I wrote this way back in June and just never got around to sharing it. I am posting it now because when I said I was wiped out yesterday, I meant it. Hopefully the weekend brings some inspiration.

Just to refresh your memory, in May I had a week-long panic about adequately educating my children to protect themselves from strangers. This is a follow-up to that.

So one of my stranger danger library books is titled What Would You Do? A kid's guide to tricky and sticky situations, by Linda Schwartz. The boys and I recently sat down to read the book. As you can guess, the author presents scenarios for you to discuss with your children and then offers some safety tips on the following page. Henry and Wyatt gave excellent answers, although Wyatt wasn't really playing serious. He repeatedly ended every one of his perfect answers by adding that he would get a gun and shoot it off (oops)!

One of the last scenarios we discussed was Bag of Pills. It read:

While at recess, you find a small plastic bag of pills on the school playground.

I asked them what they would do. They both responded not to pick it up and tell a teacher. Yay, they know the answer! But in an ironic twist of parenting, do you know who didn't know the answer? Me!

Flashback to 1984, Twin Falls City Park, Acorn Learning Center morning recess. I find a paper bag filled with pink, blue, and yellow tablets. Being the bright and wise child that I was (some people would call it bossy), I talk three other children into taking one pill each. One of each color to be exact. And then I take three myself. One of each color.

It's all a little fuzzy, but at some point I confess to taking the pills. This may have been before or after my tummy started hurting and I couldn't eat my rice cake snack. Although I've never been sure if this is a separate incident, I remember being equally upset that my mom brought rice cakes on our snack day when all the other moms would bring sugar treats! At any rate, both the police and my mom (sans sugar treats) show up and there are a lot of questions.

It turns out there was a dog show in the park the day before and I'd found some dog vitamins. No harm, just a little tummy ache and a scared little girl. And yep, I'm pretty sure that one time when I was five set me straight for life.

And although Henry and Wyatt know the answer in the comfort of our living room, as their pill-popping mother, I can only hope that one day, they too find a bag a dog vitamins in the park. They'll be better off for it.