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You know how the great They say it is a good idea to give your kid a way out, all they have to do is text and you'll come get them, no questions asked?

 

We've had that policy for a long while here.  Just call.  I'm there.  Last night my 18yo and his friend went to a shady part of town.  How shady, I didn't know, until the other kid's grandmother showed up here at 10pm and flipped her lid when I told her where they were.  It probably didn't help that we were in the middle of thunderstorms, either.  I debated on calling my kid, but sent him a text and all was fine.

 

After midnight, my phone went off. "Can you come get me?"  Sure, give me 20 minutes.  I stumbled around, found actual clothes thanks to the lightning flashing every few minutes, and bundled up the grade schooler to stuff him in the car.  No sooner did I get him into his booster seat did I hear voices very, very close to the house.  I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it made me super nervous.  We've had a string of vehicles broken into lately and I didn't want to let them know a house was empty for an hour. I grabbed my phone, dialing 9-1-and waiting until I had a clear look at these people to give a description to the dispatcher.

 

Standing on my porch was my kid.  And said friend. :glare: And my kid, bless him, was rather cheerful that I was letting him out of the rain. 
"I wondered why your text said it would take you 20 minutes." 
"You asked me to come get you." (me, still not amused)
"No, I asked you to let me in.  Oh........." (as he's reading back what he sent) "Nah, I didn't need a ride.  Is there any dinner left over?"


People, this parenting thing is not for wimps. 

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LOL....I hate when I get woke completely up, for pretty much nothing.  I takes me hours to fall back asleep. 

 

Maybe he needs a reminder that if someone texts you something that doesn't make sense, that you should clarify what they meant LOL

 

I can't imagine many scenarios that would require 20 minutes to unlock a door for someone, and those would usually come with an explanation.

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Doesn't he have his own house key?

 

Of course he does!  And his own garage door remote.  Why he didn't have them on him I have no idea.  We are still working on our two very different ideas of common sense here. :closedeyes:

 

It took me a few minutes to realize I'd left the 1st grader snoozing in the car, too.  He climbed back into bed easily, while I listened to teen boys raid the kitchen and "being very quiet" while traipsing through the house to go watch videos.

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Of course he does!  And his own garage door remote.  Why he didn't have them on him I have no idea.  We are still working on our two very different ideas of common sense here. :closedeyes:

 

It took me a few minutes to realize I'd left the 1st grader snoozing in the car, too.  He climbed back into bed easily, while I listened to teen boys raid the kitchen and "being very quiet" while traipsing through the house to go watch videos.

 

at that age, my boys didn't even register they should always carry their wallet on them just for id.  so, when we went to the military museum - which requires ID to access the base to reach it - they had to stay at the "gate house" area as they weren't allowed on base.  no id.

 

 

I like my friends message about kitchen raids. it better be as clean when they go to bed - or she'll wake them up (even if they've only had an hour of sleep.) to clean it when she got up.  another was "this is a crime scene.  leave no evidence."

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at that age, my boys didn't even register they should always carry their wallet on them just for id.  so, when we went to the military museum - which requires ID to access the base to reach it - they had to stay at the "gate house" area as they weren't allowed on base.  no id.

 

 

I like my friends message about kitchen raids. it better be as clean when they go to bed - or she'll wake them up (even if they've only had an hour of sleep.) to clean it when she got up.  another was "this is a crime scene.  leave no evidence."

 

The first has actually been impressed upon him.  It just takes once of not getting to hang out with friends and bam!  They remember.  The key, though.  <_<  His previous solution was to just leave his window unlocked so he could come in that way.  Hopefully it'll hit him when he's out on his own.

 

The last time he had a guest over I gave him photographic evidence of how he left the kitchen in the morning.  Thankfully this time I only woke up to an empty fridge - but the Girl Scout cookies remained hidden in the freezer so I'm good with it. :)

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Argh!  I have a similar story.  This morning, long before daylight (3:40 am, to be exact), my phone chimed, letting me know I have a text.  Almost always, a text in the middle of the night is coming from one of my college kids, who only call me as a last resort because they are really upset about something, but they were trying to handle it themselves.  Just this thing happened earlier this week with my son.  He hadn't slept in two days, and was nearly having a breakdown of some sort.  (He ate a sandwich, talked to me for an hour, and then slept all day, waking later all happy and chipper.)

 

Anyway!  I received this text chime last night, and another chime in quick succession.  Concerned that maybe Ds was having another episode of some sort, I got up and walked into the bathroom to check my phone.  His all-important, middle of the night text read as follows, and I quote:

 

"I HAVE WOKEN IN THE

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

AND HAVE HAD AN

EPIPHANY"

 

"I need a kalimba in my life

yo" 

 

 

:huh:

You have got to be freakin' kidding me.  I had to google the word because in my sleep state I didn't even know what he was talking about.  (oh. a large wooden xylophone thing)  

My reply: "I hope you get one someday.  Do you need me, or can I got back to sleep?"

 

 

Ds: "Haha.  sorry go back to sleep"

 

Dang.  I love that kid (young man).  And he's SO far away.  I didn't know whether to be irritated that he woke me up, or just happy that he was happy.  I told him to go back to sleep, too.

