—A Safety Lesson! DO 1848 17/6/84

1. IF WATER IS HOT ENOUGH TO HURT SOMEBODY, IF NOT ACTUALLY BURN THEM‚ THEN IT IS TOO HOT! You don't have to have hot water. Techi just almost got burned by sticking her hand under that hot water! So it must be a helluva hot to be so hot that it hurt her & caused her to cry! I don't believe in having hot water that hot! Hot water is dangerous business! For God's sake, I don't see why you need hot water around here unless upon occasion you might need to boil water for drinking. (Heater should be set to 50 C.!)

2. EXACTLY HOW DID IT HAPPEN? (DORA: I HAD JUST GONE IN THE TUB WITH MARY DEAR & I TURNED ON THE HOT WATER TAP BECAUSE I HEARD THAT THERE WAS HOT WATER. There was water in the tub about half-full, but it was cold, so since it was late at night & there was hot water available I thought of turning it on. But I just turned on the hot water faucet, so this is my fault, I didn't mix both hot & cold.) Well, it's not altogether your fault. You should've been more careful, but we're not supposed to have any hot water in this house that is so hot that it will hurt anybody, much less burn'm!

3. IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR WATER, WE'RE GOING TO CUT IT OFF!—If you're going to have it so hot the kids are going to get burned! You've got several children there & they could get badly burned & there's hardly anything worse! You hadn't tried the water all day? (Sara: At nap time they did‚ the kids turned on the hot a little bit to warm the water from being so cold.) You let the kids turn the water on? (Sara: David does, yes.) Do you think he's old enough for that responsibility, to handle something that's actually dangerous & could actually injure the children? Has he been trained how to do it? (Sara: Yes, Sir.) In the first place, it shouldn't be that hot. In the second place, if it's that hot, he ought to be trained how to handle it so that it's not going to burn'm.

4. NOW WHAT'S IT DOING THAT HOT? (Sara: We haven't used it in a really long time & it's really our fault for not testing it.) You mean when you turn on hot water to use for children you don't test it? You don't check it? What was the temperature? (John: Between 55 & 60 C.) That's scalding! That's enough to scald your hand, to burn you! (John comes back:) What did you turn it down to? (John: 50.) That's better‚ but even that's pretty warm. It won't burn you, but 55 to 60 will burn you! (50 C. is about 120 F.)

5. WELL OBVIOUSLY, IF YOU CAN'T BE TRUSTED WITH IT‚ WE CAN'T LET YOU USE IT!—Because you have children & babies who could accidentally turn it on. Lots of babies have been scalded, badly burned & even burned to death that way in tubs where they turned the water on & didn't know how to turn it off! I know one case where there were two little girls in the tub, & when the mother ran off to the telephone, they turned on the scalding hot water & they both burned to death in the tub!

6. THANK GOD TECHI DIDN'T FALL INTO IT OR HOLD HER HAND IN IT TOO LONG OR SHE COULD HAVE BEEN BADLY BURNED! Knowing the water was hot, you weren't testing it? (Dora: I turned it on & I know it always takes awhile to warm up. I felt it several times & it still wasn't hot‚ so I let it run & started washing Mary Dear & then Techi came.) Where were you washing Mary Dear? (Dora: In the tub.) You were right in the tub where the water was running, but you didn't realise how hot it had gotten? (Dora: I hadn't realised how hot it had gotten.) Well, thank the Lord she didn't get scalded & have a badly burned hand, because if she had, I certainly would have blamed you & you & you & probably you for not knowing where you left the temperature set!

7. WELL, THANK THE LORD SHE WASN'T BADLY BURNED, BECAUSE I CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE HELD YOU FOLKS RESPONSIBLE!—And I'm very upset to think that you created a situation where it could have happened & would have happened if she hadn't jerked her hand out real quick! Thank God for that! What if you'd had her stepping into the tub of hot water like that or something & she'd have slipped & fallen before she realised it?

8. THERE'S NO POINT IN ANYBODY HAVING WATER THAT HOT! How come you guys haven't checked that? I want you fellas to check that hot water temperature & make sure it doesn't get any higher down there, period! Is that clear?—Not a degree above 50! Tape it down tight & make it impossible to screw that handle‚ & I don't ever want to hear about you having water that hot again!

9. THANK YOU, LORD, THAT SOMETHING WORSE DIDN'T HAPPEN! We ask Thee to deal with these people, Lord, to help them see how serious it could have been & how responsible they were & how careless they were, & to realise what a precious, priceless responsibility it is to take care of these children, that they are responsible for their safety & their health as well as their minds & their spirits, that they take good care of their bodies & guard them & watch them to make sure that nothing like this happens to them, & to not be careless about it, in Jesus' name. Lord, bless & keep & protect! Thank You for how You have, & that more accidents like this have not happened.—TYJ!

10. THE ONLY OTHER SERIOUS ACCIDENT THAT HAS HAPPENED, DORA, HAPPENED TO YOU ONCE UPON A TIME, & I THINK YOU SHOULD PRAY ABOUT WHY. I think you have a tendency to get in a hurry & act hastily, a little impatient & rushed. You do have a lot of responsibility & you have these children to take care of & you've done an excellent job, but did you ever ask the Lord why that other accident happened? (Dora: Well, I had some lessons that I had to learn, that the Lord had to wake me up to.) One of them was you were in too big a hurry, right? (Dora: Yes.) Haste makes waste! Speed kills!—And I certainly don't want any worse accidents happening from people being impatient or hasty or being in a hurry or not checking carefully to make sure it's safe.

