Children playiing with fire.....bad parenting or lack of good judgement?

I would probably tend to say that was bad judgement. To me, bad parenting is total uncare and purposeful injury of the children. So, if the children where otherwise healthy and clean, and the parent was putting them into the fire I don't think it's bad parenting. I think a lot of times there is stuff that we may have grown up doing (or think we remember growing up doing it) and we don't realize how dangerous that could be! I grew up sharpening sticks and making bow and arrow sets out of the mamosa trees in our yard! We wern't very good aims, but we did try to shoot eachother with them! My dad had a huge fire pit too. We brough him the leaves and sticks and logs next to the fire and he put them on. I think when I was about 13 or 14 I was allowed to sit by the fire and keep an eye on it while my dad would go inside and keep an eye from the windows. But, I wasn't the typical 13, 14 year old child of today either! So, I think we should really take a lot of things into consideration like that. But, it does sound like those children were terribly dangerous around the fire and it would have been a lot better if the adults would have kept a better eye on them or waited for a day when maybe they weren't home!

some parents taught their children nothing... I saw a child broke other's cup,and his parents said:"good job,honey"

I think it is bad judgement in my opinion. If that fire got out of control because the kids were throwing stuff in it and one of the kids got burned that would be just awful.. As a parent myself, I would be outside watching my kids and not allow them to go near it. Kids can't supervise themselves. They don't realize the danger of playing with fire. They think they are invicible.

Hi lilybug, I would say it is both bad parenting and poor judgment. I was about 5 when my brothers, me and a couple of neighbor kids were throwing things in the fire that the parents had left unattended outside. Well, the kid next to me caught a stick on fire and when one of the parents popped their head out to yell at us AGAIN to get away from the fire, it startled him and the stick went flying & hit my pants catching me on fire. The parent that yelled did not see what happened and went back inside. They did not hear my screams either. I burnt half of one leg and part of the other. I was unable to walk for months and my legs are so scarred up that I hated wearing skirts and shorts when I was younger unless I had on dark tights. Little kids have no business playing with fire. Anything can happen and when it does, it can happen quickly. Even if an adult is there, there is no guarantee that the child won't get hurt.

Yes! Fire and children just donot go together and hige disasters have been caused by that combination. I feel it was very irresponsable of the adult to go in and leave the kids with the fire. I remember when I was young we were kept well away from any fire outside or in. My son was a terror as far as matches were concerned and we had to be so careful not to leave any about or he would try setting fire to anything from cotton wool to paper - on his wooden bedroom floor!

Both. My husband is a nurse and not too terribly long ago, a little girl who was about 6 was brought in to the ED where he works. The little girl was in the kitchen lighting paper towels on fire using the oven that the mom had turned on because their heater was broken. The little girl got too close to the oven burner and her shirt caught fire. By the time her mom had gotten to her, her shirt was on fire and was melting her skin. The little girl had on jeans which melted to her legs. The little girl is ok, but she's going to need multiple skin grafts to cover the scarring that was around. It's bad judgement on the part of the child. A child should know by this age that fire is dangerous and shouldn't be played with. But on the other side, a parent should have been watching this kid and none of this would have happened. The mom was watching TV I think while her kid was setting paper towels on fire. Why the mom didn't come into the kitchen before she got burned when she smelled burnt paper is beyond me.

Well I do think it was very poor judgment, but I can't really say bad parenting because I don't really know the parents... But I would say they lacked in some parenting skills that day & maybe someone should of stepped up & said something in a good manner about the lack of judgement. Some parents need some kind of guid.... I think even the best of the best mess up at time & have poor judgement.... so to say bad parenting... I just can't say that because I don't know enough on these people...

I think not a parent in his or her right mind will ever let his or her child play with fire. Parents should discipline their children, teach them of what’s right and wrong. Explain to them the consequences that playing with fire can bring. That’s it’s going to burn the house or hurt them. Children should see how a small mistake could end up a housing eaten by fire if they play with it. They should see the benefits of fire and where it is being used, but they should understand they it’s not something that they can play with. It’s the parents responsibility that children learn all this.

I think it was bad judgement....kids should learn to respect fire and the capibilities it has....and they should not be allowed to play with it! So dangerous!

I'd have to say lack of good judgement. I personally would not leave my kids unattended near a fire, and like you would be right there making sure my kids stayed away from it. But I have a friend who loves to light bonfires and tells me her 3 boys, ranging in ages from 5-8 ish usually fall asleep by the fire every night. She wants us to come visit once the weather warms up, but I worry about my little ones near the fire. I think the older ones know enough to stay away from it, but you know how kids are, they'll run within feet of the fire, not thinking, and give me heart attacks!

That sounds like a very bad scene to me. all children are attracted to fire - my own included and all children should be supervised. If the fire was necessary for cleaning out etc then adults shoul dhave been put in charge. Not kids in their eraly teens. Very bad judgement in my opinion. I'm glad that you kept yours away. One Love

Well i think it will be bad parenting infact.because what is here to judge??they cannot pay aatention to their kids and thats it, it is the main point here, if they did then this wouldnt happend. How can they cannot do anything when the child is happily playing with fire, i have seen kids even touching the electric socket. this is so dangerous..i mean i think if one cannot take care of such small things then we are not suppose to produce kids and take a large responsibilities...lol

Hi lotter iam also a parent of two kids an the comment on parenting you did was not correct ,if a kid is playing with ifre you can not say it is a bad parenting in every case,yeah i agree that the case you described here is totally of bad parenting ,we must take care of this thing . happy my lotting.

kids are curious, about everything. i have a 2,6,7 yr old daughters. you wouldnt leave your kid with an open bottle of poison right? so why the heck would you leave them near an open flame. they ARE going to test their limits with the fire just as they do with anything else, they wanna know what it feels like, will it really burn me or is mommy just being mean not letting me lay with it. i think you should always alow your children to experience things and learn on their own or they will never take you seriously, however lets have some common sense! that is bad parenting i have to agree with you!

Children are attracted to fire as it is very different. They tend to grab at torchlights and anything bright. They should NEVER be left unattended next to an open flame or anything hot. An accident may take just 1 second! I think in this situation the parents seem to be a little absent minded - probably never realised that fire is dangerous. They may have been ignorant. Someone should have told them that it was unsafe. I have seen several children with burns and trust me, its not pleasant!

When I was in their age I was really fascinated by fires and when my grandma would start one I would be the one to first volunteer to help her doing that. So far I really did not have major accidents from doing that. I guess I was pretty careful doing that thing but somehow I was given the freedom to play with it. Nowadays we seldom do that anymore since our government is trying to discourage doing that because of environmental reason. My son would never experience that anymore I guess and my father and mother doesn't practice it either anymore.

It's both. Parents should teach their children the safety precautions at home. The children may have not know yet the bad effects of playing with fire. the parents should explain to their children what will happen to them and to their house if they will keep on playing with fire.

I'd have to say bad judgment. Sometimes people think they have instructed their kids well enough. They forget kids tend to "forget" the lessons. Sounds like a dangerous playtime to me.

No they should have been supervised. Kid are naturally curious about fire and sometimes do not show proper judgment. They are kids after all and do not exercise mature judgment.

i probably agree for what you've done, children shouldn't play fire cause it could harm those children, and fire can be more harmful for every body if an accident happen. accident happened in single failure, and life could not accept failure for the sake of our life