LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Ten children at a day care center drank windshield wiper fluid after a staffer served it from a container mistaken for Kool-Aid and placed in a refrigerator, authorities said Friday. The day care owner surrendered her state license Friday.

Doctors estimate the children, ages 2 to 7, drank about an ounce of the blue fluid late Thursday afternoon before realizing it tasted wrong, said Laura James, a pediatric pharmacologist and toxicologist at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

Only one child remained hospitalized Friday morning, after blood samples showed "measurable levels" of methanol, a highly toxic alcohol that can induce comas and cause blindness, officials said. The day care also provided the fluid for testing.

The windshield wiper fluid was bought with several other items on a recent shopping trip, James told The Associated Press. "This product was mistakenly grabbed and thought to be Kool-Aid and put in the refrigerator," she said.

The day care's operator, Carolyn Bynum, was interviewed Friday by child welfare investigators and gave up her license, said Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. Bynum declined to comment to the Associated Press.

"She was so upset about what had occurred and she was definitely worried some of the children had been injured," Munsell said. "It was just a mistake, she says. She says it was just a horrible mistake."

Bynum's license had allowed her to care for 10 children in her home in Scott, about 15 miles east of Little Rock. Munsell said Bynum had no found complaints or serious compliance issues in the past.

By surrendering her license, Bynum can no longer care for children without reapplying.

The toxicologist warned that many antifreeze or windshield wiper solutions have bright colors, which can be mistaken for fruit drinks.

"I think the take-home message is not to have these products in the kitchen or where you're doing any kind of food preparation," she said.
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Honeslty, WHAT THE HELL!?
I know it's been a while since i bought koolaide, but doesn't it only come in powder?
Second, wouldn't you think while opening the bottle that if it has a CHILDPROOF CAP, that children shouldn't drink it?
I sincerely wish that the lady had drank a good serving of it herself and cleaned the gene pool.

You can by koolaid in gallon jugs now. although I don't think it is anywhere near the windshield washer fluid...

Well, it's a stupid mistake, but in fairness coolant doesn't come in bottles with childproof caps, so that's not really a valid complaint.

My complaint would be the GIANT LABEL ON THE FRONT OF THE CONTAINER!!!!

^ What Isuka said. The caps aren't usually childproof, but WHAT THE HOW DO YOU MISTAKE WASHER FLUID FOR KOOL-AID!? At least the woman surrendered her license so she can't make such an idiotic mistake again.

Poor kids. I hope they don't suffer long-term damage as a result.

Also, I believe the sugar-free version of Kool-Aid, to which you can add either sugar or sugar substitute of some kind, is the stuff that comes in packets of powder.

this isn't coolant(which i think has a childproof cap anyway). This is Windshield Washer Fluid. Every bottle i've ever bought(and i buy it often cause I live in a really dusty area) has had a childproof cap on it. I've got one sitting next to me with a childproof cap on it.
The bottle doesn't even look like a bottle that punch would come in.
It smells different too.
There's always a chance that the staffer couldn't read english.
Or maybe she was just really really really ditzy.

Well,

There are several ways I could see this happening. First, let's assume she didn't buy the windshield washer fluid. This was a personal residence hosting daycare (read: there probably was a single employee: the woman) so it is entirely possible it was purchased by someone like her husband. Ok so now she's taking care of 10 children screaming and yelling, someone is nagging her they are thirsty, she directs one of the older children to get everyone some koolaid, and bam!

Now the question really is why was windershield washer fluid in the refrigerator, but the statement she made implies she didn't know. She was speculating, which leads me to believe she didn't even serve it.

Not quite as life-threatening as windshield fluid, but this reminds me of the high octane sippy cup at Applebee's!

I don't know about you guys, but that looks delicious to me.

I've seen ones with blank labels and raised plastic lettering with no color like that.