OMG! this is good!
8 bites into lush apple pie!
Speaks for itself?
Yesterday was a strange day. I was defiant, and cranky and felt like throwing myself at the wall. So I did, kind of.
7 had been invited to a surfing day with some new friends from her school, so Fitty and I and the boys decided to head down the beach mid-morning to check it out. Yes it was my idea, and yes 7 was with a parent we didn’t know so I wanted to make sure she was ok. Call me paranoid but the child is only 12 years old. Turns out the other parent had decided that it was FINE for the girls to hang around unsupervised for 5 hours at the beach!
We drove down and Fitty 6 and 8 headed for the skate bowl and I ducked across the road to pop a script into the chemist. There I met 7, her friends and the new friends’ parent, who informed me of the plan. I was slightly caught off guard, as this isn’t something I would have allowed a 12 year old to do. I said we’d check it out with Fitty, but that I understood that we were there to pick 7 up? I was very confused and a bit upset that if we hadn’t gone down to the beach, this other parent wouldn’t have informed us at all that 7 was unsupervised by an adult at a busy tourist spot. (I might add this was also a place where 2 teenage girls were abducted and murdered several years ago.)
Yeah, I’m paranoid, I’m over-protective. It’s true. I have an unbelievable amount of fear for the unknown things that can happen. I am scared that the minute I turn my back, a car will come along and wipe out a kid. If I leave them unsupervised, they will be abducted or end up with a needle sticking out of their arm. I’m not insane, and I do allow myself to be talked into not being so frightened. But I was still pissed off that this parent was making assumptions that we would allow 7 this much freedom. We (all the parents involved), talked it over and decided it would be ok. But I wasn’t ok at all….
Once I’m pissed off about something, one of two things happen. I get over it or I don’t.
I didn’t. I was upset. I was cranky, and most of all I was worried about 7. I remembered 7’s mother at the same age, (12) and became even more frightened!! It’s one thing to raise your own children and have all this stuff to deal with, but when you think about step children, you have a whole other parental unit to worry about. Just exactly what values and morals are they getting at the “other” home? What ideals are they absorbing from the other people in their lives? I know my ex is not always a model parent! I’m not saying I’m perfect or anything, I just seem to need to worry endlessly about the kid’s safety, and what’s going on in their heads.
We (I) decided we’d all have lunch at the beach, and the whole time I searched for 7 and her friends. “Is that them, there in the water?” Needless to say, we knew where she was and that she was “safe”. Fitty is used to me being paranoid and over protective and does his best to reassure me that things will be ok. It helps, but because I was upset I decided to eat something nasty….
Off to the bakery we went, where 6, 8 and I indulged our sweet tooth for the first time (in my case), for literally months! 6 and I had a chocolate eclair each, and 8 had an apple pie, hold the cream. (I love that he didn’t have cream, shows he is making smarter food choices all on his own, even when he has a free pass for a cheat!) I was unable to finish my eclair, it seemed to stick in my throat. 6 was more than happy to eat it for me. But it didn’t stop there.
Later in the evening Fitty made the kids and himself spaghetti bolognese, one of my faves, and I tried not to have it. I did. Really. I was going to have an avocado, but when I cut it up it was hard in the centre! I was so hungry I just had a little of the sauce and a tiny bit of pasta.
So, how did that all work out for me you ask?
I am paying, (and then some) for my day of excess. I didn’t believe that a little jump off the wagon, could result in such pain. My tummy ached, waking me every few hours. Just goes to show that eating healthy is an addiction my body is unwilling to give up! Oh yeah, and my toothache came back. Yeah, the one I haven’t heard from since I changed my diet? Well it came back last night just to teach me a lesson. “Stay away from that crap” it said.
And I listened good….
Does my bum look big in this?
AT HOME WORK PLAY 
When my (minor) children go somewhere in other peoples’ care, I always clarify that they don’t have permission to leave the designated area, the house, the park, what have you. You might give that a whirl, because when they call home to ask if they can go to the beach, you can assess the situation, declare your terms, speak to an adult, and not be shocked the way we all are at times. (Like when I found out my child on a playdate had a whole other playdate at a house I am not familiar with, with a child I do not like! Rawr!)
About the diet, people will never believe you can have such a reaction until they experience it. Essentially, the longer you eat healthy, the worse the effects, and also, you find yourself saying things like, “These ___ used to taste so much better…” (But they didn’t.) By the by, eclairs sound GREAT! 😛
And about the surgery, you can always swear to me, dammit.
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You’re awesome! Of course when it’s MY kids, I always do the leg work. If I haven’t met the other parents and checked out the house etc, they just DON”T GO, but seeing as my youngest is now 15, and my other boys 18 and 23, my worries are multiplied to include drinking, drugs and accidental pregnancy!
I know my fears come from losing my 3rd boy, James. He was stillborn. Having buried one child, I really don’t want to repeat the experience, and it’s made me slightly mental I guess.
Thanks for your support, dammit! 🙂
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Sounds like I would have worried too seeing as there was history of people being abducted and murdered there. It’s normal for a mum to be slightly mental when it comes to looking after children. I’m 30 and my mum still gets pissed off when she reads what I’ve been doing!
As for the food: You are a very, very bad girl (woman)! 🙂
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