My kids were all fighting - completely normal behaviour here on a Saturday morning. I was tired and cranky and I *may have* yelled at them all to get out of my room and go back to their own rooms. Miss 7 took offence to my cranky response and headed to her room in tears.
Apparently it's 'always' her fault. Apparently I am mean and nasty. Apparently I am the worst mum ever.
In any event, she packed a small backpack - with a change of clothes, shoes and a photo of CP and I - donned a hat, and announced loudly that she was going to run away.
Our nearest neighbours are 60m away, and they are my in laws. After that, there is my friend Leesa, who is about 10km away. There is a whole lot of nothing between here and there.
So I waved goodbye to my eldest child, reminded her that I loved her and that she was welcome home whenever she was ready. I reminded her of the crocodiles under the grids, and the bunyips at the dam (more for the benefit of her siblings, who were watching in amazement). I told her to be careful of brown snakes and goannas, and to put on lots of sunscreen, because in this weather she will burn to a crisp. I reminded her that school was on Monday, and that she would be needing a uniform. I told her I was looking forward to emptying her bank account and spending it in NZ when we head there in May. I told her I hoped she would keep in touch by email, and that if I hadn't heard from her by this afternoon I would come to find her in case she had died of dehydration. I reminded her that if she wanted a lift into town, more traffic was likely to pass on our northern driveway, and that was assuming she didn't get kidnapped by a stranger beforehand.
And then I grabbed my camera and took a photo of her leaving.
That's her about 45m from home.
Less than 10 minutes later she was home and happy again. Apparently the thought of dying out there in the wild was all too much for her. And I have all my babies back together again under one roof.
It was touch and go there for a minute.
Have you ever had a run away child? Did it all end happily? Did you ever run away as a child?
My eldest used to pack her bag and go to her godparents house 30m up the road. I would ring and let them know she was coming. She would come home after came and drink.
ReplyDeleteI remember running away when I was about 10. I packed my suitcase and headed off through the paddocks until I got sick of it and headed back home. The worst part was that Mum hadn't even noticed that I was missing!!!!
ReplyDeletesometimes I WISH they would think about running away?! ;-) nope, its NEVER entered their minds ever!
ReplyDeleteI tried once, but didn't get further than the end of the block...
ReplyDeleteHaha, I can't help but laugh at this one. Your response was gold!!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog via fb via your 'viral photo';)
anyhow last year our daughter (10 then) decided to take off, I wasn't too sure how to handle it (you know, thinking the worst) but I decided to play cool, and thinking of the Uncle Toby's ad, I 'casually' said, "but what will you eat?" as she headed off into the bush she stated, "I'll be like Bear Grylis and eat bugs" Yeah she came home about an hour later, probably less but seemed longer.