11. YOU CAN ASK JOHN, HE WORKS WITH ME A LOT, & I'M EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS ABOUT SAFETY! Is that right? (John: Amen‚ that's right!) I try to make doubly sure that accidents don't happen. I insist that they wear shoes when they're going to be working around electricity & try to keep their feet dry. I insist they wear glasses when they're working where things might fall in their eyes. I insist they work two-by–two. What about it, John? You tell'm! (John: That's right, you are always going the extra step, especially taking a lot of time, not going to another project without making sure nothing's left out that somebody could hurt themselves on.) As well as a lot of prayer, right? We always pray.

12. BATHING CHILDREN CAN BE A DANGEROUS JOB! A baby can drown in three inches of water if it falls on its face & doesn't have enough sense to try to get his face out of the water. I don't think the Lord would let that happen to our kids & I think they're smarter than that, in fact, they're bigger than that now‚ but that might happen to a small baby. Small babies have been known to drown in just a few inches of bath water. The mother left them for a moment & didn't realise that they could actually turn over, & they turn over & they're gone!

13. WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN TO TAKE CARE OF YOU'VE GOT TO BE EXTRA CAREFUL & WATCH'M, & YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS TO HAPPEN! How many times a day do I say that, John? (John: You say it every time I see you.) Whenever I see any dangerous situation where one little mismove or something wrong could happen, I caution them about it: "You'd better move that or somebody might stumble over it. You'd better fix that or somebody might bump into it." Right‚ John? Because as I've so often said, accidents don't just happen, they are caused.—Almost invariably by somebody's carelessness, prayerlessness & lack of being safety-conscious.

14. WELL, THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T WORSE, BUT OBVIOUSLY IT HURT BAD ENOUGH TO MAKE HER CRY‚ & IF IT'S SO HOT THAT IT HURTS, THEN IT'S TOO HOT! If it's hot enough to hurt, it's hot enough if you get your hand left in it to scald, that means to burn‚ & water can burn you real bad. I remember a number of children who got burned to death with hot water, including my Mother's little cousin, & even the slightest burn is not very pleasant, it's very painful!

15. SO THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T WORSE! HASTE MAKES WASTE & IT DOESN'T PAY TO BE IMPATIENT OR IN A HURRY! So you just left it running in the tub & she came along & stuck her hand in it? (Dora: Yes. I think as she stepped in the tub she touched it.) Thank God she didn't fall down under it, she could have been badly burned! (Sara: I'm surprised myself that it could be so hot, because when we used to run it, it was just right. You could turn on the hot water tap all the way & it wasn't even hardly warm. So we were used to the hot water being just lukewarm, 40 or so.)

16. BELOVED, YOU'D BETTER BE PRAYERFUL, I MEAN REALLY PRAYERFUL AS WELL AS CAREFUL & EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS! The Lord let something happen to jerk you up‚ & you had a pretty serious thing happen to you before, Dora. Thank God you've still got your fingers! Have you got a scar? (Dora: Yes.) Well, maybe I'm not anybody to be talking, I got most of my scars when I was a kid, a silly foolish kid doing a lot of crazy things, & I've got plenty of'm! I'm sure the Devil was after me, too, & the Devil is after us! He knows where we live!

17. SO YOU GUYS HAD BETTER BE EXTRA PRAYERFUL & EXTRA CAREFUL, EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS ABOUT SAFETY & just make sure that conditions are so that things can't be knocked over or tripped over. Just try to keep accidents from being possible to happen, make sure they can't happen! You can't always be sure, but you can certainly eliminate dangerous conditions of things sitting around where they shouldn't be etc.

18. ASK JOHN, WE TRY TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL, & IN ALL THE WORK WE'VE DONE‚ I DON'T THINK ANYBODY'S HARDLY EVEN GOTTEN A SCRATCH! And we've done a lot of dangerous work where somebody could have gotten badly injured or had a bad fall doing a lot of very serious, dangerous work! So we try to be doubly careful, extremely careful & prayerful to make sure it doesn't happen to us. Thank the Lord, the Lord's spared us thus far & kept us & we workmen haven't even had any minor accidents where anybody's hardly gotten a scratch!—Except I stubbed my toe, a stupid thing to do! That wasn't the worst time, the worst time I stubbed my toe was on the corner of the bathtub because I aimed wrong! But one time I did slip on some loose carpet, & they're dangerous! You can come walking along rapidly & if your foot happens to hit with your weight on a loose carpet it can go whhsst & you can have a bad fall!

19. BELOVED, THE LORD'S BEEN VERY GOOD TO US & WE CAN BE VERY THANKFUL WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD ANY MINOR ACCIDENTS where people hardly even got bumped or scratched, a few little bumps maybe. You can be very thankful & you'd better keep praying & keep thankful & keep careful & extremely cautious to make sure that those things don't happen. And don't ever let me catch that water up hot enough again to hurt you in any way or be uncomfortably hot! Is that clear? (Fam: Yes, Sir!) You get out there & tape that temperature control down tomorrow so it can't move. Okay? (John: Yes, Sir!) And if we ever have any more trouble with it, then we'll just cut it off! If you can't be trusted with hot water‚ we'll just cut it off!

