Fidget spinners top the list of dangerous summer toys

Chances are, almost EVERY kid you know has (or wants) a fidget spinner. After all, the device designed to help children combat anxiety and improve focus has quickly turned into one of the season's hottest toys, accounting for 17 percent of all daily online toy sales by early May 2017, according to data compiled by Slice Intelligence, a company that researches digital commerce trends. But now, the Boston-based consumer watchdog group World Against Toys Causing Harm (W.A.T.C.H.) is warning parents to think twice before buying these toys for their children in the first place.

In the group's summer safety report, which names the top 10 summer hazards, fidget spinners lead the ominous list of toys likely to cause an injury. Also on the list: lithium battery-powered hoverboards, which can spontaneously combust; toys with small parts and batteries, which can pose a choking hazard; baby pools, which can lead to drowning; bounce houses and trampolines, on which kids can collide and sustain injury; scooters, which are a major contributor to emergency-room injuries liked to falling; high powered water guns, which can injure the eyes; and other obvious ones like sharp-edged swords.

W.A.T.C.H claims that fidget spinners present a special hazard when disassembled: If a kid were to loosen a toy part known as the bushing, or metal part of the fidget spinner, which is about the size of a quarter, he or she could easily pop it into the mouth (bad idea!) and choke. While this might sound unlikely, it's already happened: A 10-year-old girl from Texas recently got the piece lodged in her esophagus and had to undergo endoscopic surgery to remove it, according to her mother's viral PSA warning parents to beware of their kids' fidget spinners.

A 5-year-old from Oregon suffered the same fate and required surgery, too. "It was terrifying and was heartbreaking to see my child choking up blood. I would never want another parent to go through what I did," his mother, Johely Morelos, told KATU News.

“Do not be lulled into a false sense of security that a toy is safe simply because it is popular,” W.A.T.C.H. president Joan Siff said in a press release about her group's report. Remind all the kids in your life, ideally before you steal their fidget spinners to play with yourself. Safety first!

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