I think my children teach me at least as much as I teach them (if not more).  I have learned to be much more patient (still have a ways to go here, but I am a work in progress).  I have also learned that my kids are not the only one that don’t “make wise choices” sometimes.  I was one of the two guilty parties last weekend. 

I LOVE candles.  I have a ridiculous number of them that for the most part have been packed away in a box since I got the girls.  Recently I decided to burn one.  It is in the kitchen, on the counter almost all the way to the back.  Since the girls are now 5 and 6 I thought that it would be safe to burn it.  My error came in forgetting that AJ often struggles with impulse control.  I should have guessed that it was going to be a problem since she seemed fascinated with stretching far enough back to put her hand over it to feel the heat.  I reminded her that it could burn her and watched her long enough to see that she was responding to the warmth and not letting her hand get to close.

AJ was the other one to make a poor choice on Sunday.  I was sitting in the living room and was in a position where I could see in a little bit of the kitchen.  The candle was near the doorway where I could see.  All of the sudden I hear AJ calling my name in a panicked voice.  It is one of those moments when you know by the tone coming from your child that something is really wrong.  I look over to see AJ holding a burning piece of paper.  I jump up as fast as I can and tell her to drop it.  I am not sure what will happen but I know that she will get burned if she doesn’t get it out of her hands.  It fell on the floor and continued to burn.  At this point AJ is completely in shock and quite freaked out. 

I run into the kitchen and find something (I don’t recall what, I  just remember that I couldn’t find anything I thought was a good idea so I just started hitting it with something).  By now Vera has joined us in the kitchen and is standing back watching.  I managed to get the fire out before it catches anything else on fire.  Once I know that it is out, I check with AJ to make sure she it ok.  She said she was fine, which I interpreted as physically fine.  She still looked a bit dazed.  I gave her a big hug and told her it was ok, then took the opportunity to talk about why we don’t play with fire (in a very calm tone – this is when my newly developed patience is a great help). 

AJ enjoys science, I think she now has completed a unintentional experiment from which she learned a life time lesson.  I am pretty sure (impulse control challenges or not) she won’t be putting paper near a fire again any time soon. 

Thankfully, the porcelain tile on my kitchen floor appears to be fire resistant.  Not something I was looking to test out, but I guess it’s a good thing to know.