reporter, Baby Jaguar said he didn't have time to talk because he was really busy trying to score some weed.

(Kidding! Kidding!)


+ DIGG + STUMBLE

Comments

 

tiffer said:

Doesn't it seem a little ridiculous to try to get them to recall the walkie talkie over this?  I mean, come on....  we all had walkie talkies when we were growing up.  I'm sure plenty of kids overheard things from people's cordless phones too.  We can't protect our kids from everything.  You could overhear a conversation like that at a restaurant for crying out loud.

August 9, 2008 2:35 PM
 

Deborah Pancaro said:

Tiffer in response to your comment.  I understand that you can't shield your children from everything but I would expect that when I buy my toddler a toy marked for Three and up I wouldn't hear adult conversations like that...and by the way the article didn't mention this but the toy didn't even do what it was supposed to do, Diego doesn't talk..all it does is pick up CB chatter.  So yes I think a toy that doesn't do what it is advertised to do and also gives some "Jerry Springer" conversation should be recalled.  I have bought walkie talkies for my older children many times and I have NEVER heard such things.  I am just a mother who loves her son and wants to raise him properly so I don't think it's fair that you are arguing with that.

August 22, 2008 10:22 AM

About Jen Chaney

Jen Chaney is the movies editor and a DVD columnist for washingtonpost.com. Her byline has appeared in The Washington Post, People magazine, USA Today and the Utne Reader as well as various other newspapers around the country. She is the mother of a one-year-old boy, who has not yet learned the word Xanadu. But he will. Trust us, he will.

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