So I Open The Door, And There's The Police ...

Not long ago, I wrote a post about the choices kids make.

The good, and bad.

At the time, one of my kids had made a good choice.

Last night, the other one made one that wasn't so good.


Boys were downstairs with a friend.

I was upstairs in the bathroom.

Suddenly, the phone started making this strange ring.

I thought it was the boys, messing around with the phone, so I yelled down from the top of the stairs for them to stop.

They said they weren't the cause of it.

I found the phone, answered and heard something along the lines of;

'This is 911, someone from this number just called the emergency line.'

My jaw dropped.

He'd done it!

He'd actually done it!


Through gritted teeth, I answered, 'Oh REALLY!?!', as I immediately headed for the basement.

I told the 911 operator that I assumed it had been my 9 yr old son who had made the call, as I looked at Adam and asked, 'WHY did you call 911?!'

'I didn't MEAN to!', came the wail from my boy, who KNEW at that moment he had done wrong ... BIG TIME!

Lines were crossed. Boundaries demolished.

I was pissed.

The 911 operator heard it in my voice too. I know she did.

You can't hide that kind of pissed.

I just couldn't believe, that after all the times he'd 'threatened' to call 911, because although it wasn't an emergency, for whatever reason, he felt he was being treated unjustly, because I'd said no, or stop, or wouldn't do or give or ... whatever it was he wanted at that moment.

Or if he was arguing with his brother.

We had talked about it. Many times.

Exactly what the emergency service is for, and what it's not.

And yet, after all our talks, here he'd gone and done it.

Arrraaaggghhhh! Wrong choice!


So I ask her if she'd like me to put Adam on the phone, to explain WHY he called, and she said no, that wasn't necessary, but that all 911 calls have to be followed up with a police visit, and they would be there shortly.

She also confirmed that there wasn't an actual emergency.

I clarified that it had been nothing more than a child choosing to do something he shouldn't have.

Then, I got off the phone, told Adam the police were on their way, and suggested it was time for the friend to leave.

Then, we waited.

During that time, the seriousness of what he'd done, sank in for Adam.

Regardless WHAT the police said, he already knew he was in trouble as far as I was concerned.

He was extremely upset, nervous, and despite reassurances from Alec and I, was convinced the police were going to take him with them.


About 20min later, the headlights turned up the driveway.

Alec, not about to miss out on THIS, shouts from his window perch, 'There's TWO of them!'

So, I open the door, and there's the police ...


I invited them in, asked Alec to leave the room with the dog, and asked Adam to come down off the stairs, and into the room, and speak to the officers.

He reluctantly explained what had happened.

He had dialed, and hung up immediately, thinking that someone would have to answer before the call would go through.

He was wrong.

The police were very understanding.

They asked him a few questions, we chatted a bit, and they shared that the call they had before ours, was for the exact same reason.

I think that was an attempt to make BOTH of us feel better lol.

They also had a serious discussion with Adam about the importance of understanding the rules and use of the 911 system. And that what he did was wrong, but he wasn't in trouble.

He apologized.

I also shared how, 'I'm going to call 911' has sometimes been used as a threat.

They had a serious discussion with him about that as well.


I thanked them for that, and said I hoped hearing it from someone OTHER than his mother would now make it real.

I also thanked them for coming, and having the talk that they did.

Adam thanked them for not taking him away.


After they left, I told Adam I hoped he'd learned his lesson.

And that if he EVER thought of doing that again, when there wasn't an emergency, that he'd better think twice, because now, HE was in their SYSTEM, and maybe next time, he wouldn't be so lucky, and he WOULD end up leaving with them.

Yeah.

Tough Love. I'm all over it.

K.