Amazon reviewers agree, the toy Atmosphere is dangerous

Amazon reviewers agree, the toy Atmosphere is dangerous

By Renee Fox

Okay, I admit it. I let my son, who may or may not have ADHD, watch Sponge Bob Square Pants on Nickelodeon sometimes. This means that about two or three times a week he comes up to me in the kitchen while I am listening to National Public Radio and doing the dishes or writing a blog on the counter and asks me if I we can go to a store to buy a certain product.

I abhor this! That is why we appreciate services like Netflix and PBS, they feature quality programs with limited or nonexistent commercial breaks. Unfortunately, I also feel inclined to give into my 6 year-old boy's pleas to watch Sponge Bob a couple of times a week, usually when I need the 30 minutes to accomplish something, anything!

There is something adorable about my boy's eloquence when describing a toy he saw advertised on Nickelodeon, even though it makes me cringe. He tugs on my arm with an urgency and begs me to, "see what the Amazon kids say" about wonderfully unique inventions that seem to offer a revolution in play. So I minimize my work and indulge him, typing possible spellings of words that I thought were already listed in Webster's a certain way.

My son has seen me impulse shop Online before, we did most of our Christmas shopping for the family on Amazon and Etsy last year. I find it relieves a lot of stress to select products after reading numerous reviews. This is especially true when buying toys.

We all remember the disappointment experienced after realizing a toy is not as exciting as its advertisement made it seem. Product reviews give parents a way to save kids from this heartache and  protect their wallets.

That is why I feel it is necessary to comment on a product that my son and I saw advertised on Nickelodeon, the toy Atmosphere.

Atmosphere offers a kid unspeakable joy, it is a sphere shaped hovering ball! How long have we dreamed of an affordable ($22.98) and exciting craft capable of hovering. There are 45 reviews and 24 are "1 star," resulting in an average of "2 stars." I acknowledge the small sampling, but the reviewers offer fairly shocking stories of the toy's danger.

Amazon user, Kari L. had this to say, "This product HURTS! In order to catch the AtmoSphere while it's in motion. you have to grab it by the frame. And if your fingers get anywhere near the propellers, the pain is VERY sharp and intense." She was not the only reviewer who felt this way, M. Alver said, "the way it is designed is much too dangerous for children" and that if it were to come too close to one's hair, "the blade will not just get tangled in the hair, but will continue rotating until it pulls the hair completely out."

 I did not buy the toy after discovering a spontaneous consensus among the reviewers, this toy is hurting the kids that play with it. So why is Nickelodeon advertising it? Why wouldn't they, they know we will all put our kids in front of Sponge Bob two or three times a week and that a percentage of us dopes will buy these unvetted toys for insistent children.