The 4th of July is less than a week away, and store shelves are stocked with basic, at-home, novelty fireworks. Besides the sky-splitting firework extravaganza the town put on every year, 
one of the highlights of celebrating our great nation’s birthday as a kid was playing with sparklers. My dad always brought home a few boxes and all we could do was contain ourselves until the sun went down and it was finally sparkler time.
Sparklers are very simple fireworks, but to children, they’re loaded with excitement. It’s important to establish very clear rules and practices before letting your children handle sparklers, because as harmless as they may seem, they’re still fireworks and can be dangerous if misused.
- Never give a sparkler to a child who is too young to completely understand rules and instructions
- Always use sparklers and other fireworks outside, away from buildings
- Always have a bucket of water close by before lighting any fireworks, including sparklers
- Never let a child light a sparkler
- An adult should light the sparklers, one at a time, and carefully hand it to the child
- If a sparkler is a dud, don’t try to relight it, put it straight into the bucket
- Show children how to hold the sparkler away from their bodies, hair and clothing
- Each child should have a designated space out of reach of other children, but close enough that an adult can intervene
- Parents should supervise the activity until the sparkler is completely fizzled out and disposed of
- Extinguish all used sparklers in the bucket of water
Even a basic, novelty firework, like a sparkler, deserves respect and complete attention. If you lay down these ground rules and handle them with care, your family can have a super sparkly and safe 4th of July.
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