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Plug covers are easily and rapidly removed by curious children, and are potentially a choking hazard. Tamper-resistant receptacles, however, do seem to provide

Plug covers are easily and rapidly removed by curious children, and are potentially a choking hazard. Tamper-resistant receptacles, however, do seem to provide a real increase in safety. FWIW. https://www.esfi.org/resource/how-protected-are-children-from-electric-shock-554 https://www.esfi.org/resource/how-protected-are-children-fro... (These did not exist when I was a child, but had they been available, I'm sure my parents would have used them.) >I listened because why wouldn't I? So did I, about a vast majority of things, until I didn't, because I thought electromagnets were cooler than verbal warnings were deterring. I think you will be hard-pressed to find a child anywhere in the world that doesn't push boundaries.

manmal 8y ago
You are arguing that the spanking AFTER you tampered with a wire saved you. First, you could have died before the spanking. Punishment after the fact never rights a done wrong. Second, at the age of 4, if your parents had just sat down with you and told you that you can die from electric shock, don't you think that would have made a lasting impression either?
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  Which is riskier? Playing Russian Roulette once? Or a dozen times? My mother gave me a spanking to impress upon me that playing with household electricity at my level of understanding was not a joke, period. 4 or 5 year olds, even precocious ones, do not have the cognitive machinery to be able to assess this kind of risk, and if they are unusually curious (which I was), well... Sorry, mom, about all the gray hairs I probably gave you over the years. (She seemed to have loved me well enough regardless. :D) My parents sat me down and calmly explained everything they could. Which, as I mentioned before, worked great, until the appeal of something else overwhelmed verbal warnings, which was also not uncommon. Sometimes it was electricity, sometimes it was fire. I can think of another time maybe a year or so later when I discovered a box of strike-anywhere matches, and proceeded to light them one after another to wow at the sparkles, and watch the changes in the match as it burned. My mother took a different approach this time, and as 'punishment', gave me an entire box of matches, of which I was supposed to light them one at a time, let them burn down, then drop them in a bucket of water and repeat until the box was empty. I suppose she was trying to allow me to explore my fascination with fire in a safe way so that I would get bored with it. Honestly, I can see some merit in that line of thought. ...but instead of getting bored, once I was done, I went and asked for another box. (it turns out fire is fascinating.) I did get good at learning just how long I could hold a match before I risked burning myself, and how to strike them properly. So that was a plus. I also learned that the embers of the spent match can be kicked back up in to flame again for a surprisingly long time, too. So I'd say it was a good lesson, no spanking involved. But electricity is not nearly as forgiving, and I genuinely do think a swat in that kind of situation can be a useful thing.
  - watwut 8y ago
    I did not spanked children and they knew not to play around electric outlets well before 4 years old. 4-5 years old are actually capable of these things. You have to repeat the instruction to them consistently and they will learn.
- adrianN 8y ago
  I wouldn't trust a four year old to understand what death means.
  - tempestn 8y ago
    My kids are six and four, and explaining to them that something could seriously injure or kill them is definitely enough to prevent them from ever doing it. I can't imagine spanking them to try to make a point, but if anything I expect that would influence them to trust my warnings of potential injury less.
    - gambiting 8y ago
      As a complete anecdote - I remember when my parents told me when I was very little that eating rotten/mouldy food could get you seriously ill, I think I even asked if you could die from it - to which they said that yes, you could. And after that, I had a complete phobia of everything that seemed even slightly off. I became incredibly picky, because that one spot on the slice of cheese could be mould or because the ham smelled not how my 8 year old brain thought it should smell like. No spanking involved, but the psychological damage was much greater I think.
      - triangleman 8y ago
        Yeah, one time I told my 3 year old not to touch a wild mushroom. Mostly because I'm grossed out by it. But now she's got this crazy attitude towards mushrooms, the weirdest plants in the world that people eat but are dangerous. I have no idea how it's going to shake out. If I could do it again I would have let her touch the freaking mushroom.
      - tempestn 8y ago
        Yeah, that's true, you definitely do have to be careful with that kind of thing. Kids really can take things to heart and believe them so strongly that it's difficult, even when they know you're the one who originally gave them the information, to moderate it. I usually try not to speak in terms of absolutes, but let them know what _can_ be dangerous, especially for kids who don't yet have enough experience to know which situations are dangerous and which aren't—so if they want to use/touch/whatever it, please ask an adult first. So it's not the thing itself that's inherently dangerous, but rather using it before you have enough experience. (Still do have to emphasize the potential danger though, lest they one day decide they do in fact have enough experience now.) This seems to work well for my kids, but of course ymmv.
Nullabillity 8y ago
> Plug covers are easily and rapidly removed by curious children, and are potentially a choking hazard. Ultimately that comes down to the plug design. Schuko sockets (used in most of Europe) are typically indented into the outlet enclosure. This enables IKEA[1] (and others) to make covers that basically can't be removed without tools. [1]: https://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/20098963/ https://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/20098963/
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  I do think sockets should be fundamentally redesigned from the ones we have here in the US. There are so many, better examples in use around the world. One small plus is that most of our outlets are only 110v, which is somewhat safer to deal with.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
> I think you will be hard-pressed to find a child anywhere in the world that doesn't push boundaries. Hell, isn't a lot of childhood precisely about learning the boundaries by pushing against them to check what the actual limits are?
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  Exactly so.

manmal 8y ago

You are arguing that the spanking AFTER you tampered with a wire saved you. First, you could have died before the spanking. Punishment after the fact never rights a done wrong. Second, at the age of 4, if your parents had just sat down with you and told you that you can die from electric shock, don't you think that would have made a lasting impression either?

