he turned on the wrong plate, and patiently waited and waited and waited and waited for the water to boil.
I really know that feeling and have witnessed that to others also and regarding the situation I guess your son won't boil eggs to soon... It's good that you were at home though to sort things out.
I don't think he got that much scared, I think he will be cooking eggs again pretty soon, but perhaps under supervision. We'll see. At least he managed to turn on the right plate after the fire was put out and finally boil the egg. That egg was actually for me, his egg was already ready. I wonder how he managed that. (probably he used boiling water from the water heater - I specified I wanted my egg a bit harder).
He was ready to make eggs again this morning - but there was no time, he decided to boil eggs just three minutes before he was to run to school.
That's perseverance. Now, at least he learned his lesson and he will be more careful when cooking. I have to admit that I haven't cooked anything at 7...