Silly kid
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85135)
Shingle Springs, California
March 11, 2013 12:13pm CST
Friday afternoon I was stressed. Beyond stressed, really. I knew it was probably nothing, but until I heard the "alls well" I was stressed.
Friday morning around 11 AM I got an automated message from Cary's school. "If your child is absent, or if you dropped them off late, and you didn't report it, call the attendance line."
Huh?
The child is not absent, and he was not dropped off late.
Hm...
So I called the attendance line, naturally got a recording, and told them I dropped him off in front of the school around 7:40, and could they please find out if he's in school and let me know?
Then I e-mailed his teacher and asked her if he was in class.
Then I sat back and stressed for three hours until his teacher e-mailed me back.
By that time, school was out and I had texted Naomi, then called Naomi, and talked to Cary on the phone.
"Cary, were you late to class?"
"No."
"Um, Cary the school says you were late. Were you late?"
"Well you dropped me off late."
Hm, well ok, he does have farther to walk than Naomi, but still.
That's when I saw the e-mail from his teacher. Cary found out there was a band field trip, though he needed to go, found out it was only for 7th and 7th grade band members, and ended up getting to his first class after the attendance had already been sent in.
Dopey kid. You can't go on a field trip without a permission slip. lol
My intention was to have a little chat with him about telling mom the truth. Alas, I got home and Dearra wanted to try out the gluten free pizza at Steve's, there was all sorts of chaos, and I never got round to it.
Too late now.
At least it was all much ado about nothing.
5 people like this
22 responses
@roshigo58 (4859)
• Pune, India
11 Mar 13
Hi,
sometimes kids make silly mistakes and worried parents too much. But it is the duty of the parents to check their kids regularly that they are going to school regularly or not, are they are going to wrong direction. Parents should tell their children what is wrong or right. You are very caring parents.
3 people like this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
11 Mar 13
Awful isn't it? I panic every day when I pick them up and when I have located one the other has wandered off somewhere. My stress only subsides when I have both of them locked safely in the car. By the way, the mother is coming out for a visit. Thit! I'm scared. We have reached so far with aggression almost gone and now she will come with her nasty talk to disturb the peace as it were. I just have to take it as they are her children and she needs to see them and they miss their Mom, but when she returns from whence she came, he*l gonna pop and I will be back to square one.
2 people like this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
11 Mar 13
Yes, they do need to see her. I'm being a scaredy cat as I do not want her to go off on me. She's coming for 2 weeks but not staying with me.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157648)
• United States
11 Mar 13
Wow, what kids will do. . . maybe he forgot by the time you were asking him. A little adventure at the first of the day gets pushed to the back of the memory by the end of the day. He probably always says you dropped him off late. Have a good week this week, and no more missing kids that actually are right where they should be.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
11 Mar 13
hi dawn I am so glad it all turned out okay adn he was just a few minutes late. Too bad the band trip was not for his age b ut he should learn to get into his class and get co unted and let other issues go til later. But yes too late now.I think all kids maybe fib to mom once anyway so as long as he does not do it anyh mopre olkay .
2 people like this
@artemeis (4194)
• China
12 Mar 13
I know how you feel here but I for one appreciate such a process which is very lacking in our schools here.
In my country, children who are late on arriving or playing truants even, are never notified or reported. So, parents and teachers can never arrest the problems early enough to help their children from wandering into bad companies and habits. If only the school ministry could create an app where parents and schools can communicate with ease of a few buttons like informing each other when their charges are absent or need to be absent or even go on a school trip.
I believe like all system, it needs some time of fine tuning before it could be effective and not create unnecessary wrongful alerts causing panics, which is never the intention.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
11 Mar 13
What a scare!
There was a time the school called me to tell me one of my children was absent when they weren't. I stressed out, like you, until I got them to admit he was in class. He'd been in class all along so I have no idea why they counted him as absent. Just a silly teacher error.. but it scared the life out of me for a few minutes!
2 people like this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
11 Mar 13
Yeah that's not cool.. spent the whole day worrying for nothing. You'd think the school would take more initiative to locate a child if the parents doesn't think they should be absent. Especially a child that age that you know isn't purposefully skipping out on school like a high schooler could be.
