Setting fires

So what do you do when you have a kid who is really interested in fire (no, I'm not going to use the "P" word)? That topic came up for Dennis and I this summer when Gavin was really insistent on using matches. After a few pointers and ground rules like when and where and what to do in an emergency, he was on his own. It led to some discussions about what can go wrong when kids decided to play with matches and/or fires in other settings. Dennis and I feel like giving him the ability to do something he really wants to do in a planned setting was a good choice for him. We also felt like putting a big, red X on it would have promoted clandestine activities. We've seen that happen in our house before (ahem, Ethan!) and the results were not pretty. He seems to have gotten past his interest in fire. Two down...two to go.