Sometimes the most awkward things to learn can be the ones that everybody knows. 

I’ve had more than a little experience with this. For example, there are a number of words that I learned to read without learning how to say. Most of the time that was pretty harmless – until the night that I read a novel’s “flaming brazier” out loud as “flaming bra-ZEER,” prompting an explosion of laughter from Dad that didn’t die down until the next Olympic games. (For the record, it’s BRAY-zhur.)

On the upside, the lesson definitely stuck.

Which is how we come to electrical safety. 

There aren’t any flaming braziers in the LPC Kids Corner. What there is is a useful collection of basic electrical knowledge aimed at an elementary school student. I spent quite a bit of time putting it together, including a page of seven basic electric safety tips for kids to teach simple practices and awareness. 

Such as the simple tip of using the plug, not the cord, to unplug an object. 

I’m guessing I’m not the only adult who’s forgotten that bit of advice in the heat of the moment. Many of us yank cords all the time, whether it’s disconnecting a vacuum when we’ve finished cleaning a room or unplugging a lamp whose wall plug is hidden by an inconvenient couch. No kneeling or reaching, just yank-and-done, right? 

Nope. Over time, that’s a great way to fray the cord. And as we remind people each year in our holiday safety tips, anything with frayed cords and exposed wires is a potential fire hazard that needs to be retired. 

So make sure the yanks aren’t coming. Pull carefully, from the plug, and help your cord last longer and operate more safely.

Sometimes everyone doesn’t know. 

But now, hopefully, we’re all in a cord.