I don’t know how YOU like to do it, but I like to get a good early start on any panicking that needs to be done. I subscribe to a mailing list from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, so that when a toy or a car seat is recalled, or a piece of children’s jewelry turns out to be made of lead (WHY OH WHY DOES THAT KEEP HAPPENING?) I know almost as soon as possible. (I say “almost” because the blogvine is SO FAST, I sometimes hear about recalls that way shortly before I get my CPSC email.)

There are a bunch of lists to choose from. I subscribe to the second one down: all the recalls and press releases, but without the public calendar. I’m thinking I’ll switch to the third one down, though, because the press releases tend to be either scary/sad (”Here are all the bad things that can happen with a swimming pool!”) or unhelpful to me (”Don’t let your children eat candy from strangers!”)

Link: Online form for subscribing to CPSC lists