20. I DON'T KNOW WHY IN THE WORLD YOU'D HAVE TURNED IT UP TO NEARLY 60‚ SON! THAT IS REALLY HOT! That's 140 F. & that's really scalding hot, entirely too hot for bath water! Didn't you realise you were playing with something dangerous out there, Son, when you were fiddling around with the temperature of the water? (Alf: Yes.) Well, then why weren't you more careful where you set it? (Alf: We just weren't getting the hot water & I didn't know what was wrong‚ so I turned it up & then we started getting hot water.) I hope you marked that switch in some way so that somebody else won't make a mistake. Have you marked it now so you know which way is "on" & which way is "off"? (Alf: Yes‚ Sir.)—So that some dumb kid can't come along there & accidentally leave it on & think it's off.

21. WELL, THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T WORSE, BUT I'LL TELL YOU, YOU FOLKS NEED TO REALISE THAT WE ARE DEPENDENT ON PRAYER & ON THE LORD, & to have gotten along as well as we have with so few accidents, hardly even any minor accidents, no serious diseases, God has been extra good to us! But if you're going to start getting careless & prayerless & not really thinking about what you're doing taking care of these children, you could really get in serious trouble & have something happen you'd be awful sorry for! I'm sure after all the years you've spent taking care of these children & giving them so much hard work & care, you certainly don't want that to happen!

22. GOD IS EXTRA GOOD TO US‚ OUR CHILDREN DON'T EVEN HARDLY GET BUMPS! Maybe the Devil isn't after them as bad as he was after me when I was young, because I got all kinds of things & I'm thankful that it hasn't happened to our kids.—Broken bones & cuts & all kinds of terrible things, many of which could have killed me‚ & most of which were either my carelessness or my parents' carelessness, my foolhardiness & taking chances & risks that I shouldn't have taken. So it's up to you parents to really take care of your children & really guard them & make sure that nothing happens to them, & certainly nothing that's going to be your fault & which you'll be sorry for! Well, praise the Lord, I'm tired & sleepy & I guess you are too. Maybe you can each voice a little prayer.

23. (ALF: AMEN, JESUS, I PRAY THAT YOU'LL REALLY FORGIVE ME FOR MAKING SUCH A STUPID MISTAKE‚ & NOT BEING MORE PRAYERFUL & CAREFUL WORKING AROUND SUCH DANGEROUS THINGS! We really thank You, Jesus, that it wasn't worse & we pray that You'll touch & heal Techi & help it not to bother her any more. Right now, we ask You to touch & heal it & take away any pain or anything at all & soothe it, Lord, & help her to have good rest now, Jesus. We pray that You watch over us & we thank You so much for how You have‚ Jesus, & that You continue to watch over us & keep us from any accidents with the children as we work with them, Lord. I pray You'll help me to have real wisdom, Lord, being around the children & anything that will affect anybody in any way, Lord, & be much more prayerful. I pray You forgive me, in Jesus' name.)

24. (SARA: THANK YOU SO MUCH, LORD JESUS‚ FOR YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS‚ YOUR TENDER MERCIES, LORD, & THAT YOU HAVE KEPT MOMMY & DADDY & THE WHOLE HOUSE, JESUS. We give You the glory & we know it's Your faithfulness & protection & Your holy angels around us. Thank You, Lord, for this lesson & we're sorry that it should ever even have happened. We're so sorry & pray for Your forgiveness, Lord, & real strong checks & wisdom, Jesus, to keep us from any harm or accidents. Help us to be obedient, Lord‚ & sink this lesson deep down in our hearts that it never should ever happen in any way again. Help Techi to recover‚ Jesus, & help it not to be a bad experience for her, Lord, but that she'll be completely well. Just wipe it from her memory, Lord, if possible, but not from ours, Lord, so that we'll always remember. Do forgive us, Lord!)

25. (DORA: TYJ! WE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TECHI, LORD, & ALL THE CHILDREN & HOW YOU'VE ENTRUSTED US WITH THEIR CARE. We know You always are there to help us, Lord, & if something happens it's our fault & that You let it happen to teach us lessons, Jesus. We really thank You that it wasn't worse, Lord, & that she didn't get scalded. Thank You so much for Your mercy‚ Lord. Thank You for the lesson & I pray & ask You to forgive me‚ Jesus, for being so careless & hurried, & help me to be more careful in checking things out‚ Jesus. In this area in my life, where You have let other things happen, Lord Jesus, make this a turning point & use this to help me to be overly cautious, Lord, & more prayerful & take it slower, Lord, take more time & squeeze more. I really pray for a change in this area, in Jesus' name. Thank You for Your great mercy, Jesus‚ that it wasn't worse. Thank You for Dad & for this spanking, in Jesus' name.)

26. (JOHN: AMEN LORD, WE THANK YOU THAT YOU'VE KEPT US THROUGH SO MANY PROJECTS THAT WE'VE WORKED ON, working with the electricity & projects about the house. We know it's just Your protection, but also Dad's example of making it impossible for an accident to happen. I pray for Your forgiveness too, Lord, & pray that we can do much better in making it impossible for an accident to happen. Really help us to learn from it, Lord. Thank You for Your protection‚ Lord. Really help us in our work around the house to go the extra step to make it safe, in Jesus' name.) Amen! TYL! TYJ! Thank You for how You have kept us so miraculously & supernaturally from harm so that there's hardly ever been a minor little accident of any kind, Lord, with our people or our children! TYJ! PYL!

