Do you have a vivid memory of a childhood mishap that left you with a broken bone or a busted body that needed stitches?
My 13-year-old girl does.
It was a regular night when Avalon begged me to take her out for a treat at McDonald’s. I told her and my two sons they could get a little something if they rode their bikes and scooters to Maccas.
In the moonlight. Without parents supervising them.
This was a crazy concept in our home of routine. It was as if I had given my kids a million bucks.
They started screaming and shouting in joy and ran out to grab their wheels.
My husband was unimpressed and said it was a bad idea to let them go at night. I promptly shot back at him that we are helicopter parents and it was high time we let our kids have some freedom.
But something told me to follow my tribe secretly in my car as they set off on their Maccas mission.
All was going well until my daughter’s old-fashioned scooter began to wobble. Next minute, she was impersonating roadkill on the bitumen. Then, my 10-year-old fell off his bike while looking at the human roadkill in the form of his sister.
I came out of hiding, parked my car and sprang to the kids’ side. We had to stash the bike in bushes because I could not fit it in my boot.
Next, I was worried the bike would get stolen. So, I left the kids to guard the bike and drove home to get my husband to bring his ute back to the accident scene. His face was a distinct shade of red.
We went back and scooped up the bleeding kids. My daughter was crying and told me I left her to be murdered.
The drama!
I told the kids to have a nice, warm shower and go to bed. Because sleep fixes everything, right?
Fast forward to 1am and my daughter was tapping my arm in bed, telling me she was in a lot of pain. I knew I was in for a long stint at the hospital, waiting to get her wrist X-rayed.
The emergency ward is not for the faint-hearted. One woman had cut her middle finger and it was heavily bandaged.
She was clearly drunk, cracking herself up with laughter, giving the finger to anyone who walked into reception. My daughter received quite the education.
X-rays showed Avalon just had a bad sprain.
And I would like to say to my husband: “Yes, you were right.”
Sami Muirhead is a radio announcer, blogger and commentator. For more from Sami, tune into Mix FM.
