It's Not Supposed To Do That!

I'm going to use the name Roomba as a generic name, even though there are many versions. I just don't know which ones I'm talking about here. (If you just muttered, "You never do," go away.) The parents in question love this device of theirs. They pick up the floor each evening, then let the Roomba do its thing while they're all asleep. The floor's in pretty good shape in the morning. Definitely a time saver. But their little guy is not a fan. I was there when they first ran it and he was panic-stricken. My heart went out to him. I'd never seen one in action and watching its movements weirded me out too. I wanted it to stop. Now. One day he was sitting on the kitchen table and we were playing with a basket of toys. He happened to look down at the floor where the Roomba "lives"--has it's charging station. He stared and his little face crumbled until he looked like Number 10 on the pain scale they use in the hospital. I wrapped my arms around him, slid him down the table and said, "It's all right. It can't get you." Once it was out of sight he was fine. It turned out that a few days before he had been exploring that area of the room and somehow managed to hit the start button. He screamed, terrified, and tried to crawl under the table to get away from it. I was telling a friend this and she said that her grandson, nearly the same age, had accidentally started the one in his house twice and each time had a total meltdown. It's okay, guys. I don't like it either.