rw-we had some MAJOR excitement last night

I am so glad that everyone is safe!

I did something VERY similar when I was a kid.  I knew fire was off limits, but I was totally fascinated by it.  So one day I went into the bathroom and there was a candle burning (hooray!) so I shut the door and locked it.  I got a piece of toilet paper and stuck it in the candle.  WHOOSH went the tp and then WHOOSH went my hair!  I didnt want to get in trouble so I quietly turned on the sink and stuck my head under the water and put out my hair.  Then I cleaned everything up and thought WHEW!  I won't get caught.  So I walk out into the living room thinking I'd gotten away with something and my mom is on the phone turned away from me.  She says "sniff sniff, what smells like burned hai..... JENNY!".  My hair was down to my waist on one side of my head and on the other it was burned up to my shoulders.  LOL!  Needless to say, I wasn't allowed anywhere near flames after that and my parents got rid of all the candles too.

 I'm really sorry you guys had such a bad scare, but I'm so glad everyone is OK.  How freaky.  I hope your kids aren't too affected by it either. 

you know stories like this really help me. LOL. It's been a struggle not to generalize this event with my son, to life for him full of arson convictions LOL. I am SUCH a gun-jumper...seriously.

I mean...it happens right? Perfectly normal asset to society type people...started fires as kids and played with matches, right? I mean there were SO many PSA's by Smokey the Bear and such when I was a kid...that kids MUST be prone to do stuff like this...LOL.

Thank you Jenny!

I'm glad I could help.  I debated on posting that cause I didn't want to trivialize what happened to you, but I figured it might at least give you a laugh and let you know you're not alone!  Yeah, I still enjoy starting fires in my woodstove, but I've never burned anything down or been to jail for any reason, so don't worry!  LOL!

Don't panic yet Gina, I think this is just normal everyday everykid does it stuff.

 I don't think you have to worry about a life of crime for the boy at all. We used to do dumb stuff when we were older. A particularly fun one was throwing different things into the fireplace to see what it would do. One night, we did doritos, m&ms, and I don't remember what else. the m&ms smelled really good.

Just one thing... never give that boy a magnifying glass. I had friends as a kid who thought it was hillarious sit out on a hot day, and start fires with a magnifying glass. Usually, they only lit little things, no big deal... until the day they lit something bigger and couldn't just blow it out. 

Scary!  I'm so glad that you're all okay.

I, too, when I was young was fascinated by fire.  I melted a little plastic cowboy man on one of the fireplace logs once.  It didn't result in anything but it could have.  So I think Elias is normal :-D.

 Boys!  My friend's little boy called 911 the other day.  That causes one heck of a fiasco, I don't recommend it. 

Kale has done his fair share of impulsive, "what the heck were you thinking" types of things too.  So far nothing totally dangerous, but a few things have cost me money.  He dug a hole through a neighbors skirting one day with another neighbor kid.  When drilled he could only shrug and say that he wanted to know what was in there.  Curiosity...sigh...

I'm glad everyone is safe, and I'm wondering how I missed this in FB.  

huskymom

I'm glad everyone is safe, and I'm wondering how I missed this in FB.  

It's been wonky lately...I always use the "Live Feed" because the News Feed is 80 kinds of lame LOL.

Very scary, and could have been so much worse.  Thank "whomever," "whatever," for nudging you to get off the couch and walk back there. 

My kid experience as an arsanist (sp?) is not quite as exciting as some.  When I was about 7 or so...I brought a bowl of Cherrios cereal into the living room and commenced to light it on fire.    Yeah, I know...but I too was fascinated with fire.  I tell you what burned that night.  My hiney.  The one and only ever time my mother spanked me was after that little incident.

Wow, so glad everyone is OK!  I think it is a totally normal little boy curiosity.  It is a lot like baby proofing for an older child.  Now you know he can't be trusted left alone with a candle and you got rid of them all.  Maybe in a few years he will be able to have the self control he should, but he is just a super curious 6 year old.  I think instead of worrying about him being an arson someday, you should look at how smart he is (lacking judgement of course) and try to move forward with that.  Maybe even have some controlled experiments etc to learn more about fire and the potential dangers it carries.  He may be less curious about it in the future if you let him experience it a little in a controlled environment with you teaching him the devastating effects it can have.  I could be totally off base, just a thought.  I am sure the fire department puts on these kinds of things as well.  I remember going to one at Mayfest one year when I was young.

I can't get the link to open (glitch on this laptop) but I'll throw my hat in there with the other pyromaniacs. I stole my mom's matches every chance I got. One time a neighbor kid and I took my little red wagon down to a field by our house. We piled up all the debris we could find and turned the wagon on it's side to make a windbreak and set the brush on fire. It erupted into something way bigger than we'd expected and we panicked ad ran home. Fortunately, it was just field with no homes nearby and I didn't do much of that kind of thing after that. Maybe it was just the lesson I needed.

