Thursday, January 8, 2009
Fire Safety or Fire Scary
The other night I had a terrible dream about our house catching on fire. It was a very weird dream that let me slow everything down so I could think and pick out what I would do in a certain situation. It let me rewind and play something over so I could do it right. Basically it was a how-to dream practicing our fire escape plan that we've never discussed. That morning I woke up and didn't think too much of it until I went into my girls room. The kids had built a fort and used a lamp to keep their fort lit. The lamp was topped with a hat and there were blankets covering the fort ... fire hazard waiting to happen. That's when the dream came back to me and I had these terrible images of the house catching on fire due to that lamp. Spur of the moment, let's have a fire safety class. So we went over the what to do's, what is o.k. to do. Normally breaking a window is frowned upon, but if that's the only way to get out of the house, you grab a big toy and you break that thing. Well, try opening it first but they got the jist. Andrew was excited and said, "I want to do that" --breaking a window that is. The discussion went very well and we walked through our fire routes and set up a meeting place and everything. But silly me! I'd had this terrible vision about the lamp starting the fire but didn't think 'Huh, I should probably move that back to my bedroom where it belongs.' Not even 10 mins. later, Izzy is screaming and bawling "Mommy, there's going to be a fire." I came running because she is definitely scared and I'm so nervous my dream is coming true. Turns out, Andrew had pulled the lamp cord out and it detached from the in the wall plug. So it had these 2 exposed wires and Andrew fearing he's in trouble for breaking it tries sticking the 2 wires back in the cord end. Yes there were sparks but luckily nothing else. There was a faint smoke smell but no fire. I was holding Izzy because my poor girl couldn't stop shaking. She's so afraid that lamp was still going to catch on fire. I kept explaining to her that everything was going to be fine. She did a great job of calling for me and saying "Fire" but she couldn't calm down. She begged me to stop cuddling with her just so I could get that lamp out of her room before it caught on fire. Despite all the explaining, it's been 2 days now and she is still afraid to go in her room by herself. The first night, Andrew slept in the girls room to protect her. She refuses to have the night light plugged in at all while she's sleeping. Yesterday, Glen had to sit in the room with her while she cleaned it so she wouldn't be alone. My poor girl. Was it more important to have a fire safety class or scare my poor girl to death? Or would she have been scared if we hadn't had the scary experience?
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3 comments:
For some reason fire was my biggest fear as a little girl. My nightmares always revolved around our house burning down.
I'm sorry for little Izzy, being all scared. One thing that helped calm me as a child was my mom telling me that my dad had dedicated our house to protect it from fire and damage, etc. Now, I'm sure that dedicated homes have had damage done to them, but she didn't tell me that. She had such confidence, and I had such confidence in my Dad and the Priesthood, that it really helped me.
I was always scared at home too. I always wondered how I would get out if my house caught on fire. And I never wanted my ddor shut at night because I did not want to burn my hand opening the door knob, and then I thought maybe the door would protect me from the fire, so I would wake up in the middle of the night and cry for the door to be opened. Im sure we will all have a kid scared of fire. Its better to have her know then not know, Im sure she will get over it one day, I would just make sure that Idont make a big huge deal out of what cause fires or she will be scared of everything. good luck
I think fire discussions tend to scare kids, but they're necessary for sure. Amy is really afraid of fires right now--because of a sign she saw at Home Depot. We've had the fire discussion, but it was the sign that did it for her. Poor girls! Time will lessen the fear...we can hope.
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