27. JOHN, I WANT YOU TO GO AROUND TOMORROW & TAPE EVERY SINGLE THERMOSTAT CONTROL ON ALL OF THESE HOT WATER HEATERS AT 50, & I mean tape'm tight so somebody would have a real tough time to try to get'm untaped! Is that clear?—Tight! So somebody in a hurry for hot water will find that crime doesn't pay & they can't just run out & rip it off real quick & turn it up, but it's going to take them some time to get it off. I mean it! Don't spare the tape, wind it around & around until every one of those controls is taped at 50!

28. I CONSIDER YOU FOLKS WHO ARE PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHILDREN AS THEIR PARENTS‚ ALL FOUR OF YOU! You two have raised three, you're now raising another one, in fact you're still raising all of them in a way. You that get in the bathtub with the children‚ where do you sit in the bathtub? (Dora: I sit opposite of the faucet, at the end.) Why? Any adult in the bathtub with small children, where should you sit? (Fam: At faucet's end.) Exactly! You ought to sit with your backs to the faucet so the children cannot reach them, & if there's going to be anybody burned, you're burned! That way you will know the temperature of the water & there won't be any possibility of the kids getting near the faucets to turn them on or off or to get burned by water coming into the tub.

29. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE HOT WATER ANY MORE, BUT ONLY WARM WATER. BUT IN ANY PLACE ELSE WE SHOULD HAPPEN TO BE WHERE THERE'S HOT WATER IN THE FAUCETS‚ like in hotels & places like that, you should be very cautious that you never let the children get into the washbowl or tub by themselves & turn on water, because they could burn themselves in a hurry! Most hotels keep their water at a ridiculous degree, some of them as high as 70 C.! I've known some who even kept their water as high as 90 Centigrade, & that's close to boiling!—Especially hotels & places like that where they use it for scalding dishes & laundry & all that sort of thing to disinfect things. Some places the health department even specifies how hot the water has to be for washing dishes in public eateries. So you should never let the children get near faucets themselves unless they're old enough to know the difference! I'd say David's probably old enough to watch out what he's doing when he turns on a faucet, but even David or one of you might turn on a faucet of water that's too hot & get your hand in it!

30. A COUPLE OF TIMES AFTER MARIA'S WASHED HER HAIR & LEFT THE WATER IN THE BOWL, I DIDN'T EVEN REALISE IT WAS HOT WATER—since we always leave water in our bowl to wash our hands with through the day—& I've plunged both hands into that water & was so shocked that I jumped back! I was so surprised, shocked, startled! It could have given me a heart attack, I could have fallen down, stumbled backwards & fallen or something just from the surprise, startled that the water in the bowl was hot! It wasn't even hot enough to burn you, but it was just hot enough to surprise me since I wasn't expecting it to be hot. So things like that, even if it's not hot enough to burn, could startle you & cause you to jerk in some way that could cause an accident.

31. SO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY MORE HOT WATER, I'LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW! If you want it warm you're going to have to turn it on far enough ahead that it's going to have time to get warm, otherwise you're not even going to have it warm. You probably turned it up high, Son, because you wanted hot water in a hurry‚ & since you didn't leave it on all the time you wanted it to heat in a hurry. Well, that's understandable if you want hot water. But to have it up hot enough to burn children is not permissible & not wise.

32. JUST HAVE A LITTLE FORETHOUGHT, THINK AHEAD, PLAN AHEAD! Turn it on enough ahead that by the time you have to use it, it's going to be warm. Is that clear? (Fam: Yes, Sir!) Because it's only going to be the four of you that use it the most, & it won't even be warm if you haven't turned it on at least an hour ahead of time. So you're going to have to plan ahead.—Not just go in there to take your bath & flip the switch on, because you can't expect to get warm water that soon!

33. AND YOU GIRLS ESPECIALLY WHO GET IN THE TUB WITH THE CHILDREN, or any of you who do when they're taking baths, you sit at the faucet end with your back to the faucet & make sure you know what's going on. That should be the practice in any place you ever bathe children where you're in the tub with them. You should never bathe them in the bathroom in the first place unless you're with'm!

34. I GAVE YOU GUYS A LECTURE ONCE-UPON-A–TIME ON WHAT WAS THE MOST DANGEROUS ROOM IN THE HOUSE, THE KITCHEN, but I don't think I ever did get around to giving you a lecture on the second most dangerous room, & that's the bathroom! Outside of the kitchen‚ most home accidents occur in the bathroom. And do you know what is the most common bathroom accident? (Alf: Slipping.) Yes, slipping while getting in or out of the tub or on a wet floor, falling & breaking bones or cracking heads & getting some kind of injury!

35. I'VE HEARD OF SO MANY PEOPLE HAVING FALLS IN & OUT OF TUBS THAT I HAVE LEARNED TO RESPECT A TUB—at least when I was up North where I used to use'm—to where I wouldn't let go of anything getting in or out of a tub or hardly even sitting up in the tub! Especially when I went to stand up to get out, or the same thing getting in, I would hold on to the side of that tub, & some of them have a little handle on the wall where you can hold on even on the inside of the tub. Don't try the towel racks, they won't hold you! The safest thing you really know is going to support you & hold you is the side of the tub, so hang on to that!

36. TEACH THE CHILDREN HOW TO GET IN & OUT OF THE TUB, that they walk up to the tub & take ahold of that edge with their hands first, & then they put a leg over into the tub. Then they should keep hanging on to it until they get the other foot in the tub & they keep hanging onto it till they sit down. You guys have got to teach these kids safety!—And that they don't get in the tub at all without an adult present to regulate the water‚ to make sure the water is right. Is that clear? (Fam: Yes, Sir!)

