Conversations with my son

My son, who is 3 1/2 years old, wants to be an astronaut ("spacer" in his vocabulary). This is a driving theme in his life.

My son is fairly careless, one would say reckless, little guy. His personal health and safety isn't a high priority for him.

I've been trying for years to get him to be more careful (no running in the house, jumping off things, careening about the house, etc.) to no avail. He's just not interested in safety.

Lately I've been appealing to his long-term interests. The other day he was playing with a toothpick, carrying it around in his hand (and these are strong, pointy bamboo toothpicks). I stopped him and we had the following conversation:

Me: Buddy, please don't play with the toothpick.
Him: But my need it for my robot!
Me: Buddy, the toothpick has a sharp point. (At this point I poked him in the hand with it). How does that feel? What would happen if you fell and poked yourself with that?
Him: My would have an owie.
Me: What do you think would happen if you fell and poked yourself in the eye with the toothpick?
Him: My would have a big owie.
Me: You'd have an owie, and you probably wouldn't be able to see out of that eye, you'd go blind.
Him: Oh.
Me: And you know, if you are blind in one eye, you can't be a spacer.

At this point he paused and thought for a moment, looked up at me, and said brightly:

Him: My would be a pirate!

How's that for a complex bit of problem solving? I had to keep myself from bursting out laughing while I carefully explained that being a pirate isn't necessarily the best career goal. It's nice to know he has options, though!