(He's not as innocent as he looks, I promise)Tuesday night is one I should just spend at home. Period. Matt is the exec. sec. in our ward, and so on Tuesdays, he's gone from 6 p.m. until whenever they get done. Well, our ward's night to have the building is on Tuesdays as well. Thus, all youth activities, most enrichment activities, and other activities (except the ward activities -- they usually plan for the weekends, thank goodness) are scheduled for Tuesday night. Well, this week the primary presidency decided to have a Teacher Appreciation Dinner at the church. And then an enrichment mini-activity followed the dinner. I signed up to do a craft at the enrichment activity, and who can't pass up a good, free meal! Usually, the enrichment committee plans a kid's class, but since this was a mini-activity, they didn't, and I knew they weren't go to have one. I figured I could handle myself and my son for a couple of hours, so I packed up Jackson with a few toys and off we went.
I will NEVER EVER EVER do that again! I felt like a horrible mom. My child was the one who kept running off, and within a few minutes I would be scouring the halls looking for him. Most of the time he ended up down by the bishop's office near Matt or with Matt or with the bishop. Either way, I continued to torture myself and stayed for nearly 2 hours exhausting myself trying to keep "tabs" on my 3-year-old. I'm so embarrassed. I know I looked like the mom who can't control her children. Jackson either won't listen, or he just doesn't understand. I think it's a mixture of both. Next time, I might show up to the dinner, but I'll just pick up my craft and go home. It'll just be easier that way.
Oh, and then my brother, who doesn't know this happened, sent me an email this morning with a link to a news story about a little girl being abducted (and assaulted) from an LDS church house in Maryland. Great. If I didn't have guilt and worry (which I did), I do now.
I had a very similar experience last night at the Stake Youth Film Festival Activity. I had to bring Luke because Erik was out of town. I thought he would just sit on my lap and watch the movies. No way. At one point I lost him completely when he ran out a door at the other side of the cultural hall as the leader simulatenously yelled "Get Pizza out of the kitchen everyone!" And 200 kids stormed through the doors and Luke was lost in the mess. It was the scariest five minutes of my life. Never again. I'll just stay home in the future.
ReplyDeleteAMEN to that! we lost jacob once in a jcpenney store and i almost have a heart attack. good thing i told him when he can't find me or his dad to yell for my name which he did and we found him after 5 minutes of guessing where he went. goodness!
ReplyDeletehey i think this is a good idea! check this website: http://www.tommiguard.com/
That incident in Maryland has had a big impact on our ward here in terms of kids and being in the buildings. It's scary how things like that can happen in a place that you would think is totally safe. I've just decided that if at all possible, Carson is not going to the church for anything other than play group or church. Even if there is a nursery, I would still worry myself to death.
ReplyDeleteThe mall nearby has a play area for little kids. It's great because everything is padded and I have a thrill-seeker, but it's bad because it has three exits and I have a thrill-seeker. I've had to retrieve Kimberly from the Candy Factory, the Build-a-Bear Workshop, Motherhood Maternity, and Auntie Anne's Pretzels. That makes it sound like I am a terrible mom, but she is seriously fast on her feet.
ReplyDeleteAs for the guilt and worry, I have to remind myself when I get too paranoid and imaginative that "Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once." I have to do my best to protect my family but then not get caught up in fear.
I think we've all been there with the terrible mom guilt. And I think we all know that it's not true about you! I, too, get so embarassed at church when I have to chase Macie around. Why can't kids just sit still!
ReplyDeleteI think all kids get lost at church at some point. We lost Hayden at a Halloween party in the old Wymount ward. Zach and I were both in charge of it and he got lost. People thought we were crazy for looking all over for him like "it's the church...what's the worst that could happen."
ReplyDeleteZach lost Owen at church on Sunday. Turned his head for a second, and he was gone. It took us 15 minutes to find him - some teacher let him in her classroom and forgot to tell anyone. Oh, and while we were looking our friends told us about that news story you linked. So of course I was bawling while looking for Owen.
Kids are so hard at church and everyone who has kids knows that. Don't feel bad. I try to leave the kids home when I know I have stuff, but sometimes it's just not possible.