Sapient Conglomeration: Safty with Plastic Bags

     Just a little tip here.

     I can't tell you how many times my kids and friends have made fun of me about 'the plastic grocery bag'. Everyone knows if I have been in the house because when I leave, if there has been a grocery bag, or any other plastic bag laying around I have a habit of making it safe. At least to me it is a bit safer.

     This all stems from my fear of one of my young children getting their hands on a plastic bag and sticking a small animal or worse, a younger child's or baby's head in the bag. I am in no way saying that I had devious children (really kids, I am not saying that!) but when a two year old sees an adult putting all kinds of stuff in a bag then why shouldn't they. Right?

   A tiny bit of history that doesn't matter much with the exception of the timeline. The plastic bag was used as a specialty item with some stores with their logo printed on them in the late 1950's and thru the 1960's. These bags were not the same as we see today, they were heavier and usually had a handle. In the late 1960's the thinner bag was starting to show up in grocery stores but with limited use since they just didn't seem to be all that durable. But by the early 1970's the bag design seemed to be improved enough for Kroger Grocery chain to replace their paper with plastic. Soon followed by Safeway and more.

    This time frame just happens to be when my kids were very young - thus the desire to make the bags a little safer. After all, the plastic bags even come with a safety warning printed on it. This isn't rocket science, it is just a quick little something that will help slow down the child who discovers the bag from using it as a toy.

Well - that is it. I tie a loose knot in the bag; not a tight one that keeps it from being reused, because i do believe in reusing the ones that don't have holes in them. This also helps to keep the bag from just floating off the counter. If you are like so many others who take your plastic bag and shove it into another plastic bag for future use, the knotted bag is easier to pull out without having them all come falling out.

Does this all sound silly to you? Just try it and you will see. Once you do it for a while it is just part of cleaning up and you won't even notice what you are doing.