Pepper spray is painful!

Tuesday night Jonathon's Boy Scout Troop from school went on a tour of the Upland Police Department.  Peter wasn't feeling well that night, Steven had soccer and I had a church Relief Society Christmas meeting to go to.  So, we asked our friend Alan Ansara, who is a member of the Upland PD and his son Ryan is a playmate of Jonathon's, if Jonathon could go with them.  I knew it would be a unique opportunity for him to see the inside workings of law enforcement. So, off he went. When I got home from my meeting, Peter told me the story.  The Boy Scouts got a tour of the police department. They even got to see the SWAT team practicing.  They got to see a flash bang grenade go off.  And they got to see Police doing practice shooting at their indoor range with semi-automatic weapons.  The Boy Scouts got to see the dummies the SWAT team practices taking down.  The kind of dummies that when they are in training exercises spray pepper spray at the police.  The Boy Scouts were instructed not to touch the dummies because there was a residue of pepper spray on them.  But, Jonathon being Jonathon, touched and discovered.  Then he rubbed his eyes because he was getting tired, and rubbed his nose and his chin.  Then, came the burning.  His eyes began to burn and his skin.  I was told he cried and rubbed at his eyes, I imagine there was some screaming and moaning. That stuff hurts!  Then Alan took him to the bathroom and helped him rinse his eyes and face off.  He told Jonathon how the Police when they are training, are sprayed in the face with pepper spray.  So, Jonathon realized he wasn't alone in his misery.  It probably soothed his ego a bit as well. When I saw him, he had raccoon eyes from all the rubbing.  I heard the story and had to laugh. My son seems to be a disaster magnet! I am so grateful for a friend who provided help and caring to my child in a moment of pain and crisis.  I am grateful the effects of pepper spray are not permanent.  What a tough lesson for little man to learn.  When someone says, don't touch something, they might really mean don't touch it! My