2 people like this
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
11 Mar 13
Er three hours? Anything could have happened to Cary in that amount of time, you'd think with the way the world is today they'd respond much quicker than 3 hours? At least he was safe, but you could have been thinking all sorts in the mean time, talk about scare tactics! I'd more more cross with the school's lax attitude than him telling the truth.
1 person likes this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
12 Mar 13
That was stressful!!!
I'd panic if I got the news that my child is missing in school knowing for a fact that I safely brought him there.
But a child could be really so innocent to even mind the consequences of his action.
Going on a field trip without permission slip! Maybe on the one side it could be funny but not for the parents. But knowing the child is safe after all is a big, big relief.
I'd panic if I got the news that my child is missing in school knowing for a fact that I safely brought him there.
But a child could be really so innocent to even mind the consequences of his action. Going on a field trip without permission slip! Maybe on the one side it could be funny but not for the parents. But knowing the child is safe after all is a big, big relief.
@celticeagle (159359)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Mar 13
Usually is. I received a funny comment(those funny things that friends send ya. Whatever they are called)If I had your email so I could send it to you I think you would enjoy it. What it is is a recording on a school's phone from Australia. It says press(?) if you want to hit, slap or sware at a teacher, press (?)if you want us to raise your child, etc. and it goes on like that. It is pretty cute. I wonder if it is a real recording or just one someone congered up.
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
11 Mar 13
You brought it all back to me. Parenting, I sure don't miss it. Now I can just sit back and secretly smile as my kids relate the most recent child action causing
stress beyond measure. It couldn't happen to more deserving parents. Of course I only heaar about these after the fact, so there is no worry for me. If I was told before the happy ending I'd be pulling hair along side the parents. Blessing, to you with any luck you too will get to be the Grandma.
@trisha27 (3494)
• United States
11 Mar 13
Thankfully everything turned out okay and it was a simple mistake done by your son. But you should still have to the talk with him that no matter what, he should always be truthful with you. Funny that he forgot that he needed a permission slip to go to that band field trip though. I guess next time he won't forget. 
1 person likes this
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
15 Mar 13
At my kid's school, we don't get automated calls. But if there's something wrong with them, like not feeling well, or throwing up, I get a call asking me if I could get my son right away.
I think it's a similar stress as what you felt. I'm at work, it takes about 45 minutes to drive from work to their school and bring them home (what do I tell my boss for leaving work for 45 minutes?). And what do they do at home by themselves? Etc.
@toyota4k (1208)
• Philippines
12 Mar 13
Well, well, well. That's how concerned parents are for their children especially these days wherein we live in a modern world filled with weird and freak confrontations. I remember how worried i would be whenever my son doesn't come home earlier than I would expect. I would dial his CP and get mad without response but feel relaxed when i see him home at last.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
12 Mar 13
Sounds like you had a crazy day. I think you have to have a talk with his teacher and then both of you will tell him that he cannot go on a field trip without permission. I would not worry about the gluten free pizza. That is a non issue. The thing you have to deal with is Cary's lying.
@4ofmyown (1119)
• United States
12 Mar 13
Wow...that would have freaked me out! I don't get what took them 3 hours to call you back. God forbid if something bad had happened like a kidnapping that would have been 3 precious hours lost. I am sure you were very relieved that everything was fine. Kudos to you for seeing some humor alot of parents would have flipped out on their kids.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
13 Mar 13
Oh my goodness, there is nothing that I dislike more than those silly automated systems. When I was in high school, they had that and there were times that it would call and say that I was absent when I was in school. My mother would get really upset with me and it was all because of computer problems.
I just only wish that his teacher would have let you know sooner that he was in school so that you wouldn't have had to spend so many hours stressing about Cary's whereabouts.
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
12 Mar 13
Thanks for sharing in details, Cary and Naomi are your kids?
My grand daughter Subhi goes to St Joseph's 6 kilometers away, we have hired a car for her and 4 others near our home, the driver is extra careful, he takes them to school, brings back, drops at our gate, will call any one member from our house and handover her.
One day i her mom got a similar message from school, was scared as here there are many case of child lifting and abuse; she rushed to school, found her safe.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
13 Mar 13
Mom's job can be overwhelming, right? Sometimes, you just don't know which one to start or even how to start with it. This happens to all moms, i guess. We get to be pre-occupied all the time coz kids needs us all the time and sometimes, all at the same time.
