Texas Boy Gets Magnifying Glass For Christmas—Then Proceeds To Set The Lawn On Fire

They say "be careful what you wish for."

But could that also be applied to be careful what your kids wish for Christmas gifts?

12-year-old Cayden Parson didn't mean to cause a full on lawn fire after asking for a magnifying glass for Christmas, but nonetheless, he did so.

The boy's mother, Nissa-Lynn Parson, posted about the incident and how it transpired.

"My twelve year old son Cayden, who is an avid reader, very curious, and interested in science, asked for a magnifying glass for Christmas. (It's like a basketball player asking for basketball shoes.)"

"We thought it was for reading, but instead he tried to see if he could light a fire with it!"

"We discovered that he and his two brothers went out on the driveway and burned a couple holes in some paper."

If there's anything we learned from the 90s, it's that kids never ask for magnifying glasses to read.

Toy Story - Sid tortures Woody with magnifying glass (HD clip)www.youtube.com

The fire soon got out of control.

"Everything was under control until the boys came running into the house telling us that a corner of the lawn was on fire and the Christmas lights were melting! Justin and I rushed outside to see the entire front lawn turning black!"

They managed to finally get the situation under control:

"We grabbed buckets, Justin turned the sprinklers on, and I grabbed blankets to smother and trap it - before it could spread any more into the neighbors yard!"

"What a sight to see - a bunch of people running around crazy trying to put a front lawn fire out while wearing matching Christmas jammies!"

The fire was started when Cayden and Ashton, the younger brother, went to burn a hole in the newspaper and it completely caught fire.

Ashton told FOX 4:

"The flame starts, so I picked up the newspaper and just kind of like throw it."

"The smoke was getting like as high as the tree."

What is the lesson, parents? 

Perhaps not to give your 12-year-old-boys tools to start fires.

And it's never too early to teach your children about fire safety. The book Fire Safety with Lieutenant Toby! is available here.