Fidget Spinners are taking the internet by storm.
Videos, photos and blog posts about it are popping up here and there like there’s no tomorrow.
It’s probably one of the most talked about online sensation since the arrival of Pokemon Go.
Fidget Spinners are marketed as a “stress relieving toy” making it perfect for workaholic people.
And according to some articles, it’s also a perfect gadget or toy for students who do a lot of school work all day long.
But the thing is, it might not be suitable for all ages or at least for kids 9 and below. Why? Check out the story of a mother who shared her daughter’s unfortunate experience about the said toy.
A concerned mom from Texas shared her experience hoping to serve as a warning to other parents about the dangers of this toy.
For those who haven’t seen a Fidget Spinner, it’s a toy that has a stable middle and a disc with two to three paddles that can be spun (imagine a ceiling fan), which according to studies “relaxes the user”.
To put it simply, it’s a pronged plastic disk that spins around a metal bearing in the center.
Kelly Rose Joniec’s daughter is playing the said toy while sitting at the back of their car.
They are on their way home from a swim meet that lasted for hours.
But few minutes after hitting the road, she heard her daughter, Britton, choking in the back seat.
Upon looking at her rear view mirror, she saw her 10 year old daughter turning read and drooling.
She pulled over and upon checking, she discovered that her daughter had swallowed one of the bearings from her fidget spinner.
“She pointed to her throat saying she’d swallowed something, so I attempted Heimlich but there was no resistance. She said she’d put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it.” Joniec said in her Facebook post.
Frantic, Joniec took her daughter to a nearby urgent care center where they checked her for choking.
This is where they found out (through her X-ray result) that the metal bearing was caught in Britton’s esophagus.
Thankfully, the metal bearing was successfully removed and Britton already recovered from the incident This harrowing experience prompted Joniec’s to warn other parents about the about the choking hazards of the popular “stress relieving toy”.
“From this I wish to offer some word of caution to parents.
Fidget spinners are the current craze so they are widely distributed. Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings.
The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under 8 yr old) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.”
via Facebook.Com, CNN.Com. cbslocal.com