37. I'M HESITANT TO EVER LEAVE A CHILD ALONE IN A BATHROOM AT ALL, EVEN AS OLD AS TECHI IS. (Five years old.) They could make a mistake & do something accidentally or out of curiosity get into something they shouldn't, or do something dumb that they might not realise is dangerous & hurt themselves. So I nearly always insist when Techi's in our bathroom that one or the other of us is in there with her, because a bathroom is a dangerous place! You could slip & fall & all kinds of things!

38. THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF DANGEROUS THINGS IN THERE LIKE DISINFECTANTS & STUFF WHICH SHOULD BE KEPT WAY UP HIGH, OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHICH I BELIEVE YOU DO. I don't think that lemon air spray can necessarily hurt anybody unless she got curious & sprayed it in her eyes or something. That's the only thing we keep low enough for a child to reach, & she's been warned not to touch it. Everything else is 'way out of her reach, 'way up in a cupboard near the ceiling, & there's nothing in that lower cupboard under the sink, no cleaners or anything that could harm her.

39. WE HAD TO PRAY FOR A POOR LITTLE CHILD IN PENNSYLVANIA ONCE AFTER SOMEBODY HAD THROWN AWAY A CAN OF LYE. Apparently there was a little bit left in the bottom of the can lying out in the rain. They used to sell the stuff in cardboard cans & the cardboard had disintegrated, so when the water hit the lye it foamed up in a kind of white suds. And this little two-year-old girl saw it out there on the trash & thought it was ice cream, & she burned her throat so badly it's a miracle her life was saved! Her gullet was burned so badly that it was in danger of closing entirely! Even after the Lord spared her & her esophagus or gullet or food tube healed, it was so small she had difficulty eating‚ kind of like me. Poor little girl, we went to pray for her & it just nearly broke your heart! She had this string hanging out of her mouth with something on the end of it that was suspended in her stomach so that if she should ever choke on anything they could pull the string out & pull it out!

40. NOW SEE, THAT WAS SOMEBODY'S CARELESSNESS! Nobody thought any little kid would come along & mistake that for ice cream‚ & maybe they didn't realise there was any left in the can. But they put it out where a child could reach it. We have so much to be thankful for! Our children have gotten through so many years without any serious accidents, I think even without any minor accidents. I don't know that we've ever had a child have to have stitches, have we?—Except some of our child-bearing women, God bless'm! We haven't had a broken bone!

41. WE HAVEN'T HAD A REAL SERIOUS BURN, ALTHOUGH THAT ONE DAVID HAD IN PORTUGAL CAME CLOSE. What if that had hit his eye? And that was because of a very carelessly–placed lamp that was not in a secure place, so that when he bumped it, it fell on him. That was not making sure that accidents didn't happen. That was almost making sure that an accident would happen‚ as unstable as that lamp was & as insecure a place as it was put! We can just be thankful it wasn't worse!

42. LIGHTBULBS CAN BURN & I HOPE YOU'RE TEACHING OUR LITTLE CHILDREN THAT! That's hot! Mary Dear could come along here & touch that bulb & have a burnt finger! They're gonna holler, they're gonna scream & it's going to hurt & you're going to have a problem bandaging it & taking care of it for a week or two!

43. MAYBE THE LORD LET THIS LITTLE TINY MINOR NON-INJURY HURT OCCUR TO WARN YOU ABOUT OTHER THINGS & BEING FAR MORE CAREFUL! We've had so little happen to us that we're inclined to get a little lackadaisical, a little lethargic & a little careless & just think, "Well, nothing ever happens, it just can't happen to us." Well, the Lord just might jerk you up & let it happen, by letting something minor happen to teach you a lesson to make sure that you don't get careless & prayerless & start letting things happen, so that God has to let something happen to teach you a lesson & the poor innocent child be the sufferer! I hope I don't have to give this kind of a lecture too soon again!

44. KEEP ELECTRICAL CORDS OUT OF THE WAY, ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS, FANS, EVERYTHING OUT OF THE WAY OF LITTLE TODDLERS & BABIES! They're in a very dangerous stage!—Not only from falls—they can usually catch themselves pretty good, they may get a few bumps—but from sharp corners. I think you remember how aggravated I used to be with people who made glass tables & furniture with sharp metal corners & stuff like that! It's insane! It's selfish people that apparently don't plan to have any children around.

45. WELL, I DIDN'T INTEND TO TALK THIS LONG & I CERTAINLY DIDN'T REALISE I TALKED AN HOUR‚ BUT IF IT SAVES ONE OF OUR CHILDREN'S LIVES OR LIMBS OR EYES OR FINGERS OR TOES OR WHATEVER IT MAY BE‚ IT'LL BE WORTH IT! Some people get a little careless in their swimming too. It only takes one little sudden dunk & for them to take a gasp at the wrong time underwater instead of above water, & you're going to have a job on your hands trying to pump that water out of their lungs in a hurry before it kills them! Swimming is dangerous & I insist on the buddy system of one adult to each child—not one adult with three children!

46. NOW I KNOW IT'S A TASK TO HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF CHILDREN, BUT THAT'S YOUR JOB & YOU HAVE NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO DO THAN TAKING CARE OF THOSE CHILDREN! That's why we sent for you in the first place, & you too. Those children are your job & you have nothing more important to do‚ ever! And when they're in any kind of dangerous situation such as swimming, either you're to be there with them or make sure some responsible adult is with them that knows how to watch them every moment & not turn their back on them for a second, one adult on each child!

