Have You Had “The Talk” with Your Kids . . .About Electricty?

Day 2 of A Parent Perspective

So, last night was date night for my husband and I. We went to see the hot new DiCaprio movie that everyone is talking about, Inception.

It was about 5 minutes prior to the actual movie starting as the pre-movie trailers were still going on and my husband gets a text from the babysitter. We’ve gotten lots of texts on dates before. You know the ones, “Your son is throwing up, when can you get home?”or “ Are they allowed to have dessert, tonight,” etc . . . but this one will stand out in my mind for awhile. And, maybe you too can learn from our mistake -– the mistake of assuming your kids know more than they do.

A little background before I give you the whole situation. My daughter, 7 years old and getting ready for 2nd grade, has been going through what I’ve told her is an incredible “creative” phase. I see it in her art, I see it in her play. You know, watching her, it’s one of those moments when you can literally just seeing the wheels turning and the mind opening. A light bulb of sorts have gone off. The pictures that were once simply a replica of what she saw are now an interpretation with her own special touch. Items in nature are now an inspiration and tool for an artistic endeavor. On walks, a leaf would be the perfect wing on a bird. So, we’re being experimental and trying new things. In my mind that’s where great ideas, inventions, creations are born, from an open and creative mind.

OK . .so back to the story. In this case, though, that experimental side took a nasty turn. Only two nights earlier we had purchased a new night light for my daughter as she doth protest her fear of the dark E-V-E-R-Y single night.

Sometime during the day, apparently, she felt the need to take her night light to a new level. She snuggled a quarter inside the light right next to the bulb. I don’t exactly know why and not sure she really does either.

Later, while we were on date night of course, she pulls the night light from the wall. As she tilted it slightly, the quarter dislodged itself and became a victim of gravity. As it made its way to the ground, it hit the plug of the nightlight which wasn’t yet disconnected from the wall. What happened? Well . . . . an incredibly bright flash of light as our sitter described it.

She jumped from her seat to find my daughter in tears that her new nightlight broke. She looked around at the nightlight with a strange circular indentation burnt into it and a black soot appearance on the plug, the outlet, on the wall and later, once she discerned how the circular shape was created, the quarter. Then she realized the light didn’t work either!

She sent the text that read, “Zeyda stuck a quarter in a night light, pulled it from the wall and quarter hit prongs in wall . . .big light sparks, wall socket black, quarter kinda melted to the night light prongs . . .and bathroom light doesn’t work anymore?”

Later it it came to our attention that our upstairs electricity was out as well . . . .

In the end, we’re thankful that no one was hurt. We spoke to our daughter about the dangers of electricity and keeping metals (and pretty much anything else aside from, say, a plug) away from outlets. As they say “what doesn’t kill ‘em will make ‘em stronger.”

Thanks to breakers, our electricity and light is restored. And, we’ve purchased a new $2 nightlight from our local grocery store.

While, I have to say, it was tempting to get angry over the whole situation, we realized it wasn’t the right thing to do. While our outlet may be burnt, I know that Zeyda’s light of creativity will still shine on. And, she goes forward with a new experience to learn from.