If you're wondering, "What's an Aquadot?" you don't have young children who watch the boob tube.

This is a craft kit with little beads that you place close together in a design of your choosing. You then spray the design with water, and some chemical coating on the beads causes them to fuse together.

The product has been hawked relentlessly for months on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kid-oriented channels.

The ads work. My crafty (in more ways than one) 4-year-old talked them up so much I bought a set last summer.

Brader-Araje, one of those conscientious Chapel Hill moms who probably limits TV more than I do, told me she discovered the Aquadots online while searching for birthday gifts for her second daughter.

They hadn't arrived in the mail when she learned that the products sold between April and November were faulty.

More than that, they are dangerous.

Turns out, the coating that makes the dots fuse can be toxic if too many of the dots are swallowed by a child. According to reports, the chemicals mimic the date-rape drug rohypnol. One toddler swallowed a few dozen dots, started vomiting and ended up in a coma.

Another young child swallowed an unspecified number of dots and ended up in the hospital for five days.

Both children survived. But ... yikes.

The distributor, Spinmaster, and the nation's Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a voluntary recall of the kits.

Unfortunately, the news comes after several other mainstream toy recalls this summer -- from Thomas the Tank Engine to Polly Pockets.

We've become rather experienced at the recall drill. Return, receive new toy or refund. No hassles; no questions asked.

So when the boxes of Aquadots did arrive at the Brader-Araje house, Laura called for a return label.

She was told by Amazon that the Aquadots recall needs to go through Spinmaster, which distributes a host of toys.

That's where things got weird.

Brader-Araje dutifully called Spinmaster on its recall hotline; she waited 40 minutes but got through (a feat I was not able to achieve Friday).

What to do with the dots? She was instructed to open the boxes, pour the dots in a cylinder and take a photo of them to e-mail to the company. Then the company would send her new Aquadots!

Funny, Brader-Araje, who has four children 6 years and under, doesn't want new kits, thanks. Her 2 1/2 year old, as she puts it, will eat anything that's pretty. And she has a 5-month-old who will be following suit. The recall didn't exactly inspire trust.

The company's other solution: to send two of its other toys, an airplane and a teddy bear.

Brader-Araje doesn't want those. She wants her 50 bucks back.

Most of all, Brader-Araje, like all of us with young children, would like to have confidence in the stuff we buy. Perhaps in today's economy, that's just too much to ask.

SHEEHAN ON RADIO: Listen to Ruth on the Bill LuMaye show on WPTF-680 AM at 3 p.m. today.