47. NOW IS THE LORD GOING TO HAVE TO LET SOMETHING ACTUALLY SERIOUS HAPPEN & SOME REAL HURT HAPPEN, SOME ACTUAL INJURY TO GET YOU GUYS SOBERED UP & SERIOUS ABOUT THOSE CHILDREN? What if it had been hot enough & what if she had stepped in that end of the tub & sat down right under it or something & got a bad burn before she could even move? Thank God she could jerk her hand out real quick‚ but if she'd have slipped & fallen under that stream of hot water, can you imagine what a job you'd have had on your hands? She could have had a burn streak all the way down her body which you'd have to be taking care of for the next two weeks to a month! I mean it!

48. KIDS CAN GET CARELESS & I'VE SEEN THEM GET A LITTLE CARELESS & I'VE HAD TO SCOLD THEM SEVERAL TIMES. Davida is always jumping in where angels fear to tread, always impulsive & impetuous & too hasty, & you've got to really cure her of that! I'd almost say for Davida that she's accident-prone! And you know why it is, don't you? Well, Alf, it's good to be quick about some things, but it's safer to be slow. You're very quick & very fast & ready to jump at a moment's notice or a look or anything, but sometimes it pays to look before you leap! But Davida leaps before she looks & she's got to be cured of that or you're going to have a serious accident on your hands! I mean it! I don't know how Mary Dear is, how about her? (Dora: She's quite daring!)

49. IT SEEMS LIKE THE WOMEN OF THIS GENERATION ARE MORE DARING THAN THE MEN! Well‚ it's Biblical. It says in the Last Days that the women shall rule over them (Isa.3:12), so they've got to be more aggressive & daring than the men to be able to rule over men. But all the more reason for you to keep an eye on the girls. Thank God David is very cautious‚ he's overly-cautious, but I'd rather see him that way than as careless & impulsive & impetuous & quick & hasty as Davida!—And I don't know about Mary Dear, but sometimes Techi is that way too. Although, thank God, she seems to be a little shy & timid about doing anything that's scary or dangerous! But apparently Davida will try anything! So you're really going to have to watch her & I'm sure you already found that out & cautioned her about being hasty.

50. I HAD A GIRL LIKE THAT—DEBORAH! She'd stick her hand into things & go over to things & fool with things without a word, before you even had any idea she had it in mind! She'd go over & grab things: What is this? Try this button! Turn this handle & see what happens, what makes it work‚ what's it here for! She'd just reach in & grab, boom! And she got hurt several times over it, grabbing the wrong things & putting her hand where it shouldn't be or stepping where she shouldn't step. She had some really bad, serious hurts! She hurt her foot so bad once that she couldn't walk on it for a month!

51. WHAT DOES THE LORD HAVE TO LET HAPPEN TO US TO TEACH US TO BE MORE PRAYERFUL & MORE CAREFUL? IS THIS GOING TO BE ENOUGH, FOLKS? Thank God she didn't get burned, she could have! If somehow she couldn't have gotten her hand out soon enough she could have gotten scalded with water that hot! Thank God one of the kids didn't get in there & you go off & leave them playing in the tub with water that hot! It's the commonest thing in the World for kids to try the faucets & want to know what they're for‚ turn on the hot water & don't know how to turn it off!

52. NOW IS THIS GOING TO BE ENOUGH? ARE YOU GOING TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS, MORE PRAYERFUL, MORE CAREFUL WITH THE CHILDREN, NOT TAKE ANY CHANCES & MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS TO HAPPEN? Isn't that one of our mottos?: Make it impossible for an accident to happen! Don't leave anything where it could be knocked off. Don't leave anything where it could be stumbled over. Don't leave anything where it can be fallen on. Don't leave any dangerous things within reach of a child!

53. WE NEARLY LOST DAVID, AS YOU RECALL, IN TENERIFE WHEN DAVE LEFT A CAN OF CLEANING FLUID SITTING ON THE FLOOR WHILE HE WAS CLEANING WINDOWS. David shouldn't have done it, but he was only a year old. Little kids that age like Mary Dear will try anything. They don't know what's good to eat & what isn't, they stick everything in their mouths, they try it all! So David picked up the can & took a swig of cleaning fluid! I'll tell you, it's a miracle of God that he wasn't more seriously ill & we didn't have to rush him to the hospital or something! Thank the Lord he didn't get much!

54. SO MAYBE THE LORD LET THIS HAPPEN TO JUST GIVE YOU THIS LITTLE LECTURE TO BE A LITTLE MORE CAREFUL & A LITTLE MORE PRAYERFUL ABOUT THE CHILDREN & a little more cautious & try to be sure that accidents can't happen, that nothing is in a position where an accident can happen, that no child is in a position where an accident can happen‚ & that you've got your eye on them every minute when they're in any kind of a situation anywhere! Even if you're right there in the same room with them you need to watch them. The way they play rough-&–tumble sometimes, you've got to make sure that there's nothing that they're apt to fall against that could hurt'm. You've got to make sure there's no sharp furniture or sharp corners or anything around that they could fall on or fall against that could hurt'm. I mean it! Make it impossible for accidents to happen! Be so prayerful in the first place & so careful & cautious & safety-conscious that we give the Lord more than enough cooperation, & if it happens it's not going to be your fault! Amen?

