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Thursday, July 23, 2009

And The Mother of the Year Award does not go to.....

Me. I have gone back and forth on my decision to make the following post. Even though I know the story is ridiculous, I am still embarrassed and kind of feel like crap about the whole situation.
So.... here it goes. We have been traveling a lot over the last month, and traveling a lot= breaking routines alot which= crazy sleep deprived children who were so ready to be home. The first night I was home, getting Gabe to sleep was not fun. Usually we do our whole bath and reading routine and he goes right to bed. Well, since he has been sleeping with me for the last month on all of our trips, he was not fond of the idea of being in the crib again. After letting him cry for 1/2 hour in the crib, I finally went and got him and walked him to sleep.
Night numero dos-Gabe immediately starts crying again when I put him in his crib. I sit outside the door not knowing what to do, because I hate hearing him cry, but I also don't want to have him used to drawing out the bed time routine forever each night. So... I decided that I will let him cry for up to 1/2 hour and if he was still crying... I would reassess and make another game plan.
At this point I go and call my friend Amanda and notice that he stops crying about 20-25 minutes later and is sound asleep. Randomly a few minutes later, I hear a knock at the door. I open it and am very surprised to see a police officer. I hang up with Amanda and ask how I can help him. The first thing he asked me is if I have small children in the house. Being the freak I am... I panic and think "Did one of them fall out a window or escape or get kidnapped..... (all of you other freak moms know those crazy thoughts). After I tell him yes, he tells me that one of my neighbors called the police, because they heard a young child crying for "an abnormally long period of time" and they were "extremely concerned." I was seriously in shock that someone called the cops on us, but I remained very calm as I talked to him, because I obviously hadn't done anything wrong. The cop was actually very nice and understanding as I explained our situation. He also understood that since it was a hot night and all of windows were open (in townhouses very close to each other) that they were able to hear into our house much more clearly than on another night.
He is very understanding and leaves.... clearly he has more important things to get to. I am left feeling confused. Mad at a pesky neighbor for freaking calling the cops on me. I have no idea who did it, but obviously it was a neighbor very close to me who doesn't know me at all or have kids. Then of course all of my insecurities that I already have as a mom sink in and I start feeling like the world's crappiest mom... seriously... who has the cops called on them??? I am a playgroup mom. I am for the most part a happy, singing, silly mama who LOVES being with my kids. I love my kids more than anything. I know that I am no where near perfect and make many mistakes and lose my patience way too often... but I am pretty sure that I am not the kind of mom you call the cops on. To give credit to the person who called the cops.. they probably don't have children and maybe they were extremely concerned... but it would have shown far more concern to knock on my door to see how things were going like neighbors used to do instead of immediately calling the cops. So...... I am trying to let this not affect me and trying hard not to dwell on it, but it has been hard. So... when any of you mamas are feeling like you are having a bad parenting day take comfort when you think to yourself, "At least I didn't get the cops called on me like Kara."
Chris took this mugshot picture of me tonight and my best attempt at playing the role of a dead beat mama.

14 comments:

EmmaJ said...

OK, first, you are NOT a dead beat mother, not even close! I mean you actually live with your kids, so not a deadbeat. With that out of the way, I am so sorry this happened to you. Letting him cry is the right thing to do to get him back into his routine. Don't doubt that. I often expected the cops to stop by when I was trying to get Betty into her routine. Maybe next time you should play someone really loud music outside so they can call the cops for that instead. I am sorry Kara, you should not let this get to you. You are a great mom, we all know that. Hopefully you can look back and laugh at this some day. Thanks for sharing it.

Sam said...

I agree with Emma. You are a great mom. And calling the cops after 25 mintues? That's a little odd... maybe if it was like 3 hours or something. You are doing a great job. Love you :)

AJ said...

I don't see why you feel bad, Kara. It's not bad to have the cops called on you, if it was all a mistake. Obviously your child was NOT crying for an abnormally long period of time. Obviously the cop got corrected and left. So you didn't do anything wrong.

Warrior Princesa said...

oh my gosh kara!!!! i love it!!! it made me laugh so hard. you are an amazing mom first of all. second, i'm sure you heard the story of chris calling his mom a kidnapper in the parking lot? at least you didn't have an audience to your cop night. :)

Steve & Sarabeth said...

Wow, that's really annoying that a neighbor would do that. I would feel pretty upset too, if I were you, but seriously, you did NOTHING wrong. As hard as it is, try to not let it get you down. Your kids are so beyond lucky to have you!

Steve & Sarabeth said...

p.s. - I love the mugshot! You look like you're trying not to laugh!

Cami said...

WOW! I can't believe that. So sorry and I hope the kiddos are sleepy better now.

Amanda Nemelka said...

I can't tell you how many times I feel like the worst mom ever for doing x,y,z...Actually...just the other day I got done screaming at Chance (can't remember what he did) and two seconds later my Bishop knocked on my door (also my neighbor) and I'm thinking...Oh, did you just hearing me verbally abuse my child? You're one of the most patient moms I know...don't worry!!

Kara said...

Thanks for the support mamas. Even though I obviously know I am not a slacker mama, it feels good to have it reaffirmed. Better luck to all of you :).

Kelsey said...

my mom had the cops called on her for the exact same thing....with her 6th child. The cop searched our house and checked on each of us to make sure we were ok...we were, just a hot night, open windows, and a child that didn't want to go to bed...I'm sure it will happen to me soon enough.

Margaret said...

I'm a little late to this post, but I agree with everyone. That is ridiculous.
An I love the mug shot, very nice.

adrienne said...

That is absolutely crazy!! Your neighbors must have nothing better to do. Or they were just annoyed by the crying and figured that would fix it. They obviously aren't around kids very often. How awful. I'm surprised that no one has called the cops on me since there is often hysteric crying coming from our house because of sibling fights, time outs, or sleep time. And to top it off, I tend to yell (something I'm trying to work on). I'm sure it sounds awful! You are an AWESOME mama!!

Pack Perhe said...

I love you dearly Kara. It's easier to laugh because it wasn't me, but of course, we all have similar moments. We are psyching ourselves up to re-start sleep training in a few months... not looking forward to it to say the least.

Heather said...

Wow - stress on top of stress!

So sorry that happened to you. That cop must have felt like a jerk - especially if he has kids of his own.

Thanks for the laugh! You're such a good sport.