Fear The Clip...It's A Shocker...

Everyone who knows Youngest knows he is an explorer. He's got that same confidence, boldness and exploring nature like I told you about in my previous blog. Like his daddy, he's not afraid to try new things and take big risks. Problem is the boy is 6. It's his parents job to make sure that he is kept safe and that little engineering mind of his that wants to try new inventions and create fun projects is moving in a way that doesn't bring him, his family or our home any harm.

If this is the goal of his parents, we might have failed last night. I am shaking my head at this boy. Following an evening of bible study with our church's small group this little fella went upstairs to get in his pajamas and his task was to brush his teeth. A few minutes later the last of our friends departs the house and I head up to check on things. I find Youngest on his bed sobbing uncontrollably. With two big sisters to contend with, this is not at all unusual, so no red flag here. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he didn't want to tell me because he knew I would be mad. Okay, now the red flag is flying. A little afraid to continue this conversation, I encouraged him to tell me what's up. Between sobs and humongous tears he tells me that he had something that he got from school that he took into the bathroom and stuck it in the "place where tvs go." Um. What? Eventually I figured out he was talking about the electric socket. Gulp. When the "fireworks" shot out at him it scared the child out of his little 6 year old mind and he ran for cover. At this point between the sobs he is telling me that he loves this house and he doesn't want to do anything to ruin it.

Oh, youngest. I take him squarely by the shoulders and make him show me what he used. He painfully hands me the metal part of a binder clip, with the plastic clip removed. The ends are seared from the electric shock. Okay, first of all. Where did he get this from? If I had to guess I would say he pocketed the binder clip and disposed of the clip. I've seen the boy work over a paperclip. Pretty much anything that can be used as part of an on-going project or can be reshaped and turned into something else is fair game with this guy. He's a smart cookie. As the responsible parent I am, I lectured him very sternly and with my most serious voice about he could have seriously hurt himself. He could have done serious damage to our house. More out of control sobbing ensued as his little body shook, racked with guilt and pleas of "I LOVE this house mommy." Talk about a wake up call. This little explorer got not only a science lesson but a serious shaking in his pajama pants.

I'm confident that between his dad and I lighting into him over this one, and the scare that those sparks gave him, he has learned his lesson. As we hustled him into bed he wanted to show me his foot where one of the sparks "almost hit his toe." Okay, that didn't happen, but in his dramatic way of expressing things he was confident that he was going to die. In the 14 years that Oldest has lived in my home I have never had to contend with his dangerous explorations. The worst he had was a broken ankle from a sledding injury. Remind me to fuss at him, his soft-spoken, sweet -boy nature in no way prepared me for Youngest's antics.

Finally, I got that guy settled down and in the bed. He insisted on whimpering uncontrollably. I'm convinced the majority of this was for my benefit. He is just that smart. He would want to make sure mama thought he was thoroughly remorseful. In his most pitiful voice, as I departed from his room, he says: "oh, mom. I really wish Oldest were home from college right now. If he were here he would help me get through this." This, thankfully, was a good result to an obviously needed lesson. Life is just that way. There are many times we do something really, really stupid and the result scares the pants off of us. Sometimes we need that huge scare to simmer us down and slow our roll. Youngest got just that lesson, and sometimes we need that too. God will allow us to keep on going, pushing the limit and testing our fate for damaging results. Then He will allow something to happen that reminds us there are some things that we just don't do.

Thank goodness that Youngest is safe and sound. Thank goodness that God was watching over him, the same as He watches over us. Since my little guy might have suffered a setback but is likely not anywhere near finished his explorations and risk taking in life, I'm going to be praying even harder that God's eyes would be on him even more. And if any of ya'll see him, you watch him too. He's too smart for his own good.