..... to not want my son to be given sparklers?

[Fryib]

Hes 3.3 and we are going to a friends where the kids are going to play, do some craft stuff (think gluing, glitter, painting etc) and then friend mentioned shes bought some sparklers.

My two Dc re 3.3 and 15 months, so I said thanks but I dont want him having one. Her dcs are 3 and 15months and oldest will have one.

Am i pfb?

My 3.1 likes to look at them but hasn't held one yet. She may do tomorrow. However, there will be a bucket of water to put it in, she will wear gloves and be very carefully supervised. She will probably not want to unless I hold it with her.

Maybe show them one first, it may put your son off rather than encouraging him.

Dd1 is 2 years and 5 months and my sister tried to give her one earlier. I stopped her straight away. I then thought I was being a bit anal.

But, after reading this I know I wasnt. She is still too young to really understand what they can do. Maybe next year...

Not sure what the problem is with dropping them on the floor if you're in your own garden and everyone is told the importance of dropping them as soon as they're out and LEAVING THEM THERE without picking them up again? I've been using sparklers in that way each Bonfire Night for, oooh, 30 years and have never had any accidents or witnessed any. Not that I'm saying there is not an element of danger to them - I'm just saying that if you buy from a reputable trader, wear gloves, hold them away from your body, PROPERLY supervised by an adult and hold them away from other people, dispose of them properly (cold damp floor OR bucket of sand/water) and just be generally SENSIBLE around them, then honestly, I really don't know what the problem is....

mama, you know whether you've got a "sensible" 2.5 year old or not. When DS1 was that age, we held sparklers with him (i.e. with our hand over his). From the next year onwards he held is own and is always VERY careful and sensible. DS2 is a bit mad so we wouldn't have let him NEAR a sparkler at 2.5. He held one for the first time on his own this year at 4.6 and I wasn't totally happy with the slightly slap-dash way he was waving it about, I must admit. I think he would ALWAYS be like that, though, and need almost constant reminders to be careful, even when he is 15!

DS had sparklers last night and loved them. He wore gloves, was told not to touch anything or anyone with the sparkling end and was told to drop it when it went out. He was told if he accidently dropped it when it was still alight he was not to pick it up.

He managed all these instructions perfectly well, with me standing next to him gently reminding him what to do with each sparkler that was lit (he loved them so much he had the whole packet). He is 3.

Yes there will always be freak accidents due to a faulty product or just back luck, but frankly I doubt the majority of the children injured by fireworks/sparklers are being properly instructed in their safe use or supervised.

My son was injured by a sparkler.......some fool stuck the sparkler in the ground and didn't remove it, he fell onto it and it went straight through his knee.....he was 3 at the time and it took me weeks to get him to walk again.

Hes now 14 and we hav'nt had fireworks since and we never will.

Curlyhairedassasin we always bought our fireworks from reputable dealers as a standard thing , but before my son was born one of these BS fireworks malfunctioned and hit my other half in the eye basically it didnt go straight up but decided to take the horizontal route.....all I could think about was if that had been a toddler!!

I dont agree with the private sale of fireworks, if people must have them then go to organised do's....handing children explosives is tantamount to giving them a G&T with fag chaser in my opinion.

YANBU but I think you could manage it. My mum would crouch behind my sister and hold the sparkler with her (next to bucket of water) and hold me (the little one) next to her so I could see the sparkler too but not touch it. Its lovely to let them see sparklers if its done in a safe way

I do think that some of you must have been sold small nuclear reactors rather than sparklers. Yes the wire gets unbelievably hot, and has to be treated with care dropped straight onto wet grass or into a bucket of water - but shoes and gloves being burnt by the sparks? Really? Never, ever in my experience has the spark from a sparkler been hot enough to burn anything.

So glad to read the voice of reason from some on here. Sparklers are only dangerous if you use them stupidly. Use them sensibly and they are brilliant fun and children LOVE them.

Wobblebobble - I once cut my leg when someone knocked an egg cup out of my hand, it broke and landed on my knee. Should I never use one again? How sad that your child has been denied fireworks all that time because he fell over. The fact it was a firework is surely irrelevant - it could have been a twig, a bit of broken glass, even an egg cup....

It makes me sad that so many children today are denied so much fun because of 'just in case'. My daughter and I went paragliding in the Alps this summer. It was the best experience of both our lives. Live a little, you're a long time dead.

Blimey - DD2 (3.8) held one carefully on Sat and it didn't even occur to me that it was a problem.

I've always been MUCH more worried about glo-sticks and small children because of all the toxic chemicals in them and the risk of chewing (see [http://www.tizertech.co.uk/safety.html here]]) The DDs (3.8 and nearly 8) had glo-sticks too, and I tiptoed into their bedrooms once they were asleep and removed them all as I was so paranoid!

Sorry - link here