I'll keep trying to open the link but it sounds like everyone was okay and that's the most important thing.

boneyjean

Wow, so glad everyone is OK!  I think it is a totally normal little boy curiosity.  It is a lot like baby proofing for an older child.  Now you know he can't be trusted left alone with a candle and you got rid of them all.  Maybe in a few years he will be able to have the self control he should, but he is just a super curious 6 year old.  I think instead of worrying about him being an arson someday, you should look at how smart he is (lacking judgement of course) and try to move forward with that.  Maybe even have some controlled experiments etc to learn more about fire and the potential dangers it carries.  He may be less curious about it in the future if you let him experience it a little in a controlled environment with you teaching him the devastating effects it can have.  I could be totally off base, just a thought.  I am sure the fire department puts on these kinds of things as well.  I remember going to one at Mayfest one year when I was young.

I think this is a really good idea.  If I'd known more about fire and the effects of it I might've been less apt to play with it.  Also, it might have quenched my thirst for starting the fire myself. 

rwbeagles

you know stories like this really help me. LOL. It's been a struggle not to generalize this event with my son, to life for him full of arson convictions LOL. I am SUCH a gun-jumper...seriously.

So, ok I'm gonna validate you all over the place!!!

jennypage

I did something VERY similar when I was a kid.  I knew fire was off limits, but I was totally fascinated by it. 

 WAIT A MINIT -- I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED TYPING THIS ..... YET ...

That *is* exactly what I thot when I read JennyPage's post beginning!!

You know how so many kid's toys say "Non-flammable" and you think WHY would anyone care if *that* was flammable?  It's not something you'd deliberately start fire with??"

Like finger paints!!  I was probably just about Elias's age exactly.  Broad daylight, I was in the kitchen fingerpainting and Mom was outside hanging up laundry.  (This was 50 years ago Gina!)

I got my picture done but sat there with painty-hands (I was smart enough NOT to wipe them on my clothes but paper towel hadn't been invented yet) waiting for Mom and I saw .... ****DAD'S MATCHES****

At the time my father still smoked, and a pack of his matches laid there and the thot went thru my mind (I soooo remember this) "Well, those ARE Daddy's ... but only Daddy's and Mommy's and big people can make matches light up ... NOT little girls.  But ... it's soooooo cool when he does and he just zipppppppps it across that black strip and whoosh -- it's lighted!!  But ... noooooooooo I could *never* make that happen and I shouldn't.  But ... noooooooooo wouldn't work with ME anyway I'm just a kid ... but ...."

And next thing I knew I ripped off a match and struck it ... and ... nothing. 

"See I KNEW I couldn't ...."

So I tried again ... and whooooosh -- it LIT. Wowwww

 But then just as suddenly I realized I HAD MADE FIRE and FIRE BURNS HOUSES!!!!! (Yep PSA announcements and school?  I KNEW better.)

So... I just started to scream.  Literally .... I screamed.  and THEN my hand started to burn.  .... ALL OF IT.  fingerpaints WERE flammable.  Who knew. 

Mom came barrelling in (she really was only about 30 feet away) and dragged me to the sink and turned the cold water on ... and then she called a neighbor to help get me to the doctor (my entire left hand had been burned -- thumb and 1st & 2d fingers mostly -- but the whole hand was painty ...

Later she asked me why I didn't just drop it in the sink or put it out and I told her "It was FIRE ... I knew it could burn the house down ... so I didn't want to drop it and burn the house down so I just held it."

I can **remember** thinking that, Gina.  That it must be WHY only adults should make fire cos even tho did get it to light I could still burn down the house so I was just gonna HOLD it until Mom came.

The thing with Elias is to help him realize he can tell you ... that there isn't anything he can't share with you.  I'm *glad* you went to get him -- because the tendency for a kid to "hide" stuff like that is ultimately what usually gets them in trouble.

And incidentally -- when I read that I called Mom sand said "WHO does this make you think of???" and Mom was still astonished remembering me being so adamant that I didn't *dare* put it out because if I dropped it or didn't do it right I might burn down the house.

so .... nope ... no budding delinquent there.  He's just one of many many kids fascinated by fire.  It IS a fascinating thing -- but sometimes it takes a brush with disaster to make an impression on him. 

To this day, I really don't ever do candles.  And I'm uber careful with them to make sure they never burn when someone might fall asleep.  And I honestly don't even burn them for fun.  Simply because I know better than to trust *myself*.  Some things I've learned to trust myself implicitly -- some things I know just "don't go there".

Are you *done* with 2009 yet?  If I were you I'd be really happy New Years is nearly here.