Super Parent Award, Part Two

So last week I confessed that I was slacker parent by missing Grandparents Day at my 5th grader's school and how I am probably qualifying for the Super Parent Award sorta early this year. And as if that wasn’t enough, the next evening I pulled an even better one. In two days I managed to secure my award for 2018.

It was a short week for the kids and they didn’t have school Thursday or Friday for Spring Break, so Wednesday evening my oldest said she was going out but would be back around midnight. Since Hubby and I had to work the next morning, I hugged her early and headed to bed by 10:30 p.m. I texted her right before I shut the lights out and explained that since she was picked up and didn’t take her car, I locked the back door but left the front door unlocked for her and be sure to lock up when she got back home.

Her sisters were in bed and sacked out by 10:30 and Hubby and I were snoozing by 10:45 pm. The house was dark and everyone had their fans and sound machines going ready for a good night’s sleep. And boy, did I sleep well! Woke up refreshed and relieved that I didn’t have to get kids up for school. Until … I picked up my phone off the nightstand and was shocked to see green box after green box of texts and messages, dozens of them.

What the heck??!!! How’d I miss all these? Then I looked at the side of my phone and I had it on silent. Dang it! The shock of all the missed messages made my heart race as I started to read them. 13 missed calls from my daughter and text message after text message from her. 12:07 am “Just got home and both doors are locked. 12:08 am “I’m in the garage.” 12:09 am “Hello??” 12:10 am “Mom!” And so on and so on. Finally at 12:30 am “Okay, well I stood outside for 30 minutes and can’t find a spare key or a way to get in so I guess I’m going to my friends to spend the night.” Mom FAIL!!

I raced downstairs and her room was empty. Yep, she didn’t make it in. Then as I passed the kitchen, I saw a note from Hubby written in all caps earlier that morning apologizing for being the worst dad in the world. I immediately contacted him and he said he got up before midnight and saw her car out front so assumed she was home and locked up the house not realizing she had a ride and that her keys were sitting on the counter INSIDE the house. Now, this is the same guy whose evening routine does NOT include checking door locks before bed, nor knows if the house is ever locked at any given time. I’ve taken on that responsibility years ago and I’m fine with it. As much as I appreciated his attempts at keeping us safe, I wondered why that night, in particular, he chose to batten down the hatches.

However, I was the one who failed to tell him when he came to bed that she was still out AND I’m the one who stupidly silenced my phone which goes against my parenting rules when one of the kids is not at home. And the poor girl tried repeatedly to call me and text me which would have buzzed and lit up the room over and over, yet I snoozed away with no care in the world. Nice, huh? Apparently, she rang the doorbell a hundred times and banged on her sister’s window but no one heard a thing. She was abandoned outside with no spare key and no way to reach any of us. Talk about feeling like a big fat loser Mom.

Went out the next day and had spare house keys made, hid them all over and apologized repeatedly and begged for forgiveness. So...get the Super Parent Award polished up! I’m on my way to pick it up!