She's doing this solo.
Salem is pretty long, north to south, and I work in the far SW corner of town and live in the far NE corner of town, so this is quite a trek for her. She's got a youth pass and I left her $10 for lunch (she wants to have lunch at the mall downtown.) She's going to text me when she gets on and off the bus, etc.
When she gets here, we're heading over to Costco for some shopping. They have lots of samples at dinner time, so we should be able to get dinner for free as we wander around the store. If not, the $1.50 hot dog with 20 oz drink will help.
This last school year she was continually picked on and harrassed by lots of kids. She missed over 90 days of school because she'd get so stressed out about having to face more crap at school that it would make her physically sick. So now, along with the beginning stages of agoraphobia she's got a huge lack of self confidence. I figured that since I can trust her to handle herself well when she's downtown (we have a really nice downtown) this might be a good boost to her self confidence and help her feel more confident in general about getting out of the house.
We had the usual talk:
What if a guy tells you he can't find his puppy or his kid? Do you help him?
No, Mom, I know. I'm not a dork.
Ok, what if a guy asks you for directions.
Mommmm. I know.
Ok, so what if he doesn't say anything but he grabs you.
Then I yell FIRE!!
Why not yell for help?
Nobody pays attention to HELP. C'mon Mom, I know this stuff already.
Ok, one more. What if he sneaks up behind you and sets you on fire?
Then I yell FIRE!
No. You Stop, Drop, and Roll. ...Gotcha!
Yeah, then I kick him in the nuts.
...She's ready.
It does sound like she has the basic survival skills down. I hope that Rachel doesn't lose her sense of humor during these trying times of growing up. Kids can be soooo cruel at school.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear how the trip went.
Hang in there!