by Raven Madd

Created on: September 26, 2008   Last Updated: July 29, 2009

I see those commercials about parenting on t.v. and think yeah in a middle class subdivision sure. Being a single mom I often drag myself a mile and a half on foot in the winter and in the summer I ride a very cool electric schwinn scooter (it does 15mph love it!) to my somewhat physical blue collar job. I'm 34 and left my husband two years ago. For the first time I stood on my own. I realized I can survive with my nine year old daughter.

Now I said all that to I guess show that I am very much a "poor" person. To Carma, and me. . . we are very rich. Like I said I walk or ride a scooter to work everyday, well almost , I work on piece rate so I have to move to make money. I know though I love what I do. I find myself though as a parent learning everyday. When we moved in here I set normal rules for her like no playing in hallways and don't talk to strangers, you know they normal stuff. Now if she is outside running around playing a game with ten kids I'm fine with that, but here recently she has been hanging with a girl two years older then her... yeah. Let me elaborate, this little girl yes a nice one. . . at times, but very much going through puberty quite early being blessed with every fathers nightmare of a body. Anyway, the most important rule is my daughter isn't allowed to go to the corner gas station without an adult, or just walk around with no destination... Cruising on foot if you will.

Well, the other afternoon I walked outside to check on her and take her to the gas station, when low and behold she was walking back from the gas station with her new best friend. Anger crashed through me like a tsunami. It must have burst out of me when she saw me and weighed her tiny head with shoulders cowaring, knowing she messed up big time. Her friend was well aware of my rule thus infuriating me even more. After the brief harsh mom voice question of ' what the hell are you doing?!'
They both went with a story of needing to throw something away in the dumpster behind the gas station. Wow! Girls thats an awful story. . .

As I mentioned our place is located in a high traffic area, thus increasing that terrible nightmare of her coming up missing. . . I have a fantasy of locking her up in a keep safe type room so no bad hits her, but I now realize she has cut 'the cord'. Now after I lost my temper and marched her home, terrible thoughts raced through my head. I finally talked to her and asked why they went there instead of using the three dumpsters in the complex

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