Being a Working Mom is Difficult, Too

I gotta tell you what happened to me today. It made me really mad. I know who is behind this. You know my son, he is not as well behaved as he makes himself look. He has a tendency to get up on a Saturday morning, early and unlock the door and go outside to other people's houses. Embarrassing, but he has been grounded for about two months. He has a problem with doing what he is told. I guess this should be my clue to not letting this be my solution but you live and you learn - maybe I'm a good example of a bad parent?

The story unfolds this way, when I first moved in here, or was signing the papers, I commented to the lady doing the paperwork that it was going to be a problem that my son's bus got in 30 minutes prior to my middle child's bus. The lady at the office said that he could come in and wait for her, that there was a tv and he could watch cartoons.

Well, he does do what he is supposed to sometimes but has not on some occassions, he has gone running off to his friends house. Well, my girls go and get him and one day when he chose to not do what he was supposed to do, she told my middle child to remind me that it is illegal for my son to stay at home by himself. Well, like duh... Well I got angry, of course, and went and politely spoke to her and I did it very politely like but I wanted to be sure that she knew that I was most certainly aware that this would be illegal and that my son had never been instructed to do so but that he was supposed to go and wait at the office and apologized that he had come to her house and I'd be certain it wouldn't happen again. After this discussion she actually had the nerve to say, "Oh, he is a good kid and he can come play at anytime." Yeah, right.

Well, seems that she is friends with someone at the office - ooohhh, I'm so scared --- and today I received a letter from them saying that it has come to their attention that he has been told to come wait there and that they cannot let him come there. Well, I have a notion from where this news has come and why they are acting like it is such a shock. I've got half a mind to call them up tomorrow (yes, they are in on Sunday) to advise them that I had not simply made this up and that I was told this would be okay in the beginning when I first signed the papers to move in.

Yeah, you know, I should probably look at another solution to his after school situation but it seems rather silly to me to pay someone to watch him for a half an hour every day. Perhaps this is just the catalyst to make it happen but the way with which this happened was completely wrong...

My son has given me the most difficult time than any of my children. Boys are very difficult to raise. I didn't have to give my girls many spankings. I've tried time out, groundings and spankings and long, long discussions. He had a TV in his room, no longer. Today was the first day in a very long time that he got to go to the park and play.

This doesn't solve the situation but, good grief, I sure feel better now. Thanks. Being a working mom is very difficult, too.