My son has always experimented with stuff. I think he got that part from me. During the school holidays, we are always trying new stuff. We experiment with food recipes, always trying out new destinations, always trying to make things from everyday found-in-the-home materials.
Whenever he'd ask me a question on how something works, I'd show him. If I did not know, we'd find out together. Once he had an idea of how to figure his way around, I'd let him figure out his experiment himself.
As long as he cleaned up after himself, and never experimented dangerously, I let him. I always told him the danger that was inherent in the experiment that he was engaged in. 'Be careful, the knife/or razor blade can cut you and taper your main blood vessels.'
"You want to use the candle where it will not catch fire when left unattended to, even briefly. The fire may snowball into an inferno and burn our house down." Whatever there was a danger that the experiment showed, I articulated it on a need-by-need basis.
Until the other day he decided to experiment without asking prior. I was sitting in the living room, reading while he was preparing breakfast. Then there was a huge spark of white light, and the clinking of a butter knife falling back into the kitchen sink.
"What happened? What was that?" I got up to check. He just looks at me. "What just happened?" I demanded.
"I put the butter knife inside the bread toaster on one of the wires to check if it has 'shock.'" He responds, looking between being scared and curious.
"Excuse me? And what did you find?' I asked, surprised at how my anger quickly changed into curiosity. I mean, wasn't I supposed to be livid at this type of experiment that could be fatal?
"There was a white spark when I inserted the butter knife between the wires that toast the bread. It flew from my hand on impact. No electric current passed through me," he answered.
My interest at this phenomenon was piqued. What would have happened? Why didn't he get shocked? I checked the toaster. It would still plunge the bread down but the wires did not get hot. Something had happened all right, but more importantly, why didn't the electric current pass through him?
"Why do you think you didn't get shocked?" I asked aloud, not expecting an answer from him. It was more of an inquiry. All I had leaned for my physics class started flooding back. Did the action shot circuit the wires to cut off the electric current? Was he wearing rubber slippers?
Yes he was. Was that the reason the current did not pass? Maybe. Do I need to tell him this fact? Maybe, but that would just make him bolder. I wasn't willing to take that risk.
I told him about the dangers of playing with electricity. I acknowledged that curiosity is a key component in learning or answering questions, but the same rules apply. If he doesn't know about something, he needs to ask. Yes, experiencing the shock is a very different kind of answer compared to being told about it, I know, but it's possible to take a calculated risk.
Trust my son to seize the opportunity to ask how electricity works, why there's a red, blue and green wire. I'm now looking for an electrician to answer him both in theory and practice, because I do not believe in stifling curiosity just because it has a danger to it.
Come to think of it, is there anything that is 100 percent foul proof?
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