Last night I left the kids at home on their own for half an hour while I went to meet Mr Frugal from work and popped to the shop to see what bargains I could find in the reduced section.
It’s not unusual for me to leave them at home these days when I’m just popping out and at 11 and 13, they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves for short periods. We have lots of rules that they have to follow but I’m not going to go into them today as that’s a whole other post – all you need to know for today is that our big rule is that we stay in touch when they’re on their own.
Anyway, back to last night when the kids were on their own for about half an hour.
When I left, all was calm with Miss Frugal on Skype with a group of friends and Master Frugal playing on the xBox with his friends. I met Mr Frugal from work and we popped into Tesco to see what the reduced section had to offer us but it seems that the professionals had beaten us to it as there was a bit of a crowd around the fridge where the lady was in the process of marking prices down even lower than they already were.
I’m not one to go into battle with the hardcore bargain hunters so after a few unsuccessful attempts to get close enough to see what there was, I gave up and we came away empty handed. I did manage to get some reduced cookies from the bakery section though so it wasn’t a complete waste of a trip!
We got home to find Master Frugal sat on the settee holding a soggy piece of kitchen roll over his eye and Miss Frugal rifling through the freezer with half the contents all over the floor.
Master Frugal’s situation looked more serious that his sisters so I took that one while whatever it was that his sister was up to was investigated by Mr Frugal. It turns out that the sore eye was a result of tripping up in his bedroom and landing face first on the bed frame and the wet paper towel was because that’s what the school dinner ladies do whenever anyone hurts themselves. I told him that he should have phoned us immediately so we could have come home straight away and his answer was this:
Mam! We didn’t need to phone you because Miss Frugal got me a wet paper towel – you couldn’t have done anything else, could you?
Turns out Mr Frugal was having a similar conversation in the kitchen about why Miss Frugal hadn’t called us:
There was no need as I gave him a hug and put a wet paper towel on it for him. I actually gave him a hug Dad and he wasn’t crying so a wet paper towel was all it needed.
When asked why the contents of the freezer were all over the kitchen floor, she responded with this:
I was looking for the frozen onions to put on his eye because I didn’t want to use the peas. I like peas and I don’t want to have to eat ones that have been on his eye, do I?
They’re right that the school do use paper towels for all sorts of injuries – there’s been many a time over the years that one of the kids has come out of school at the end of the day holding a wet paper towel over a random injury that they’ve acquired that day. Their healing abilities aren’t just limited to the odd cut or bruise either apparently as they’re given out for headaches and other random pains that children might develop during the day at school.
So the lesson of the day today is that a wet paper towel has magical healing abilities that surpass anything that your first aid box can offer you!
Or you could say that the lesson of the day is to be much more specific on what your children need to contact you about when they’re on your own because clearly, the ring me if you need anything or if you’re worried about anything at all didn’t apply in this case as they thought they had the situation under control!
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Ninjacat says
Ha ha yes I work in a school and yes the healing properties of paper towels are well known
Mummy Endeavours says
Oh bless this is sweet! A wet paper towel work wonders! x
Kara Guppy says
Oh bless them, at least you have been raised to be resourceful
@Mummy_loves says
Haha yes we use wet paper towel for everything nowadays, I think my kids think they are magic too! x
Sonya Cisco says
I have to say I employ the wet paper towel method at home too! Something cooling on a bump usually sorts out a bump, and if it doesn't then you know it might be a bit more serious!
mary says
A wet paper towel! So true, just bought back some memories from my school days.
Lovely to read your kids are looking out for each other x
Louisa says
They sound very mature and sensible. My kids are very aware of the magic of a wet paper towel and I sometimes use one myself to calm them down if they've had a bump. If only they worked for adults too!
Sandra says
I'm sorry but this did make me laugh! Sounds like they had the situation perfectly under control. Slightly more perturbed by the fact that you can get frozen onions though. Maybe school could have a whip round to buy some ice packs?
Mookie Moo says
Hehe, this made me smile to myself. 🙂 So sweet!!! 🙂 That just goes to show what a good parent you are as they must have been picked up a thing or two you've told them in the past and worked it out for themselves. 🙂
Mookieslife
globalmouse says
Aw how sweet that your daughter was looking after your son so well. Sounds like they're very capable (with wet paper towels!!) of looking after themselves!! 🙂
TheMadHouse says
Oh bless. They really are the perfect siblings. I remember those green wet paper towels from school too. We used them for everything and anything.
Sarah Ebner says
Honestly, this was what I think we all believed when I was a kid too. Yours sound eminently sensible and I'm glad they worked out almost exactly what to do!
Northumberland Mam says
Oh dear…This did make me chuckle. Wet paper towels do fix everything. My girls believe that too.
I'm glad Master Frugal was OK. x