When I was in the third grade, I went to school with two really cute little twin sisters. I can't remember their names, but they really were adorable. Cute dimples, sandy blonde hair, green eyes, always dressed in matchy-matchy outfits. The perfect little girlee twins. They were in my 3rd grade class.
I remember one day, one of the twin sisters did not come to school. As young kids, we just all assumed that she was sick or didn't want to come to school that day. Maybe chicken pox, the sniffles or a stomach bug - whatever. But after she didn't come to school for a couple of days, I began to wonder and worry. So I asked her sister "Where is your sister? Is she sick? Why isn't she coming to school?" She explained to me that her sister was at home recovering because she had survived a severe electric shock. Her sister was electrocuted!
She did eventually come back to school after a week or so. When she did come back to class, I just remember her her bottom lip was very swollen and it was all bandaged up with medical gauze and white tape. I don't know if she had been licking the socket or kissing the socket or something? But whatever happened, the electricity came out through her mouth and out her bottom lip! On the first day she showed up at school without her lip bandages - exposing her lower lip, all the kids finally got to see what her injuries looked like. Basically, it looked fried! It was weird because you could see the whiteish tissue underneath the pink part of her outter lip which was trying to heal back together. It was goopy and gooey like it had melted through the layers or something. I can't explain it, but it was scary for all of us to see and kind'a gross, if we're being honest. So it really stuck with me and it's something I will never forget. And to this day, it makes me really nervous and afraid about babies (and children) being near electrical outlets.
Flash forward a few years, I was a bit older. I was probably about 11 years old and my baby brother was around 2 years old when he discovered what electricity felt like!
I can remember it like it was yesterday. My entire family of 6 were all getting dressed and cleaned up for church. I was curling my hair with a curling iron, Mom was drying her hair with a hair dryer, Dad was ironing the collars on all the dress shirts, when all of a sudden the power in our house just completely went out and everything went dark and quiet. Then almost immediately, we heard a little baby cry out - which then turned into a louder baby scream and my Mom & Dad went running! I didn't know what was happening at the time but what had happened was my little 2 year old brother got his hands on a pair of my Mom's metal eyebrow tweezers. You know the kind that you pull a splinter out with? Anyway apparently the baby had visually observed that the width of the prongs on the tweezers were the exact size and perfect width as the two holes in an electrical wall socket. And being a typical toddler sitting near that plug outlet right at his eye level, he saw what an irresistible temptation that was and so he stuck the tweezers into the plug socket! Yes. Metal tweezers into a plug socket holes! (shuddering at the thought) He probably could have died. I don't know what the voltage or wattage of that would be, but I do remember his little fingers were a bit blackened on the ends and a little blistered. And there was a black smoke puff mark on the wall just above the plastic outlet plate. Thank God he survived and didn't even need to go to the emergency room, but I still joke with him to this day that he must'a suffered some sort of brain damage and that's why he is "the way he is today". I still tease him as a 42 year old grown up man! Ha ha! I'm allowed to joke like that - I'm the oldest sister! Sibling love right?
Now, as an adult, I am super diligent about keeping babies away from plug sockets. It's one of the first things I do when I start a new job as a nanny in someone's home, I get on the floor, on my knees at baby level, and start crawling around looking around for all the outlets and I start plugging them all up with those little plastic baby safety home socket plug covers.
It's one of my most important recommendations for a family with babies and toddlers starting to crawl and walk. Buy a dozen or more, you're gonna need them! They are very inexpensive, they're easy to "install" and it will be so worth it to know that your babies are safe and wont be sticking anything in those holes. Whether it be with their little lips or some metal tweezers or even just your phone charger. It's just not okay to let it baby play with a plug outlet - or even near one for that matter! It's just too tempting for a little one. And the risk is too high. So keep your baby safe! Please plug up all of your electric outlets with those plastic safety plug covers.
For more information about newborns, babies, infant, toddlers: you might find my FUN educational youtube videos helpful: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyUZ0DQiBXWUvkOaKRtHFVA
💗 Nanny Knowledge with Miss Jen
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