55. ALL RIGHT, LORD, PLEASE HELP THESE CARETAKERS TO BE BETTER ABOUT TAKING CARE & BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL & PRAYERFUL, CAUTIOUS & SAFETY–CONSCIOUS WITH THESE CHILDREN & with themselves as well, Lord, & others, to watch their step around this house & be extremely prayerful & mindful & cautious, not hasty, not in a hurry. Haste makes waste & speed kills! Help them, Lord, in Jesus' name, to be more cautious, more prayerful, more careful about arranging things & the position of the children & where they're playing, all these things to make it almost impossible for an accident to happen, so that they'll be able to prevent it rather than have to nurse it afterward!

56. AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE! A fence at the top of the cliff is worth a lot more than a hospital at the bottom! Help'm, Lord, to look before they leap, squeeze don't jerk, pray before they take action!—And be much more prayerful & careful with the children, to watch them more carefully, Lord, play with them more prayerfully & really be extremely safe if they go swimming. Swimming is dangerous‚ Lord! It's not our normal, natural element & can be extremely dangerous for one of the children in just one prayerless moment!

57. SO WE DO ASK THEE TO HELP THEM TO BE MUCH MORE PRAYERFUL & MUCH MORE CAREFUL, MUCH MORE CAUTIOUS, SAFETY-CONSCIOUS, & MOST OF ALL CONSCIOUS OF THEE, Lord, & their dependence upon Thee for the safety of these children. It could be any little thing, a plastic bag over their head, crazy things kids do that have literally killed many children! Thank You for how You've taken care of ours!

58. WE THANK YOU THAT THESE HERE HAVE BEEN CAUTIOUS & PRAYERFUL, WHICH IS ONE REASON WE HAVEN'T HAD MORE ACCIDENTS. TYL! Help this warning, Lord, to jerk'm up & make'm perk up so that they will not become lax & careless & prayerless so that You have to let something more serious happen, more sobering to make them better parents, better fathers & mothers, better caretakers of Thy little ones & Thy kingdom. Thank You for how You have‚ but Lord, now help them to do better & not to get lazy or lax or let down in any way‚ Lord, to have no unguarded moments in which the Devil can slip in. Bless & keep our children, keep us, & thank You for how You have! Keep us again this night. We pray every night & every morning, all day long, for You to keep us, Lord. Thank You for how You've kept us! Give us a good night's sleep tonight‚ Lord, & strength for tomorrow.

59. HELP THIS TO BE A LESSON TO THESE HERE, LORD, TO NEVER LET ANYTHING CARELESS LIKE THIS HAPPEN AGAIN, to be constantly mindful of Thy children‚ constantly have an eye on them, Lord, to see what they're doing, to know what they're up to & not let the small ones get out of sight in any way, much less in the bathroom or anywhere where they're not constantly watching them, Lord, just like You do us.

60. THANK YOU THAT YOU'RE ALWAYS WATCHING US, YOU NEVER TAKE YOUR EYE OFF OF US LEST WE GET IN TROUBLE! TYJ! You keep us out of all kinds of trouble. TYL! The only trouble You ever let us get into, Lord, is what we deserve. If after several warnings we insist on going our own way & not obeying‚ being careless or prayerless, You let something happen just to teach us a lesson, but Lord, help this not to happen too often. Help us to be so careful & prayerful & cautious & safety-conscious‚ Lord, that we just about make it impossible for accidents to happen with Thy help. We know we can't do it without You, Lord‚ in Jesus' name. Amen!

61. IT'S MIDNIGHT, I GUESS THAT'S ENOUGH. I WASN'T INTENDING TO PREACH A SERMON TONIGHT, BUT I GUESS YOU NEEDED IT! PTL! I don't say this was your fault, John, but at least it will remind you to keep an eye on things around the house, & if other people are going to be careless, make it impossible for them to be careless or do anything or use anything that might be dangerous. Not one of these children should ever be out of your sight so that you don't know exactly where they are, & under somebody's supervision or with an older child. Is that clear?

62. I HOPE THIS LITTLE THING HAS HAPPENED TO HELP YOU TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS & MORE CAREFUL & PRAYERFUL, & IT MEANS YOU'VE GOT TO WORK HARDER TO KEEP AN EYE ON THEM! Don't just let'm run loose & run wild! A lot of kids in the World get in trouble & have accidents because their parents don't care enough about them to keep an eye on them. Do you care enough about them to keep an eye on them & make sure you know just exactly where they're at & what they're doing every minute?—Especially when they're at a little toddler-age like Mary Dear! You don't dare take your eyes off'm for a minute, unless they're asleep‚ & sometimes you're not even sure about that! They could crawl out of bed when you're not looking & when you're asleep & get in trouble. So you really have to be careful & really look to the Lord for help, that He'll help us be more prayerful & safety-conscious.

63. THE LORD NEVER LETS US OUT OF HIS SIGHT, HE'S THE GREAT EXAMPLE AS A PARENT, & YOU SHOULDN'T LET THEM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT! They should know you're watching them, if they're real small, every moment! When they're a little bit bigger you might let'm sit in the next room & play with some other child, an older child or something, but where you can hear'm & be at their side in a moment!—And be sure that everything in that room is secure, that they can't pull something over on themselves or whatever. Little toddlers start walking by hanging onto things & they could pull stuff over on top of them if you don't watch them. They reach up & grab anything to hold onto to pull themselves up.