Baeocystin 8y ago
Which is riskier? Playing Russian Roulette once? Or a dozen times? My mother gave me a spanking to impress upon me that playing with household electricity at my level of understanding was not a joke, period. 4 or 5 year olds, even precocious ones, do not have the cognitive machinery to be able to assess this kind of risk, and if they are unusually curious (which I was), well... Sorry, mom, about all the gray hairs I probably gave you over the years. (She seemed to have loved me well enough regardless. :D) My parents sat me down and calmly explained everything they could. Which, as I mentioned before, worked great, until the appeal of something else overwhelmed verbal warnings, which was also not uncommon. Sometimes it was electricity, sometimes it was fire. I can think of another time maybe a year or so later when I discovered a box of strike-anywhere matches, and proceeded to light them one after another to wow at the sparkles, and watch the changes in the match as it burned. My mother took a different approach this time, and as 'punishment', gave me an entire box of matches, of which I was supposed to light them one at a time, let them burn down, then drop them in a bucket of water and repeat until the box was empty. I suppose she was trying to allow me to explore my fascination with fire in a safe way so that I would get bored with it. Honestly, I can see some merit in that line of thought. ...but instead of getting bored, once I was done, I went and asked for another box. (it turns out fire is fascinating.) I did get good at learning just how long I could hold a match before I risked burning myself, and how to strike them properly. So that was a plus. I also learned that the embers of the spent match can be kicked back up in to flame again for a surprisingly long time, too. So I'd say it was a good lesson, no spanking involved. But electricity is not nearly as forgiving, and I genuinely do think a swat in that kind of situation can be a useful thing.
- watwut 8y ago
  I did not spanked children and they knew not to play around electric outlets well before 4 years old. 4-5 years old are actually capable of these things. You have to repeat the instruction to them consistently and they will learn.
adrianN 8y ago
I wouldn't trust a four year old to understand what death means.
- tempestn 8y ago
  My kids are six and four, and explaining to them that something could seriously injure or kill them is definitely enough to prevent them from ever doing it. I can't imagine spanking them to try to make a point, but if anything I expect that would influence them to trust my warnings of potential injury less.
  - gambiting 8y ago
    As a complete anecdote - I remember when my parents told me when I was very little that eating rotten/mouldy food could get you seriously ill, I think I even asked if you could die from it - to which they said that yes, you could. And after that, I had a complete phobia of everything that seemed even slightly off. I became incredibly picky, because that one spot on the slice of cheese could be mould or because the ham smelled not how my 8 year old brain thought it should smell like. No spanking involved, but the psychological damage was much greater I think.
    - triangleman 8y ago
      Yeah, one time I told my 3 year old not to touch a wild mushroom. Mostly because I'm grossed out by it. But now she's got this crazy attitude towards mushrooms, the weirdest plants in the world that people eat but are dangerous. I have no idea how it's going to shake out. If I could do it again I would have let her touch the freaking mushroom.
    - tempestn 8y ago
      Yeah, that's true, you definitely do have to be careful with that kind of thing. Kids really can take things to heart and believe them so strongly that it's difficult, even when they know you're the one who originally gave them the information, to moderate it. I usually try not to speak in terms of absolutes, but let them know what _can_ be dangerous, especially for kids who don't yet have enough experience to know which situations are dangerous and which aren't—so if they want to use/touch/whatever it, please ask an adult first. So it's not the thing itself that's inherently dangerous, but rather using it before you have enough experience. (Still do have to emphasize the potential danger though, lest they one day decide they do in fact have enough experience now.) This seems to work well for my kids, but of course ymmv.

Nullabillity 8y ago

> Plug covers are easily and rapidly removed by curious children, and are potentially a choking hazard. Ultimately that comes down to the plug design. Schuko sockets (used in most of Europe) are typically indented into the outlet enclosure. This enables IKEA[1] (and others) to make covers that basically can't be removed without tools. [1]: https://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/20098963/ https://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/20098963/

Baeocystin 8y ago
I do think sockets should be fundamentally redesigned from the ones we have here in the US. There are so many, better examples in use around the world. One small plus is that most of our outlets are only 110v, which is somewhat safer to deal with.

TeMPOraL 8y ago

> I think you will be hard-pressed to find a child anywhere in the world that doesn't push boundaries. Hell, isn't a lot of childhood precisely about learning the boundaries by pushing against them to check what the actual limits are?

Baeocystin 8y ago
Exactly so.