 

(not a half hour later, I got another text.  This time it was from my cell phone service. That one was irritating)

 

 

ETA:  I was wrong about what a kalimba is.  It's not a large, wooden xylophone (that would be a marimba).  No, this is a little instrument you hold in both hands, and play by plucking metal spring strips with your thumbs.  It makes a lovely sound.  Anyway, he ordered one today, using money he's earned doing graphic arts projects for clients.  Cool!  

 

Edited by Suzanne in ABQ
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at that age, my boys didn't even register they should always carry their wallet on them just for id.  so, when we went to the military museum - which requires ID to access the base to reach it - they had to stay at the "gate house" area as they weren't allowed on base.  no id.

 

 

 

Mine went for an interview at a professional place.  They almost didn't let him go to the interview because he didn't have ID with him.  I've never been asked to show ID for an interview so it never crossed my mind to tell him to take it.  Even though he doesn't have a driver's license he's starting to learn he needs to keep that ID with him.  (He did get the job but then one day he forgot his badge and wallet, only way to get a replacement badge was to show your ID, which was in the wallet.  Good thing for him we only live 8 minutes away and at least he was appropriately apologetic for making me make an extra trip)

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Of course he does!  And his own garage door remote.  Why he didn't have them on him I have no idea.  We are still working on our two very different ideas of common sense here. :closedeyes:

 

It took me a few minutes to realize I'd left the 1st grader snoozing in the car, too.  He climbed back into bed easily, while I listened to teen boys raid the kitchen and "being very quiet" while traipsing through the house to go watch videos.

 

(((HA)))

 

I had a similar head-smacker one time when my son and three of his golf buddies locked their keys in the the two cars AND all of them had zero charge on their cell phones.  They had to borrow some guy's phone to call me.  I went and got them to take them home, and I said, "What's up with all four of you?  No charge on the cell phones even??"  

 

One of the guys gave a line that should be immortalized:  "Well, Mrs. R, we're not exactly the most forward-thinking people."  

 

Understatement of the year, but rather charming.

 

Good grief, though.  On the front STEP?  HA.  

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I had an actual one of those occurrances.

 

DD and her BF had been to the beach, and the deal was that he was going to see her home from the bus station and then ride his bike over to a friend's house to spend the night.  

 

I had been in the beach town earlier in the evening with DH and we offered to pick them up whereever they were and give them a ride, but no, they weren't done, and wanted to take the bus.  So.  Via a comedy of errors they almost missed the very last bus over the hill, barely making it, and then when they got to the bus station near our house, BF's bike had been vandalized and parts of it were stolen; meaning that he couldn't ride it or even move it without help; sending him into a panic attack.

 

I had taken codeine cough medicine and gone to sleep.

 

DD called us.

 

"Of course I will pick you up, honey," I said.  I threw on some clothes and headed over there, told BF that he was safe now, and drove him to the friends' house and DD home.  All I said the next day was, "You did the right thing, calling me," as they headed out the door for another brave adventure day.  

 

Gotta love the late teens.  Brains are incomplete on several levels.

 

 

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(((HA)))

 

I had a similar head-smacker one time when my son and three of his golf buddies locked their keys in the the two cars AND all of them had zero charge on their cell phones.  They had to borrow some guy's phone to call me.  I went and got them to take them home, and I said, "What's up with all four of you?  No charge on the cell phones even??"  

 

One of the guys gave a line that should be immortalized:  "Well, Mrs. R, we're not exactly the most forward-thinking people."  

 

Understatement of the year, but rather charming.

 

Good grief, though.  On the front STEP?  HA.  

 

:lol:  I thought that the easier years were coming.  Maybe I was mistaken.

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We had a nightly rescue mission last fall with DS17.

We had just returned from a Europe trip, still struggled with jetlag, but DS had driven to the city 2 hours away for training and would have been home at midnight. DH and I had gone to sleep; we had to get up at 4am for an early morning flight.

At 1:20am the phone rang. DS: "Don't worry, I'm fine". Good boy, starts with the most important words first!

Turns out, he was driving home, but felt very tired and had done exactly the right thing: pulled off at an exit. And gone to sleep. Alas, without switching off the car headlights, so that when he woke up hours later, the battery was dead.

Fortunately this was only about 20 minutes from our town - he had made it most of the way. 

DH went to Walmart (which were open at 1:30am) to buy jumper cables, drove out to that exit, rescued DS, drove back here - and then we had coffee and left for the airport. It ended up being a  veeery long day for us.

 

But really, DS had done almost everything right. Certainly the most important thing: pull off the interstate when tired. We praised him for that, and I'm certain he won't ever leave the lights on again.

Edited by regentrude
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:grouphug: and lol. This parenting thing is not for the faint of heart! Personally, I found it much easier in the days when I had three under three. Little children tend to have little problems which are easily solved. Big children have (often) much more complex problems that cannot be solved by the mom person. 

Hugs and hoping that you get a good night's sleep tonight. 

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:grouphug: and lol. This parenting thing is not for the faint of heart! Personally, I found it much easier in the days when I had three under three. Little children tend to have little problems which are easily solved. Big children have (often) much more complex problems that cannot be solved by the mom person. 

 

Amen!  Give me potty training worries and tantrums any day.

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