Did you or your friends set fires as kids?

[Anonymous]

I know a family - two brothers and a sister - who managed to set two houses on fire.

Fast forward to today - The oldest is a control freak and has OCD, however he is almost a billionaire. The second brother is kind of a dud. The sister is a complete mess.

Feel sorry for this family. Do not know what happened for sure but the mother was a mess.

[Anonymous]

No, but my BIL did and burnt down his family's storage shed with all their storage items in it (he has very few photos of his childhood to this day.) He is gainfully employed, so I guess it was just a mistake of his youth.

[Anonymous]

The closest I got was smoking some ants with my magnifying glass when bored over the summer. Female and no, haven't gone on to kill anybody despite my mother's claims when she found out.

[Anonymous]

Good Lord, no. Arson is a felony and if I had a kidvwho deliberately set a fire, he, or she, would get the tanning of a lifetime as well as therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids were always setting fires for fun in my neighborhood. There was a long stretch where we’d meet after school every day with a collection of items to burn: newspapers, stuffed animals, hairspray, anything we could find. It eventually came to an end when someone called the cops about one particularly large fire in the woods. We were pretty lucky no one got hurt.

One kid I know made a flamethrower out of an Entertech squirt gun. Hooked a candle to the muzzle with a wire hanger, then filled the gun with gasoline from the lawnmower. Great idea, but the design flaw was that the candle was too close to the muzzle and the stream caught fire and the fire traveled back into the gun and blew up. He didn't lose any digits but his hand was pretty badly burned.

We were idiots...but I still get excited thinking about the anticipation waiting for him to light that thing.

......aaaannd this was when future helicopter parents were created. I hate that label, but, after the sh!t my friends and I did/experienced, you're damn right I'm keeping an eye on my kids.

I think you are right. We were given so much freedom. I can think of thousands of incidents where one or more of us should have been seriously maimed or killed all the way up to age 22. I do not trust kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my best friend and I used to love making our own fires in the woods and also playing with lit candles for fun! I’m a woman btw and now have a PhD (psychologist), am married, have 2 kids, etc. I find it strange that it is somehow considered deviant behaviors.

Is anybody posting critical comments in this thread? I don't see any, but maybe I've missed them?

FWIW, I'm one of the posters who's surprised by what people are reporting, but like the other surprised posters, I'm not expressing any judgment.

I'm also a woman, BTW, and have a PhD, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

One brother would take firecrackers and try to make mini bombs.

I would burn stuff with a magnifying glass.

Yes! Boys in the suburban planned neighborhood would tie firecrackers to army men and throw them off the roof to watch the paratroopers explode. Sick. Then there was the brilliant game of hot potato with the lit firecracker. That landed my friend in the hospital. Not about fire, but another set of kids played catch with real darts -- another trip to the hospital. And don't get me started on the kids too young to drive sneaking cars out at night and playing "car tag." After they got licenses they got more daring and there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of car accidents.

These are the things I think of when parents post on here that it is good for kids to experience boredom. Yeah, not so much, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

One brother would take firecrackers and try to make mini bombs.

I would burn stuff with a magnifying glass.

Yes! Boys in the suburban planned neighborhood would tie firecrackers to army men and throw them off the roof to watch the paratroopers explode. Sick. Then there was the brilliant game of hot potato with the lit firecracker. That landed my friend in the hospital. Not about fire, but another set of kids played catch with real darts -- another trip to the hospital. And don't get me started on the kids too young to drive sneaking cars out at night and playing "car tag." After they got licenses they got more daring and there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of car accidents.

These are the things I think of when parents post on here that it is good for kids to experience boredom. Yeah, not so much, in my experience.

We did that. It was fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, no. Arson is a felony and if I had a kidvwho deliberately set a fire, he, or she, would get the tanning of a lifetime as well as therapy.[/quote





You're joking, right? I wonder how many of us arsonists also have stories of near drownings, falling out of trees, getting lost in the woods, being flashed or had attempts made to exploit us in some way, shoplifting, eggings, etc. When children (who, btw, aren't intellectually developed enough to anticipate consequences of our actions), are naturally curious and mischievous and unsupervised, things pop off. This is why I watch my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids were always setting fires for fun in my neighborhood. There was a long stretch where we’d meet after school every day with a collection of items to burn: newspapers, stuffed animals, hairspray, anything we could find. It eventually came to an end when someone called the cops about one particularly large fire in the woods. We were pretty lucky no one got hurt.

One kid I know made a flamethrower out of an Entertech squirt gun. Hooked a candle to the muzzle with a wire hanger, then filled the gun with gasoline from the lawnmower. Great idea, but the design flaw was that the candle was too close to the muzzle and the stream caught fire and the fire traveled back into the gun and blew up. He didn't lose any digits but his hand was pretty badly burned.

We were idiots...but I still get excited thinking about the anticipation waiting for him to light that thing.

......aaaannd this was when future helicopter parents were created. I hate that label, but, after the sh!t my friends and I did/experienced, you're damn right I'm keeping an eye on my kids.

I think you are right. We were given so much freedom. I can think of thousands of incidents where one or more of us should have been seriously maimed or killed all the way up to age 22. I do not trust kids.

