On New Year's Eve my family and I shot off some fireworks.
I loved doing such things when I was a kid, and my children are no different.
I don't spend a lot of money doing so. I bought roughly $15 worth for 30 minutes of entertainment. We had a good time. Except for a few moments.
During the Christmas holidays, my kids were particularly rambunctious. My eldest is a trouble hunter, and she will literally run over her two younger siblings at times. While I was shooting off the fireworks, one of those times came. Instead of walking around to sit in her spot, she decided to jump over the box of fireworks and kick her sister in the face.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued. As did a liberal dose of scolding from her mother and I.
I then returned to lighting the fireworks. It just so happened that I was lighting a little thing I called a "chaser." I don't know if it's the appropriate name for this contraption. It was a plastic circle with molded wings and a gunpowder filled cylinder in the middle. When you lit the fuse, the thing spun into the air, flew for a second or two, and sent out with a burst whistling snappers that popped loudly.
When I lit the "chaser" (I named it thusly when my kids asked me what it was), it flew into the air, sent out its stuff, popped...and then proceeded to head right at my eldest child--who had just kicked her sister. Unfortunately, it slightly burned her arm and leg, and scared the holy crap out of her. She started crying liberally, and what did I do?
Did I comfort her?
Did I tell her this was a freak accident?
No. I looked her right in the eye and said, "That chaser came after you because you were mean to your sister. It knew you weren't doing the right thing, and these chasers come after kids who do things that are bad. You'd better apologize to your sister so that it doesn't happen again."
I am so going to hell for that one. But guess whose behavior drastically improved the rest of the evening?
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