Public Service Announcement the Second

Make sure your kids (if you have any) know what to do if their cheesy toast causes a toaster oven fire....

Garrick is very independent and self-directed when it comes to food. He is often to be found with his tushy sticking out of the pantry as he scrounges in its depths for some previously overlooked tidbit. He is a master snack-maker and he fixes himself breakfast virtually every morning (usually cinnamon toast or a bowl of cereal). This morning, he decided to place some cheddar cheese slices on his bread and place it under "broil" in the toaster oven.

If I had come downstairs 3 minutes later, he would have been dealing with a toaster fire on his 10-year-old ownsome.

After the smoke had cleared and the batteries had been removed from the smoke detectors, I asked him what he would have done if I hadn't been there. "I don't know." Hmmph. I reviewed the unplugging, the keeping-the-toaster-closed-to-starve-the-fire, and the difference between electrical fires and other kinds of fires. Then I cleaned out the toaster oven and dug out the little baking tray that came with it and put it within easy kid reach.

Then I started a Target list and put a new fire extinguisher at the top of it.