Baby Sister and Wandering Boy
Joe had a friend from high School and his three boys to Grandpa's pool for a swim with our children. After, Joe and I went upstairs to bathe off and put the baby to sleep--she struggled and so this took awhile. The children were all dry and sitting in front of a new Wii game when I went upstairs with towels.
About an hour later, the phone rings. It is Joe's sister, Aunt Beth (mother to cousin Lolly). "Do you know where Jonathan is?"
Bored, Jonathan had walked to Beth's house (a ten minute car ride from our house) to play with Lolly. He did this
barefoot. It is 90% outside. Also, as he neared Beth's house, a couple of Tongan girls noticed him red faced and huffing, barefoot, and stopped to ask him if he wanted a ride and he accepted one and led them to Beth's house. (A ride with complete
strangers).
I am sitting here baffled. Baffled and grateful. Grateful that nothing happened to him but a little burned feet.
When he came home I put on a serious face and cried--telling him how scared we were and how dangerous it can be to walk the streets barefoot. Then we came to the stranger part.
He is sitting on his bed while I write this anxious to be out of Time Out.
I am at a loss. How can I help him understand and be safe.
I am thankful that nothing happened with this adventure to my
wandering boy.
Baby Sister and Wandering Boy
3 comments:
Seriously, Julie, the VERY BEST book ever written on child safety is "Protecting the Gift" by Gavin De Becker. You should TOTALLY read it, you'll never regret it and I bet you'll be a walking commercial for it like I am. I feel so much more confident in helping teach Sophia how to stay safe after reading it. It's incredible.
I'm happy you had a happy ending too, btw :).
wow...i am so glad he is ok!! while it is a serious and scary thing now, it will make for a great story when he is all grown up and out of this stage!
That IS unnerving!
May I vent too? Most of my kids seem to get it, but one in particular, age 7, will not heed most of the counsel her parents give her. I let her go out and play right in front of our condo, "stay right where we can see you!" She went (in plain sight) over to a neighbor's condo (someone we don't know), opened their sliding door to see their cat, and was about to invite herself inside! Gah! As if we haven't had lesson after lesson about rules and safety (and respecting others' property). I would be horrified but unsurprised to find out she had gotten into someone's car. She's completely impulsive and we've had to strip her of sooo many privileges. It's really frustrating too because now she feels picked on and her parents are both at a loss. :o( We just keep praying that our kids will be protected, and rely on Heavely eyes to watch them when they stray.
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