In collaboration with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and as a precautionary measure, McDonald’s USA today issued a voluntary product recall of the four Shrek Forever After™ promotional glassware currently being offered in U.S. restaurants.

To be clear, the glassware was evaluated by an independent third-party laboratory, accredited by the CPSC, and determined to be in compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements at the time of manufacture and distribution. However, in light of the CPSC’s evolving assessment of standards for consumer products, McDonald’s determined in an abundance of caution that a voluntary recall of the Shrek Forever After glassware is appropriate.

Note that this only pertains to “Shrek Forever After” glasses, not to Happy Meal toys, or to previous glass series.

Well, it *should* be, anyway.

I love this image, from this design project. It reminds me of the line of historical action figures, like Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin, which are just plain hilarious.

From the Huffington Post:

So many questions…

1) Why does this baby have so much pubic hair?

2) Why does this baby have hair suspenders

3) Why does this baby have hairy ankles?

Videos of the toy in use can already be seen on YouTube. From the article:

Even pediatricians, child development and toy experts can’t agree on whether the nod to support breast-feeding in the Bebe Gloton (loosely translated as baby glutton) would be healthy for young girls.

“My take is that anything which reminds young girls that their bodies are something other, and more, than sex objects, is a very good thing,” said Dr. Ronald Cohen, medical director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank in San Jose, Calif.

“On the other hand, encouraging young girls to want to have babies at a very young age may not be so great,” said Cohen, who is also the director of the intermediate intensive care nursery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University.

Breastfeeding is natural and should be encouraged. I know many children imitate breastfeeding on their dolls while watching mommy nurse a sibling. But, do we really need our four and five-year old girls simulating it so realistically? I’m not sure how I feel about this product. I’m curious to hear what other rational parents have to say.

Why, it’s simple! Go to Charlie’s Playhouse! They have an online toy store that sells games and toys inspired by Darwin. They have compiled a very helpful pdf  list of children’s books about evolution and Darwin, most of which are available on Amazon. And they have started a blog, aimed at giving us parents info on interesting evolution-themed topics, that we can pass on to our families. Your one-stop evolution shop!

Founder Kate Miller, Ph.D., is a mother and a scientist who started Charlie’s Playhouse to provide evolution-themed toys because, the website states, “there aren’t any. Our children deserve to know about the dazzling history of life on this planet.”

They currently offer three toys (teaching aids) in their product line-up. Their flagship product is the the 18-foot-long Giant Timeline that allows kids to skip and jump through the 600-million-year history of life. Alternatively, they offer the smaller Giant Timeline Poster, which has a similar graphic of 67 animals in the fossil record, but is sized to hang on a wall. Finally, they offer the Ancient Creature flash cards, each with an illustration and fun facts about a fossil from the Giant Timeline. Besides toys, they also offer some cool cafe press junk, including kids’ shirts that say “Product of Natural Selection”.

I haven’t ordered anything from the site yet, but I think a Giant Timeline is definitely in our future. And I plan to show it to Little Skeptic Girl’s second-grade teacher to see if she’d like to borrow it to use in her class. (I won’t bother offering it to Little Skeptic Boy’s preschool teacher, though.) I also will use the book list to help me find some evolution-themed books for my kids, since we don’t have any in our house. (Which is shocking and distressing, since we have a huge collection of children’s books.)

I’m really enjoying the blog, and have added it to my feed-reader. I’ve learned about all sorts of fossil animals, including a turtle with no top shell, and a cat-sized frog called “Beelzebufo”. Fun stuff!

But don’t take my word for it. Check out Charlie’s Playhouse yourself.