[stayathomemom]

My father-in-law was badly burned as a child playing with firecrackers. He did not know how his clothes caught on fire, but he ended up spending two years in bed recovering from his burns in an era before antibiotics. Nevertheless, he still allowed my husband to play with fireworks. Frankly, the mechanism behind all this fostered my husband's interest in Chemistry. He was the first student to place out of a full year of chemistry at the University of Mo - Rolla, graduated Summa cum laude, and went on to med school. He is a professor at a major teaching hospital and has gotten teacher of the year awards in his department several times.
This same brilliant son, however, played with firecrackers in his garage, and has been dealing with tinnitus ever since.
I think it was a very wise thing for my father-in-law to look beyond his tragedy and allow his son to explore the world.

[Black Agnes]

Supervised instruction with stuff like that isn’t a bad thing. Letting your 8yr old have a bagful of leftover fourth of July goods will probably not turn out OK.

It’s not a certain thing but ups the odds. Kind of like wearing seat belts. Or motorcycle helmets. You play actuary with your health and safety.

My friend had a lot of ongoing health issues related to his injury while we were growing up. And he has been prevented from doing a good many things because of it as well. His brother joined the military. He wasn’t able to. etc.

Given my druthers I wouldn’t let kids play with something that might, in fact, kill them until they are old enough to comprehend ‘danger’ and ‘safety’ and ‘common sense’. My friend danged near burned his house down that day as well. The fort was under the carport.