64. YOU'VE GOT TO KEEP AN EYE ON THESE KIDS & KEEP YOUR MIND ON THEM & DON'T LET YOURSELF GET DISTRACTED! That's you nurses' job‚ that's your main job! You have nothing more important to do, not even writing books or chapters or children's stories or anything else more important to do than watch those children & care for them & protect them & see that they're safe! So keep an eye on'm! (Fam: Amen!)

65. I'VE SAID THIS MANY TIMES BEFORE: MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS TO HAPPEN!—AND ONE WAY TO DO IT IS KEEP YOUR EYE ON THEM ALL THE TIME, EVERY MINUTE! You say, "Well I can't do that when I'm asleep." Well‚ make sure they're asleep when you go to sleep! Make sure they're asleep first. We've got some strange birds in our family, though‚ that kick around & lie awake half-an-hour before they go to sleep, they're so wired!

66. TECHI IS THE LIVEST WIRE I EVER SAW! She just starts living at midnight, & she flops around all over that bed all night long‚ kicking & flailing her arms & legs. She hates to have a thing on, she hates to have a sheet over her, it doesn't matter how cold it is or whatever.—And I have to have it pretty cold in there to go to sleep so I don't have those sweats. So now we're having to dress her in some kind of pajamas to keep her warm so I keep cool. She is some character! Did she always flop around like that? You never know what position she's going to be in next! She goes from one end of the bed to the other & back again. She just is all over the place, her arms flailing & her legs kicking & everything, she's the most active child in her sleep of any child I think I ever saw, & I think she's the hardest one to get to sleep I ever saw! But thank the Lord‚ I'm teaching her! This old dog's learned a few tricks in his lifetime with kids.

67. THERE'S ONE THING WE FOUND OUT, & THAT IS THAT SOME THINGS ARE BETTER THAN CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, BETTER THAN SPANKINGS OR SLAPPINGS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, & THAT'S DENIAL & PRIVATION WHEN THEY GET OLD ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THAT‚ something that they want to do real bad that you withhold because they disobeyed or they didn't do what they were supposed to do, so we just about cured her of staying awake half the night! After we turn out the light & lie perfectly quiet, she's just lying there talking to herself or flinging her arms around & rolling & tossing & talking to her doll! She doesn't have to & I've just about got her cured now.

68. I STARTED OFF TELLING HER TO GO TO SLEEP, TO HUSH UP & A FEW OTHER THINGS THAT DIDN'T SEEM TO DO MUCH GOOD, & SHE'D JUST SAY, "I CAN'T!" I'd say, "Oh yes you can! I'll tell you how to go to sleep real quick, you just close up shop! Shut your mouth, shut your eyes, shut your legs & hold still!" I tried that counting bit, see how long you can hold still, so she counts to 100 & she counts another 100, but it didn't seem to make much difference‚ she still wouldn't go to sleep!

69. BUT BOY, THE THING THAT HAS CURED HER & MAKES HER GO TO SLEEP & TRY TO GO TO SLEEP IS IF I DON'T WAKE HER UP IN TIME FOR BREAKFAST! She really likes to be down there in time for breakfast with the kids & everybody. I don't know what it is about breakfast that's such a big attraction.—If she wakes up & finds out she's missed breakfast with the others, she cries! She really doesn't like that. So I have warned her at night, "Techi, you go to sleep right now or I am not going to wake you up in time for breakfast, I'm just going to let you sleep right through it!" She'll say, "Okay Grandpa, I'm going to go to sleep!"—And she'll hold still as quietly as she can & she drifts off to sleep pretty quick.—Because I threaten that that's her punishment.

70. IF SHE STAYS AWAKE TOO LONG & SHE DOESN'T GO TO SLEEP, I SAY, "YOU KNOW‚ EVERY MINUTE YOU STAY AWAKE NOW YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SLEEP IN THE MORNING, & if you stay awake too late I'm not going to wake you up in the morning. You need your sleep & I'm just going to let you sleep." She says, "If I go to sleep right now, Grandpa, will you promise me you'll wake me up in the morning?" "Yes, if you go to sleep right now." "Okay, okay, I will!" And she tries hard & she usually goes to sleep. I don't know if it would work on the others‚ but it really worked on her‚ thank the Lord! I tell her, "You have five minutes to go to sleep", & it's really been working.

71. SO YOU DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO HIT'M OR ANYTHING, YOU CAN JUST HIT'M WHERE IT HURTS!—Privation & denial! When they get old enough to reason with them like that, there are things that hurt worse than a spanking. I know when I was little I'd usually rather have had my Dad's spankings than his lectures. I'd rather have a spanking & get it over with so I could get back out & play! That wasn't as bad as sitting there for an hour having to listen to him talk when I knew I was going to get a spanking besides! The talk just prolonged the agony. So I guess I've done the same with you tonight.

72. I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A SPANKING‚ BUT I JUST HOPE & PRAY HE'S NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A SPANKING BY LETTING ONE OF THOSE KIDS GET HURT THROUGH YOUR CARELESSNESS & YOUR LACK OF WATCHFULNESS! Watch & pray! Watch & pray! Those are two good rules of taking care of children! Really watch'm & watch out for everything, & really pray! PTL? Okay‚ God bless & keep them & keep you & help you to watch & pray! I love you! I hope that did some good!—Amen?

73. DO YOU WATCH & PRAY OVER YOUR KIDS WITHOUT CEASING & TRY TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS TO HAPPEN? God help you to do so to preserve these little ones for His Kingdom!—In Jesus' name, amen.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family