Bad mom again

It's Sunday night. We had a long full weekend of too much to do. We're all tired and worn out.

I had my usual Sunday night crap to do. We had the barest of pantries. There wasn't much there beyond 2 cans of black beans & 2 cans of tomatoes. Once I got laundry going, I headed off to the grocery. We needed a lot of basics. It was almost 10pm when I drove home.

Boy, did I get angry when I drove past our house. A's light was still on. It was 10pm and she was still up reading. If you have ever woken a "not-a-morning" child up for school after they went to bed 2 hours late, then you can understand why I was upset.

(Okay, I have to apologize to my whole family because I did the exact same thing 95% of my childhood. They weren't allowed to talk to me in the mornings because I was that bad. I am a mean, angry morning person. That just made me all the more upset because I know exactly what tomorrow morning is going to be like.)

I tore into the garage, practically threw the groceries to the floor and flew into her room, I think I started yelling (in a loud whisper so as not to wake the boys) the minute I stepped into the house. A immediately started crying. She forgot, she didn't realize it was that late. I responded with an "I-don't-care-if-you-forgot-you-are-not-allowed-to-read-at-night-ever-again. Turn-off-your-light-immediately-and-go-right-to-sleep!!!!!!"

As I put away the groceries and listened to her cry, I started to breathe again and decided that maybe I hadn't handled that well. She is only eight years old and I shouldn't hold her responsible for putting herself to bed at the correct time. I should have checked to make sure she had gone to bed before I left for the store. I am the parent, she is the child. A couple more deep breaths and I went in, apologized and kissed her. I hope she'll forgive me and go to sleep quickly.

After that, I need to go shopping for a kitchen alarm clock that will go off at 8:30 every night so I remember to tell her to go to sleep.