Coffee, Strangers and Being Late

       

         Once a week I bring the kids to school so Rob can have discipleship time. So I got up today to do just that. I put my hair in a pony and my slippers on, I had every intention of coming home and crawling back in bed. Then I made my bed as I waited for the kids to come downstairs dressed. As every morning I got my cup of coffee ready. We headed to school.
         Last friday we received two letters from our children's school informing us that they had respectively 13 and 17 tardies for our sons. Remember we have 3 kids, so it seems L is never late? I'm not sure if this is indicative of lazy parents or the traffic in Austin but i'm going with the traffic. I talked to Rob about how late they are when there is lots of traffic and he said at the most 3 minutes and the kids are still putting up their things. Now I see lots of discrepancies in this with times, walking to classrooms and going for a late slip but I don't need to fight this. As parents we decided that it is our responsibility and we will just get them up earlier.  We are going to make a conscious effort to leave earlier and get them there on time. The last line of the letter asks us to set up a meeting to discuss continuation at the school, what? I'm going to let Rob handle that!

           That is the reason we headed out so early. In the morning we usually listen to books or podcasts but this morning we got to talking about strangers. At the park yesterday there was a weird man walking around looking at kids so I was on alert. I wanted to make sure I have been a good mom and taught my kids about not talking or going with strangers. We went over all the goodies about puppies and candies. They assured me they knew all about that. I know I talked to L&S about it but E is much younger so I wasn't sure if I had been good about teaching the youngest .Then we started onto who can take you from school. Who is it OK to leave with and when you need to ask the office to see if mom or dad have called. They know that there are only 2 people who can pick them up without asking the office. Great, my kids are smart, but what if. So what if Gram came to pick you up? Yes! and why? Because we know she loves and cares for us and she is your mom. It was yes but also because Rob and I have discussed it with my mom and dad and given them that authority. What about aunts and uncles? No, because even though they love us you need to tell us we can be picked up by them. What about Grandma and Grandpa. This one they weren't sure about. I said no (i'll most likely get told off for this) but they haven't invested the time in our kids for Rob and I to feel safe if they ever just picked them up. Then we talked about safe words and what they mean. But I was assured that S knew who and what was OK. I'm wondering if I should test them this afternoon? It will be like they do on TV when they see if the kids really follow what their parents said. I wonder if that candy is to much to pass up? I do know that if someone offered me a puppy I just might see if they really have one. I'm scared to find out what my kids would do but at least we talked about it.