This time of year has always been a bit scary for me. I have a ton of cousins; a lot of them boys and older than me. They enjoyed bottle rocket wars and believed that the noisier the fireworks, the better! I did not share their enthusiasm.
Have a wonderful time celebrating Independence Day!
I did my part and introduced my daughters to “snakes” last year. My husband found those ridiculous, and he didn’t appreciate the thumb-burning he got the first time he tried to light one. He has assured me that those aren’t real fireworks. It isn’t that I oppose fireworks. I think they are really pretty…from a distance…a nice safe distance…like a couple of miles! I recall hiding on my grandmother’s porch during the evenings of the Fourth of July, and as an adult, I would much rather watch a fireworks display.
Of course, we aren’t supposed to congregate right now, so you’ll need to spread out to watch the firework’s display that the Lions Club is doing. That will begin sometime around 9 PM on Saturday, and the professionals running that display will be set up on the football field of the high school. (Considering my disdain for loud noises and my fear of being too close, do you think I can watch the display from a rooftop on Pratt Street?) It should be a nice display to celebrate our country’s independence, and it is safer than home displays that can lead to injury, fire, and deep trauma. (Maybe that trauma piece only applies to me.)
This short video is just a reminder that fireworks can be dangerous. It strongly discourages the use of consumer fireworks, and you need to use your own judgement about that. In the meantime, here are some other reminders:
- Use fireworks cautiously.
- They cause a lot of fires each year. “Fire” is part of the name, so have a bucket of water or extinguisher handy.
- Watch toddlers carefully; you know how sneaky they can be. They can easily wind up far too close to their siblings’ firework pad, and their legs can’t carry them away fast enough.
- That bucket of water also doubles as a place to extinguish those incredibly hot sparklers too. You can increase safety with sparklers by taking one out of the box and explaining how they work and what a child should and shouldn’t do with them while it is still light out! Odd concept, for sure, but let the kids see and hold the unlit sparkler in the kitchen, garage, etc. prior to actually playing with them outside. They can even model putting them into an empty bucket.
- Remember that confetti cannons, glow sticks, and Pop Its rock too!
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