Thursday, March 12, 2009

Parents Worst Nightmare

My friend called me today. Her twins are in 1st grade with my older monkey. My monkey's are still home sick.

She called 2 hours after the early pick-up today (normally pick up is 2:45, today 12:40). She asked if by any chance my husband had picked up her kids with my own.

I explained that my monkey was home sick today.

The twins grandma was supposed to pick up her girls and forgot about early dismissal today.

SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHERE HER KIDS WERE!!

The words a parent never wants to utter, EVER!!!

Over the next 5 minutes I started thinking about what I could do. I called one friend to see if she had seen the girls when she picked up her daughter. I was about to start calling other parents when I called the twins' mom to offer those services.

It turns out, the twins had walked the 7 blocks home and were OK!!! Luckily, it is a safe neighborhood and they didn't need to cross any major streets. We're not sure why they didn't go to the office and wait there, and have the office call the parents, but that is neither her nor there.

What a sigh of relief! I don't even want to think about what I would do if it were me. Realistically, this could have happen to any parent, at any time.

I've got to say, I'm pretty happy now that my husband got the 6 year old a cell phone in case of emergency!

The rest of our petty problems do not compare to this.

Thank G0d this ended well and the twins were home, playing safely in the back yard!

We should all count our lucky stars tonight!

10 comments:

LL said...

Shocks such as that one help us more clearly define what is important and what is not.

Kids - is we didn't love them so much, who would we be?

Julie from JulieChats said...

Wow! I'm so thankful everything went ok, but I'm surprised no other parents noticed 1st grade twins walking home alone...it seems like someone would know them & their mom & call her. We all need to help out other moms. And don't even get me started on what I'd have to say to the school.... At our school the teachers have to wait outside with the kids who walk or are picked up until each kid is with the appropriate adult (unless the parents' instructions are to let them walk home alone). Thank goodness everything worked out ok! I know my 2nd grader could find her way home alone just fine (4 blocks), but I don't want her to!

Unknown said...

That is such a crazy story!! Doesn't the teacher check the kids off when they are picked up? CR is in 1st grade too and they can not leave unless they are checked out of the pick-up line.....hmmmm.

SO glad they got home safely and good to know they knew their way home!! And what a tribute to the neighborhood. When I was young walking 7 blocks on the south side of Chicago would have been NO big deal....now the whole idea totally freaks us all out.

SOmetimes it's nice to feel the world isn't as bad as we think it might be...you know?

How are you Julia? I'm busy as usual and very slow in my blog reading....hope all is well. :-)

Kim said...

I'm with the others. What the heck is the school doing letting them leave? I would be having one hell of a discussion with them!

Cold Spaghetti said...

Terrifying. And amazing too, when you consider how much more parents have to know these days. We have to know where our kids are every second of every day. Wild, when I think of how much time I spent out and about as a kid... going places and doing things with no adult around, many time completely by myself.

Opus #6 said...

Whew! So glad they got home safe. Little ones that age don't always make the best choices.

Julia@SometimesLucid said...

I'm not sure why the teacher let them go off by themselves. I'm also not sure how it is that no one noticed anything.

I'll take to my friend more this weekend and find out what exactly happened that they took it upon themselves to walk.

I do agree that thankfully there are some "safe" neighborhoods left in 2009 :)

Unknown said...

Thank God they are safe! What a horrible time that must have been.

Hugs to all kids everywhere!

bernthis said...

I would have beyond beside myself, especially living in L.A. and my kid would have to cross a major throughfare.

Rick said...

That would be a nightmare. I can't stand to watch movies where children end up getting kidnapped. I hate the idea.