We interrupt this unobtainable German minivan caroling special to bring you a special DT Monday Freakout:
NPR has blown the lid on a nationwide epidemic of toddler terror: apparently, cups of instant soup are designed so that they can tip over very easily, and dump boiling water and noodles all over innocent toddlers, causing intense pain and potentially lifelong, debilitating injury.
image: Journal of Burn Care & Research via npr
The clincher is the line in the story:
Noodle soup is strangely perfect for delivering a serious burn. The sticky noodles cling to the skin, which leads to deeper, more severe burns, according to a study published in 2007.
2007. Noodle scientists and safety experts alike who have studied the issue say that simply inverting the cup design, so it's more like yogurt, with the wide end at the bottom, could cut boiling noodle toddler torture by 75%.
So what's Big Noodle doing about it? Abso-#$%()ing-lutely nothing. Since like 2006!
Why Burn Doctors Hate Instant Soup [npr.org]
2006! Instant cup of soup: design flaws increase risk of burns. [nih.gov]
What about the soup and noodles that would spill over the top in those examples? 63.9 degrees! Your child can marvel at the containers amazing stability and may not notice that the soup and noodles are in their lap anyway.
If you have the time, sounds like a good ol' fashioned bowl wins again.
The problem not with soup or cups, it is with parents: why are they putting boiling hot food in front of their small children. This is child neglect, if not abuse, if they are not checking the temperature before giving it to the child.
The usual effort of the media to avoid placing blame where it belongs, on careless parents.
which study are you referring to, Gooddad?
Why is anyone giving their toddler/small child soup in a cup? I don't think these products are advertised or geared towards children - I mean whenever I see them advertised it's for exactly why I use them for -- a quick and easy work lunch idea. And frankly, if I'm spilling it on myself then I deserve the burn. It's pretty simple really, don't give a child something hot enough to cause severe burns. They're not gonna be able to eat it anyway.
I think if toddlers were being served this stuff, the burn rates would be much higher. The problem is kids pulling or tipping cups-o-boiling-noodles off a table or counter.
Yeah, any cup of scalding liquid on a inclined plane is going to spill. My wife and I have a 19 month old, but we rid our home of cup o noodles 5 years ago, just to be safe.
My experience is that people only eat ramen at work, so could "take your kid to work day" be the real threat?
-m