As parents, we're supposed to warn our kids of the dangers in life like drugs and alcohol, crossing streets, talking to strangers, and more. It's time to add the "claw machine talk."

Claw machines (or, let's call them what they are--the kidnappers of the arcade world) tried to claim another victim but were thwarted by the quick reactions of the Palatine Fire Department a few days ago.

From UPI:

The Palatine Fire Department said a crew responded Thursday evening to CD One Price Cleaners in Palatine on a report of a toddler stuck inside a toy-dispensing claw machine. Video from the rescue shows firefighters partially dismantling the machine until one of the men can climb inside and lift the 3-year-old boy, who was not injured, to safety.

"We have not had one of these before," Cpt. Robert Klucek told NBC Chicago. "But we're used to unusual calls and we adapt and overcome." He said the toddler's adventure was not completely in vain -- he walked away with two toys.

We're always hearing about the childhood obesity epidemic, the drug epidemic, the teen drinking epidemic, and more. When are we going to go after the claw machine epidemic? Because, make no mistake, there is a claw machine epidemic:

I could go on, because there are seemingly hundreds of videos showing a similar predicament. I won't, because if you've seen three toddler-in-a-claw-machine videos, you've seen enough.

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