Dad Installs Strobe Light In Gamer Son's Room To Signal When Dinner's Ready

Patrick Curran by his own admission is not a skilled cook - and getting his son to come down for dinner was proving more difficult than making it in the first place. Fed up of unsuccessfully shouting for Jason - who enjoys spending his evenings gaming in his room with his headphones on - electrician Patrick came up with a creative solution. The 59-year-old, from County Kerry, Ireland, decided to fit a strobe light above Jason's TV, which he can activate from the kitchen with the flick of a switch.

Speaking to LADbible, Patrick said: "I got the idea to install the light as I was sick of calling Jason down the stairs as he would not hear me with his headphones on. It took about a half hour to install.

"It has been very effective, he comes down the stairs the minute I turn it on - only problem is after dinner he usually comes back down the stairs to tell me to turn it off as I forget."

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The issue of getting 19-year-old Jason's attention when it's dinner time has only come about since lockdown measures were introduced. Before then, the pair relied mainly on now-closed takeaways and fast food outlets, with the family having tragically lost wife, mum and cook Susan in 2016.

Patrick said: "My wife Susan did all the cooking before she died suddenly in 2016. It left a big hole in our family but we are very close and we think of her every day."

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In a relatively short amount of time, Patrick thinks his cooking has come a long way - although he did almost manage to burn the house down on one occasion.

He said: "Jason seems to be enjoying my cooking. I cook spaghetti, steak, salmon, full breakfast, burgers and things like that.

"I did try to make chicken fried rice one night but it didn't go to plan, it was my first time using a wok. I poured the oil in and turned it to high like I usually do with the frying pan and I turned my back for two minutes and suddenly there were big flames going up really high.

"Jason just so happened to be sitting on the kitchen counter at the time, I grabbed the wok and ran out the back door with it. We were all fine but the chicken fried rice didn't even make it to the wok - they both ended up in the bin."

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But despite a bit of a shock with the wok, Patrick reckons he'll be making use of the dinner time strobe light system once the takeaways have all reopened.

He said: "I think when lockdown is over I'll keep the cooking up and only get takeaways now and again, as I'm in a new routine now and it's better for us.

"I guess it's a positive thing that has come from all this."

Topics: GAMING, Awesome, Daily Ladness, DIY, Funny, Community

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey