Even helicopter mothers, like me, occasionally turn their heads away for a brief period of time.
For about ten seconds, I turned my gaze away from my three-year-old daughter.
She was attempting to sit on the space heater when I turned around. For our benefit, I resisted purchasing one of the less expensive space heaters. A cool-touch space heater was what I purchased. Even if it began to wobble, it had tip-over features that would turn the space heater off. Another element guarded against overheating. I picked her up and told her no when I turned around and noticed her beginning to sit on the heater. I warned her that she would burn herself because the space heater was so hot. She was of an age where she could understand what was being said, so I wasn’t concerned that she was merely listening and not comprehending. She yelled mommy two minutes later and said, “Not hot,” to me. Informing me that I was mistaken, she had her hands on the space heater. She was warned not to touch them by me as I slapped her fingers. She cried, but while pointing at the space heater, she assured me that it wasn’t hot. In the living room, I removed and stored the space heater. Knowing I couldn’t watch her around the clock, I wasn’t going to take a chance on the space heater getting hot one day and burning her. Since I was confident she wouldn’t burn when the heat came on, I raised the thermostat. The heating surfaces were all high on the walls in ductless HVAC systems.