My oldest daughter and I do not have what I describe as the perfect Mother-Daughter relationship. I honestly cannot say that I know many parents with a 13 year old daughter that have the "perfect" relationship. If you do, congratulations as you have been blessed.
With the troubled relationship in mind, a red flag went up when I was standing in front of my machine at work and I get a text message from her.
"Call me"
fallowed by
"call me now-911"
She and my youngest, who will shortly be turning 4, were at the babysitters. You may ask yourself why do I make my 13 year old go to a babysitter. For 2 reasons.
1. I have a 16 year old son at home, and if I leave the 13 year old and the 16 year old at home together, odds are that I probably wouldn't have a house to come home to at the end of my shift.
2. What fallows should be good enough reason if #1 wasn't.
Both of my girls on numerous occasions had asked me not to go to work, or to find someone else to watch them. BIG RED TRUCK!!!!!
When a kid asks to NOT go to someones house, ummmm..... ya need to find out why.
Don't just assume your child is unhappy because they aren't getting there way, and they don't want to fallow the rules. I had the unfortunate event of having my 3 year old grabbed and shaken, while evidently being screamed at for throwing a teddy bear at the tv. I don't know about you guys, but that news made this mama bear a little bit on the psychotic side. on top of that, when my daughter was texting me, she was informed that she was no longer allowed to use the phone.
WHAT????????
I don't mean to scare you, but you really need to check in on people. I would encourage talking to the contacts, past families they have cared for. I would even encourage a back ground check, they are relatively inexpensive. Talk to the neighbors also. That may seem a little extreme, if so then ya I am over protective. But think about this, would you rather be an over protective parent, or take the chance on being one of those who shoulda, woulda, coulda?
P.S. I did leave work immediately and rescued my kiddos. How the babysitter remained unscathed, the big man above only knows. Thanks be to him for reigning his love down on me and taming my quick temper.
