New day new problem!

Although not so much a problem as every mother's worst nightmare!

The background is that Dael has cellphone problems again (speaker and camera don't work and its not charging) although I don't think the cellphone is even a year old yet. So he decides to take his Bradley's phone. Bradley was using my new phone as he can get Mxit on it. I was using an old phone. So with Bradley walking home from school from Wednesday and with his brother using his/my new phone, I lent him my old phone so that I could contact him which left me without a phone.

However I needed my phone yesterday, so I decided to let him walk home from school without a cellphone even though I had some strong misgivings about doing so. Anyway it turned out that I had to run an errand and was in the vicinity of his school about 20 minutes after school had ended and was expecting to find him trudging home on the established route. I didn't find him! I travelled up and down the route, went home, went back to the school, spoke to the guys at the shop he goes past, went looking on alternative routes. Nothing! I was praying, stressing, trying not to cry. Then I phoned my mom. She freaked out, threw down the phone, jumped in her car, phoned my dad who was across town and stuck in traffic. He started worrying. My dad is 74 and my mom 67 and they were also really worried. We met up at my house and then went off in different directions. I was stopped at a stop street near my house just after this and saw my dad sailing past with Bradley in the passenger seat. What a relief!

He decided with all his 13 year old wisdom that since I wouldn't know about it (no cellphone, no brother at home, mom at work) that he would go straight from school with his friend on another route to his friends house and that was where they were. My dad found him walking on his way home to get changed, have something to eat and SKATEBOARD BACK to his friend's house after having left a note for mom at 4pm in the afternoon. All this happened in the space of an hour and a half. I think I have about 50 more grey hairs. And on top of it he blamed me 'because if you didn't come to fetch me no one would have known'. Needless to say we have had ANOTHER little chat about me knowing where he is at all times. And he has to write letters of apology to his gran and grampa for causing them to worry. Ah the joys of parenting!

Doesn't this face just say it all?