And how many of the kids you grew up with that had a wide berth turned out ok? Just curious. I was lucky - I had great parents who provided freedom within limits (admittedly wide by today's standards), and turned out pretty ok (other than the arson thing...). But I would guess that statistics bear out that kids then were in no more danger than kids now. Yes, perhaps there was more probability then of someone blowing off his hand with an M-80, but there's no real trend. Point being, our kids are not in any more or less danger than we were; the current danger is different - more chance of drug abuse, perhaps, or not being admitted to one of the Big 3 - but not more. We just worry more.

Plus, fire teaches responsibility in a somewhat perverse, adult way. It's a real thing, a real danger, and you better learn to handle it lest something really bad happens. Not making the ECNL team though...not dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Shooting bottle rockets at each other, dousing stuff with kerosene and lighting it on fire, flicking burning matches at each other, hell yes. My brother decided he was done with his model airplanes and ships and lit them all on fire on the sidewalk. That was pretty awesome. This was late 70s, early 80s. We played with knives and blow guns, too. Are you saying this is not normal? I'm a woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids were always setting fires for fun in my neighborhood. There was a long stretch where we’d meet after school every day with a collection of items to burn: newspapers, stuffed animals, hairspray, anything we could find. It eventually came to an end when someone called the cops about one particularly large fire in the woods. We were pretty lucky no one got hurt.

One kid I know made a flamethrower out of an Entertech squirt gun. Hooked a candle to the muzzle with a wire hanger, then filled the gun with gasoline from the lawnmower. Great idea, but the design flaw was that the candle was too close to the muzzle and the stream caught fire and the fire traveled back into the gun and blew up. He didn't lose any digits but his hand was pretty badly burned.

We were idiots...but I still get excited thinking about the anticipation waiting for him to light that thing.

......aaaannd this was when future helicopter parents were created. I hate that label, but, after the sh!t my friends and I did/experienced, you're damn right I'm keeping an eye on my kids.

I think you are right. We were given so much freedom. I can think of thousands of incidents where one or more of us should have been seriously maimed or killed all the way up to age 22. I do not trust kids.

And how many of the kids you grew up with that had a wide berth turned out ok? Just curious. I was lucky - I had great parents who provided freedom within limits (admittedly wide by today's standards), and turned out pretty ok (other than the arson thing...). But I would guess that statistics bear out that kids then were in no more danger than kids now. Yes, perhaps there was more probability then of someone blowing off his hand with an M-80, but there's no real trend. Point being, our kids are not in any more or less danger than we were; the current danger is different - more chance of drug abuse, perhaps, or not being admitted to one of the Big 3 - but not more. We just worry more.

Plus, fire teaches responsibility in a somewhat perverse, adult way. It's a real thing, a real danger, and you better learn to handle it lest something really bad happens. Not making the ECNL team though...not dangerous.

I didn't wear a seatbelt in cars until I was 19 years old and I was fine, even after being broadsided. I require all passengers to wear seatbelts in my car or we don't move. When you have some sense, you use it. This applies to supervising your children, which is a sensible thing to do. There is no way I could anticipate each crazy idea my 8 year old will cook up. Much easier to keep an eye on her.

[Anonymous]

da fuq? I never did this growing up in the 80s in two different spots on the east coast. Not even once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids were always setting fires for fun in my neighborhood. There was a long stretch where we’d meet after school every day with a collection of items to burn: newspapers, stuffed animals, hairspray, anything we could find. It eventually came to an end when someone called the cops about one particularly large fire in the woods. We were pretty lucky no one got hurt.

One kid I know made a flamethrower out of an Entertech squirt gun. Hooked a candle to the muzzle with a wire hanger, then filled the gun with gasoline from the lawnmower. Great idea, but the design flaw was that the candle was too close to the muzzle and the stream caught fire and the fire traveled back into the gun and blew up. He didn't lose any digits but his hand was pretty badly burned.

We were idiots...but I still get excited thinking about the anticipation waiting for him to light that thing.

......aaaannd this was when future helicopter parents were created. I hate that label, but, after the sh!t my friends and I did/experienced, you're damn right I'm keeping an eye on my kids.

I think you are right. We were given so much freedom. I can think of thousands of incidents where one or more of us should have been seriously maimed or killed all the way up to age 22. I do not trust kids.

And how many of the kids you grew up with that had a wide berth turned out ok? Just curious. I was lucky - I had great parents who provided freedom within limits (admittedly wide by today's standards), and turned out pretty ok (other than the arson thing...). But I would guess that statistics bear out that kids then were in no more danger than kids now. Yes, perhaps there was more probability then of someone blowing off his hand with an M-80, but there's no real trend. Point being, our kids are not in any more or less danger than we were; the current danger is different - more chance of drug abuse, perhaps, or not being admitted to one of the Big 3 - but not more. We just worry more.

Plus, fire teaches responsibility in a somewhat perverse, adult way. It's a real thing, a real danger, and you better learn to handle it lest something really bad happens. Not making the ECNL team though...not dangerous.

I didn't wear a seatbelt in cars until I was 19 years old and I was fine, even after being broadsided. I require all passengers to wear seatbelts in my car or we don't move. When you have some sense, you use it. This applies to supervising your children, which is a sensible thing to do. There is no way I could anticipate each crazy idea my 8 year old will cook up. Much easier to keep an eye on her.

PP here. Supervise, yes (they way my parents supervised me). Helicopter, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:da fuq? I never did this growing up in the 80s in two different spots on the east coast. Not even once.

Goody-goody!