Emily likes to point. She points at dogs and ceiling lights and elevator buttons and my left leg. Sometimes she follows the point all the way to the object and delicately touches the thing with her chubby little pointer finger. This is her favorite method of exploration: the pointer finger.
We have discovered that one of Emily’s favorite pastimes is sitting next to an electrical outlet and pointing at it. She finds them fascinating and regularly probes the inside of said outlet with said pointer finger only pausing long enough to stick her finger in her mouth and then continue probing. We don’t see how this type of behavior can lead to a happy ending.
This has brought about an interesting dilemma: how does one teach a nine month old a lesson? I’ve tried picking her up and leading her away from the outlet but, like a moth to a flame, she scurries right back. I’ve tried saying, “No!” in a forceful voice but this just makes her look at me for a second and smile before continuing doing whatever the heck she wants. Leading by example isn’t working. I’ve even dabbled in corporal punishment – taking her hand and lightly slapping it while saying, “No”, but this usually elicits celebratory clapping thus making me feel the intention was lost in the execution and I’m not ready to step up the violence just yet. Looks like we’ll just have to be extra vigilant until she develops the ability to reason.
Seems very “American” to cushion the child from every known possible danger, but…
Socket Inserts?
http://www.insight-security.com/sft-socketins.htm
Excellent idea. One which I had myself. We have a hefty supply of socket inserts from IKEA and they work a treat. But, being a devout Darwinist, I’m more concerned with the actual teaching of survival techniques than constantly shielding her from anything that may prove dangerous. Besides, Emily has already thwarted our efforts with the socket inserts: she just finds an outlet that has something plugged into it (most often the living room subwoofer) and effortlessly yanks the wire out, leaving a nice juicy outlet to explore.
Have you ever stuck anything metal into a socket? I have. It’s not a pleasant feeling, but it won’t kill you. And it teaches you not to do it again. I say let her point with her chubby fingers all she wants (they won’t fit in anyway) and one day she’ll stick something metal in there and learn her lesson. But honestly, by the time she tries that, she’ll be old enough to reason with.
I’d say either the socket inserts, as Amanda suggested, or let her find out the way my sister did – sticking her wet fingers into one at the swimming pool locker room.
She learned.