91. Playing with Fire

In a moment of spontaneity I taught the girls to play with fire. It all started in harmless fashion by asking Katie to set the table. She didn't of course and showed up after I completed the job. She still wanted to help, so I asked her to light the candles. I didn't realize that the lighter was out, so we had to move onto matches.

She's almost ten so teaching her how to strike a match is an age appropriate activity. Right? The odd thing about Katie is nothing is easy.  She is a child that has more acronyms after her name than a psychologist, ADHD, ODC, etc. Part of her issues includes extreme anxiety when she approaches the unknown. She really wanted to learn how to strike a match, but when I tried to hand her an unlit match she reacted as if it was a live rattlesnake. She was completely terrified and overwhelmed by the idea and lost it. As a family we were subjected to fifteen minutes of screaming, yelling, and general over the top drama.  In the meantime her little sister complicated things by grabbing a match striking it perfectly on the side of the box, holding it in hand for a few seconds to let the flame gather strength, and then blew it out. Watching her sister so easily do what Katie so much wanted to do only added fuel to the fire. More tears.

Eventually we were able to calm her down long enough to eat dinner and after she decided to give the matches another try. We encouraged her to sit on the patio, relax, and strike the matches against the ground. She figured it out and was lighting leaves on fire and building mini campfires in no time. She went from terrified to pyromaniac in an hour. God help us!