1 Mother 2 Another

Wednesday morning Maddie came downstairs
for school with a yellow post-it note stuck to her shirt. Upon
closer examination, I saw that the note said – in
Maddie’s handwriting – “Madeleine Milner
214-555-1212”.


“Maddie, why are you wearing a note stuck to your chest with
your name and phone number on it?” I asked her. My mind, of
course, was playing through all the worst-case scenarios: she heard
a kid was bringing a gun to school and she wanted her body to be
identified later. A strange man followed her into the restroom
yesterday and asked her to write down her info on a piece of paper.


You know, the sort of things you all think about.

“Well, I have lots of friends at
school that I want to have play dates with, and you keep telling me
that you don’t know how to get in touch with them, so I
thought that with my note my friends could just learn my number and
call me instead,” she said matter-of-factly.


Clearly my child is sick of my excuses and is taking matters into
her own hands. And in my defense, the school has still not issued a
directory so short of yelling “Hey, Alex’s
mommy!” across the parking lot, it’s not going to
happen.


I wanted to work with Maddie without advertising to all the
potential pedophiles out there, so she and I came up with a
solution. We cut paper into small rectangles and created
“calling cards” for Maddie to carry. On it is written
her name, my name, and her phone number. The cards are tucked into
her backpack, and if she wants to hook up with a friend she can
simply get the paper out and pass it on.


I thought that solved the matter quite neatly, and I could see
Maddie was quite proud of her new cards. Haven’t received any
calls yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.


Hmm. Maybe I should make up some real cards for her, with her email
address and phone number – maybe a copy of a cool pictures
she’s made.


Do I smell a potential Christmas present?