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RSS FeedShould children be allowed to shoot off fireworks?
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| Yes | 27% | 219 votes | Total: 801 votes | |
| No | 73% | 582 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesI have so many wonderful memories of July 4th and New Year's Eve. My family celebrated these holidays with fireworks. How exciting it was holding sparklers and lighting fireworks! My parents watched us like hawks and thoroughly indoctrinated us in safety measures. If we acted up, even a little bit, we were banned - literally banned - from participating. We had to earn the right to light fireworks.
If you are directly supervising your child, and your child is acting appropriately, then fireworks are a wonderful, festive venture for the whole family. The emphasis is on "supervising." Parents who are invested in their child's safety will watch closely, demonstrate and educate. If a child is impatient and can't sit still to listen to safety lectures, then they should not be allowed to touch fireworks. On the other hand, children who respect the danger of fireworks and are cooperative are good candidates.
Throwing in a horror story or two doesn't hurt. I still remember hearing of missing fingers and disfigured faces - it drove home the fact that fireworks are dangerous and can seriously injure people. My father was very proud of the fact that neither he nor anyone in our entire extended family had ever been harmed during the Fourth of July or New Year's Eve. He informed us that he did not plan on ruining that record . . . and neither should we!
Fireworks are more than just entertainment. During the holidays, they provide a wonderful opportunity to talk about Independence Day. A history lesson learned while celebrating the actual event tends to stick to the brain. We rejoice during July 4th for a reason! Ditto for the New Year's festivities. My mother was fond of saying that "Ringing in the New Year" had a double meaning - and that the "ringing in our ears" attested to that!
I loved fireworks and missed them during my single years. However, when I started a family of my own it seemed very natural to continue the tradition. My daughter has been raised with fireworks on special occasions. She loves smoke bombs and sparklers the most. Now that she has started junior high, I feel comfortable letting her light Roman Candles and the big bombs. Her delight is mixed with a healthy dose of fear - and I appreciate that!
Yes, just as with any other challenge in life, children can be allowed to shoot off fireworks . . . as long as they have proper parental involvement and a respect for the rules.
Learn more about this author, Melanie Saxton.
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No
This topic really caught my attention. We are parents that are looking out for our children, and I cannot see putting an explosive in their hand for them to shoot off. Therefore, I am going to answer this question with a question, and you will see why my view on this topic is "NO".
Should we let our child hold a lighter in one hand, a firecracker in the other hand, light it on fire, and hope that it doesn't blow up in their face? Now, as a parent, does this make sense to you at all or sound safe in any shape, way, or form? I know it doesn't make sense to put my child in this type of situation.
Fireworks are exciting, beautiful, and fun, but so are our children. We do not need to put the risk in their hands. I saw a Roman Candle once that backfired right into a child's face a few years back, and the parent was so distraught that it happened. Yet, she let her child be in that situation. Another time, my cousin and I were playing around with sparklers, and she got burnt pretty good by one of the sparks shooting back off the sparkler. Yes, these are just a few rare examples, but they happened. It was scary, and before that happened I probably would have been on the "Yes" side of this debate. I cherish my children too much to put them in that kind of risky situation.
I do not let my children shoot off the fireworks, and I am actually really weary about sparklers. Fireworks are not for kids, and sometimes they are not meant for some adults either. We have all seen people be injured by fireworks when they were both careful and careless. Even with supervision, it is still too dangerous for a child to light off the fireworks.
Fireworks can be dangerous if in the wrong hands. Our younger children are excited to see them set off. Older children love to set the fireworks off as much as we do, and my dear hubby thinks that it depends of the child lighting off the fireworks as to whether they should be allowed or not. He thinks that they learn the wrong way to handle them from us, which is probably true. They learn everything from us, and as said earlier, some adults have no business playing with fireworks either.
Life is scary enough without putting a lighter in our children's hands on the 4th of July or any other time for that matter. One night of fun could lead to years of misery. What if your child lights off the firework and doesn't let go in time? Do you really want to spend the rest of the evening in the emergency room tending to burns or worse. It just isn't a risk worth taking for me, and I really feel that children have no business playing around with the fireworks.
Learn more about this author, Amy Harvey.
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