I agree with Donny's mom, great ideas! But as long you have everything secured that nothing would happen to him, its fine. Eventually they will get bored and let it go at ceratin point in their lives. My son use to love lights,fans, outlets but now he is 4 and barely looks at one.
Adams obsession has always been lights electricity and cords. When he was not even one, my husband would take him to Home Depot and he would lay in his carseat in the cart and stare up at the lights and ceiling fans. He could scream when they tried to leave.
Since he is older, we have purchased him several electrical sets. That work with bateries and he can make his own circuts. Also, as he has gotten older, he has been a great help with christmas lights and outside decorations.
P.S. We used to have to lock up the christmas lights because he would sneak them into his room and string them all over.
Those are great ideas. Thanks. I should have mentioned that he does not touch wall outlets - we've been very firm about that from the start because of his interest, but he will hand something to me that he wants plugged in. Does anyone's child become preoccupied with electronics or appliances? Nothing with a plug is safe when my son is around. He will want to put it in his power strip even though it won't work, he just has to have it. He is 100% supervised with extention cords. When we're not around, they're out of reach! (Just had to add that in case anyone was worried.)My son has a similar interest. The kid is in absolute heaven when I give him a real screwdriver and something to "fix." I've taped up all my unnecessary light switches and safety plugged all outlets. I'm constantly on top of him or else he will make a day of turning off and on lamps or anything with a switch. I definitely second the idea about using his interest as a learning platform. We use turning off/on light switches as a reward during his therapies (i.e. pick up the toys and then you can turn the light off). However, I'm not sure anything involving outlets or power strips would be safe for my son - I would be afraid that an accident could happen too easily as my son cannot distinguish a live power strip from a play power strip. I find that the obsession goes in cycles. If I can provide enough stimulus, then he will ignore the appliances and switches, but some days he is just over the top with the obsession. And for those days, I err on the side of caution: no screwdrivers, everything is locked (including rooms with lamps) or taped. I've even taken the knobs off my stove. I've been shocked before (by an appliance) and it is very unpleasant. I was lucky to not have been seriously injured, but would never want to take the chance that my son could seriously hurt himself.
If he is very obsessed with plugs, I would probably take some safety precautions if you haven't already. Since he is 4, he may be able to take those plastic plug inserts out. But it's worth a try. If that doesn't work, you can get some duct tape to put over the outlets that are not in use. I would also look into getting him his own tool station. When you go out, you could make a big fuss when you find him his own tools to go to it. Maybe his interests can change from plugs to using the tools. What we do to deal with obsessions is two-fold.