Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Something I Said I Would Never Do

Yesterday was a busy day. I cleaned as much as I could in the morning, prepared our Brownie meeting in between the cleaning/taking care of the kids and remembered our school district was putting on a Health Fair for the students and families. I called up one of my playgroup mommies from church asking if she would want to go with me since there was freebies! She said yes so I went to pick her up.

It was 2:30 when the 6 of us finally got to the administration building. I was a little worried about us showing up so late because my minivan only holds 7 so I didn't know how I was going to take them home. I told her we'd need to leave by 3:30 to be sure we beat the bus to my house because the kids would be home by 3:45-3:50. We lost track of time, the boys were having a good time and the next thing I knew it was 3:40. I think I threw the kids in the van in like 2 minutes flat and then we flew to my house. We actually followed the bus home and she dropped off my kids who ran to the door trying to break it down not even noticing we were behind the bus.

When Alex realized we were pulling in the driveway, she ran over to the garage door, entered the code and went in. Don't know why I was so worried!! Geesh! I told Camille I would be back and went in to talk to Alex and Dom. I explained to them that I only had enough room for 1 more person in the car and I needed to take Camille and her son home so I wondered if Alex would be ok with staying home alone for about 20 minutes so I could run them into town. Well Dominic didn't think it was cool that Alex could stay home and he couldn't. He didn't want to come with me at all and made a stink. So I told them both they could go ahead and stay home but they had to be big kids and follow my rule of not going to the door if anyone rang or knocked. They had to hide. lol They agreed. They also had a cell phone to call me on if they were scared or something was going on.

I went back, got in the car, told Camille the plan, and we left. lol! I can't believe I did it but they are almost 9 and 6. Alex is very mature and Dominic has really grown up as well. We drove to town and dropped them off and I came right back. 10 minutes there and 10 back. I had a 1,000 questions when I walked in. Interrogating if anyone had called or came by, what they did, etc. Alex says "Mom, you weren't gone long, we just watched TV. We were FINE!"

I called Daddy and told him what I had done. He wasn't happy because we had recently discussed leaving Alex home for short errands if she wanted to and he was totally against it. I had asked Alex about then and she said it would be fun so I was pretty sure when asking yesterday she'd say she wanted to. I know sometimes the kids hate running errands. I would never leave the 3 younger ones home with them. I think though maybe for short trips to the bank or a drive thru we'll probably try this again. I must be starting to loosen up because I swore I'd never let them stay home alone till they were 12. lol

4 comments:

Lucia's Mom said...

Sabrina, you know I think you're great, but that does seem a little crazy to me ... sorry! Kids that age just can't problem solve very well. Don't you have a neighbor for things like that?

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

Good for you! I think that it is less about age and more abobut matuirty level... it ssounds like it went fine, and as long as they are aware of the rules.... I am sure that they will get a lot out of you trusting them too!

Kris said...

Honestly I think it really depends on the child.. and if you think Alex is mature enough at 9 to be home alone for 10 minutes... I won't say anything against it. I don't remember what time my mom started leaving me while she was at work.. I stayed w/ a great aunt at first, but I know she left me alone pretty early. I know by 13 or 14 I could stay home overnight when she worked nights a few times.

What was crazy was my babysitter leaving me to watch her kids (all younger than me and there were like 3 or 4 of them lol) when I was 6 and 7. When she got caught I was moved lol. I did know what to do, but still thinking back...

Sabrina said...

I know it really does seem crazy! Alex is mature though. I know she knows the correct things to do if an emergency should arise. Dominic is only 6 but he has really changed with Alex. They used to fight alot but now he sorta looks up to her because she is bigger and smarter than him. :) I know Alex has said alot of her friends go home off the bus and have a key to get in. That's when I started wondering if maybe I was a bit too uptight. My sister started having her 9 and 6 yr olds come home this school year for 2 hours after school until she got home and her significant other is a police officer. Apparently there are no laws in KS so you just have to use your best judgement.

I honestly don't see this happening very often. As far as neighbors, we live in the country. Alot of these people work which is another reason I figured they'd be fine. We are not in town and the only people that rarely go up and down our road live out here.