Typical Sunday Night

Last night I drove Sweets home back to her dad's.  (She makes sure to let everyone know her home is with mom, not dad!)  We were a little later than usual, but I was fortunate and had a friend volunteer to stay with the other kids so they could get to bed.

It is about 40 miles to Sweets' house from mine, and it takes 40-45 minutes to get there.  About 8:15pm, I called her dad to let him know we were almost there.  He didn't answer.  At 8:29pm, I called again.  This time he answered and I told him I was in front of his house.

He said he was in the neighborhood and would be there in 10 minutes.  I asked him if he could please come any faster.  He said 5 minutes, and we hung up.  At 8:47pm, he finally pulls in.  Sad part is, it probably would have been even later if I hadn't asked him to come faster!

He gets out of his car by himself.  No Lil Sis!  At least he was in a good mood!  Bad news is that he had to go "pick up" Lil Sis still.  I'm not sure where she was (probably at a friend's or cousin's), but why wasn't she at home at almost 9pm on a school night?  Sweets is in 5th grade, but Lil Sis is only in 1st grade.  It's no wonder they are both tired at school!

If this were an isolated incident, it would not be a big deal, but this is almost a weekly occurrence.  That's a perfect case of parenting to minimally adequate standards, all the law requires to return a child to a parent!