Mommy fails

I have a mommy-fail nearly every day. After five years, one would think I would have learned, but new things keep popping up.

Hannah is a popular kid on our block. She's five, and ten-year-olds come asking to play with her. Part of it is that we have a mammoth playset in our backyard. But I think most of it is that she is fun, and the older kids like to play with her. It's that simple.

So when she asks to play at their houses, I usually say yes. A couple of the neighbors have trampolines, and the main rule is that she is not allowed to go on any trampolines if I'm not there. Other than that, all the neighbor moms know who I am, so they know who to call if there's a problem, which there hasn't been yet.

However, a couple of weeks ago, Hannah came home after playing at a friend's house, and mentioned, in passing, that the friend's mommy and daddy weren't home. So we started a conversation about not playing at friends' houses if there is no adult. Since we hadn't made this clear before - it honestly hadn't occurred to me - I also let her know that this was our fault and she wasn't in trouble. Mommy fail.

The other day, after playing outside with friends, she came inside and asked if she could go to a friend's house. I said yes. After a few of minutes, I remembered that this was the same friend whose parents were not home the last time Hannah went over. So I ran out the door to catch Hannah before she made it to the house. I called to her as she marched down the street with a gaggle of kids, and she slowly made her way back to me as I went to meet her. I asked her to come straight home if the mommy and daddy weren't home. She agreed, and she went on her way. Mommy fail averted.

Then I turned around to see my three-year-old running down the driveway into the street. In my haste to catch Hannah, and my expectation that she would come back to the house instead of my needing to walk halfway down the street, I had forgotten to close the front door. So, yes, I averted one Mommy fail only to create another one. Dang.