I never thought I’d say this, but thank you, Martha Stewart.
Today, after we returned home from the grocery store with items sitting randomly about the kitchen table, my son grabbed a bottle of bathroom cleaner and waddled off. I was at the stove cooking asparagus and wondered why my son was so quiet. I went to investigate. As it turned out, he unscrewed the lid and poured the entire bottle of bathroom cleaner on the carpet. And I had no idea if he drank some. I immediately called my doctor, who referred me to poison control, and the conversation went something like this:
“Hello?” I asked in a panic. “Poison control? I think my son might have ingested some bathroom cleaner. “
“Oh no,” a woman said. I could hear the seriousness in her voice. “What brand of cleaner was it?” She was typing something into her computer. Probably something along the lines of Yet another negligent mother who let her kid drink poison. Call CPS immediately to have her parental rights revoked.
“Martha Stewart Clean,” I said.
“Uh huh,” the lady said. There was a pause. “I think you’ll be fine.”
“But don’t you want to know the active ingredients?” I asked. I really was hoping I didn’t have to get his stomach pumped, or worry about him being unconscious, or burning a hole though his intestines. He didn’t seem sick. He was laughing and pointing to my nose and trying to moo like a cow, but still.
“Yeah sure,” she said as she bit into a sandwich, stuck in some cubical in Dallas. “If you want.” What’s wrong with these people? Aren’t they experts in poison? Don’t they have some advice?
“Water, Citric Acid, and plant-based detergent.”
“Yeaaah,” the lady said, her mouth full of ham. “I really wouldn’t worry about it. That’s harmless.”
I wasn’t sure whether the judgment in her voice related to the fact that I am a negligent parent, not noticing that my son walked right past me holding a bottle of detergent, or whether I spent five dollars on a bottle of distilled water with a few drops of citric acid.
In any event, this stuff won’t kill your kid if they accidentally drink it, and it managed to create suds when I tried to soak it up from the carpet, so I’m never buying anything else. I’m a loyal Martha Stewart Clean consumer (when it’s on sale). Or, conversely, maybe I should just pay more attention to my child when they walk by. The next time, it might be a butcher knife.
