Dear Kid Saturday - Fire Safety Overkill — Cutest Kid Ever

Dear TJ,

The power went out last night just before bath time. We were having a thunderstorm, and I swear the lightning strike couldn’t have been more than a mile away. The lights went out at the same instant we heard the thunder. (The number of sirens we heard – not too far away – corroborate the idea that the lightning struck something nearby.)

You got very upset. We calmed you down. I held you on my lap and tried to think of a game. You didn’t want us to sing, but you thought it was pretty cool to count with us. (I started with 1, you said 2, Daddy said 3… and we got all the way up to 79 before you gave up.) We skipped your bath, but Daddy was able to read to you as usual by the dim light coming through the window before we put you to bed.

Since you’re afraid of the dark, I lit a candle in your room. We’ve been talking about fire safety together. I’ve talked to you about how you never leave a candle burning when you leave the house, and how only grown ups can touch candles or lighters or anything that makes fire. You took me very seriously. Even though I told you that you’d be safe because Mommy and Daddy were still awake, you woke up after about 20 minutes… screaming at the top of your lungs.

I went up to check on you, and you were very upset about the candle. You wanted me to blow it out because you didn’t want it to start a fire. I tried to tell you it was safe, but you got more and more upset… So I blew the candle out. You were less afraid of the dark than you were of the candle.

I’m sorry I scared you about candles. I’m very glad you’re conscientious about fire safety, but I think I’m going to need to desensitize you about using candles again in case we lose power at night again.

Love,
Mommy