Confessions of an Imperfect Mom...

Okay, I did something bad...

This is probably news to you... but I am imperfect... and make mistakes.... and sometimes get caught...  Shocking, I know!  You probably didn't expect that.  ;)  Well, this is one of my worst mistakes (thus far) in my short parenting career.  It's embarrassing and heart breaking for me - and I have a 5x7 piece of yellow paper signed by a police officer that documents it.  I am not proud of it, BUT because I am DETERMINED to learn something from my mistake (and maybe you can learn from my mistake too) and turn a negative into a positive - I am going to tell you about it.

Here's what happened...

You know those times when you TOTALLY tune your kids out.  Well, this was one of those times.  I was driving distracted - and yes, a phone was involved - I am not proud of this.  I was handling a very important situation involving one of our rental units - the kind of conversation that could not wait the 15 minutes it was going to take me to get where I was going, or so I thought at the time. 

Well, I just ignored the back seat for about 5-10 minutes as I handled this most pressing call.  Then... there were the cop lights in my rear view.  I wasn't speeding, I was on my phone... that must be it.  Unfortunately, that was not it...  IT was the cop pulling me over for an UNRESTRAINED CHILD in my vehicle.  My heart hit the floor board.  She was buckled, I did it personally before leaving the house.  "No", he said, "I came up next to you and saw no shoulder strap".  No, she was buckled, I adamantly said to him.  He takes my license and registration to his car.  I turned to those girls in the back... now sitting perfectly still, shoulder straps in place and quiet, of course... and tears came to my eyes.  I swear to you that Aubrey was buckled, she was probably misbehaving in the back seat (like I said, I really have no idea what they were doing), but she WAS buckled.  And, mind you, if I  was paying attention I NEVER would have stood for her leaning forward and being rambunctious.

At this point, my heart is broken and I am hoping for a warning and I am beyond mortified that from the outside of my vehicle it looked like my baby girl wasn't buckled in her seat and I was being a negligent mother.  You know the kind - the kind you shake your head at when you see her kids all over the back seat, the kind you roll your eyes at when she isn't controlling the behavior of her children, the kind you think "I would NEVER...." - that was me!  That cop had reasonable suspicions that my child was not buckled in my car and that breaks my heart.  Well, he came back with a ticket -- I assumed it was a citation and so I then began to adamantly explain my situation again and again - stating I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let my child ride unbuckled... ask them... let them tell you... you can't give me this ticket... the shoulder strap was behind her because it hits her in the face...  Well, he proceeded to "go off" on me at that point and let me know that an improperly restrained child is the same ticket as an unrestrained child.  He said he had intended to warn me, but because of my adamant attitude, I was now getting the ticket.  GREAT!  For the record, I NEVER argue with cops because normally, I am guilty... this time... I was not guilty and was attempting to plead my case.

Ugh!  In my mind, this is the worst ticket you can get as a mom.  I plan to fight it fully and have my whole speech in place in my head.... but it doesn't ease my mind for those 5-10 minutes when I was distracted and it appeared to those around me that my kids were in danger in my own vehicle.  I am determined to learn something from this - to make this a life lesson for me.  It was my wake up call of sorts... maybe, just maybe, this happened for a good reason.  Maybe down the road another couple thousand feet, someone was going to pull out in front of me and my baby, goofing off in the backseat, would have been hurt or worse.  You know what?  That call was NOT important... nothing is more important than the safety of my babies.  My phone is now put away in the car... I won't use it, because seriously, whatever it is, it can wait!  AND the girls have shiny new booster seats that puts that shoulder strap in the perfect position across their little chests.  It's safety first for this reformed criminal mommy!

So... anyway, if you call my cell phone and I don't pick up... you'll know why.  I am safely transporting my beautiful daughters to their next adventure!