Was This Necessary?

The other day I was watching the noon news and saw this:
http://wcbstv.com/consumer/window.blinds.recall.2.1371335.html

Look, I'm glad when manufacturers acknowledge that their products may be dangerous to children, especially products that are as ubiquitous as window shades, but are there people - and parents especially - who really need to be told to keep them away from children? 

I was especially perturbed by the couple who was profiled in this story.  Don't get me wrong; I wish them no harm and am glad that their child was not killed by the cords on the blinds.  But I don't understand this:

"We had placed those shades next to his crib with no idea they were potentially so dangerous," Susan Urpsprung said.

Really?  Really?  It didn't occur to you at any time since your child was brought home from the hospital that putting the crib near a window with shades *might* be a bad idea?  Seriously?  I have three kids, and when I was setting up the nursery for the first time, it actually occurred to me not to put the crib on a window wall.  And when my oldest started crawling, I bought "blind winders" to shorten the blind strings so he couldn't reach them.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's the responsibility of every parent to adequately childproof their homes, and that includes everything - take the cleaning supplies out from under the sink, put latches on every cabinet (except the one where you keep the Tupperware - and only the Tupperware), and remove any potential breakables and dangerous items from all living areas.  I think it's kinda sad that it didn't occur to some parents that blinds are dangerous, especially since all of the ones in my house have bright orange warning labels on them.

I hope someone told these parents not to keep knives or full cups of hot beverages on the counters, not to buy a large-screen plasma TV whose stand is unstable, and all those other warnings that I thought reasonably intelligent people could figure out on their own.