The Seavey Family Blog

I find some of the stupid things my mother did while raising me amusing, some sad – and some down right horrible. This is one of my favorite to tell :

First, you have to picture a relatively clueless and sweet 6 year old girl. I believed what I was told, trusted anyone that I was introduced to, and followed whomever was in charge with complete faith.

We lived in a duplex in New Hartford at the time. It was one of the few times I had my own bedroom growing up. One night my mother was tucking me into bed, and decided that she would explain to me about burglars, this is about how the conversation went:
Mom: “Do you know what a burglar is?”
Me: “No”
Mom: “They are people who come into our house at nite and take our stuff.”
Me: “Why would they come at nite? We’re sleeping and can’t help them, or tell them what’s okay to take.” (I told you I was clueless)
Mom: “No Crystal, they come in uninvited and take the stuff we want to keep, they are very bad people.”
Me: “You mean they would take my toys?”
Mom: “Yes”
Me: “Even Pink Panther?”
Mom: “Yes”
Me: “They can have my toys, but not my stuffed animals!”
Mom: “You don’t get to choose.”
Me: …
Mom: “Come on now, time for sleep. Sweet Dreams, I love you”

My mother then shut the door, and I promptly piled all of my stuffed animals into a pile on my bed and slept on top of them, sure I could protect them from the bad burglars. After all, if they don’t see them they can’t steal them, right?

The very next nite, my mother decided she should tell me about kidnappers. That conversation went like this:

Mom: “Do you remember who burglars are?”
Me: “Yes, but they didn’t take my toys, I hid them!”
Mom: “That was very clever.”
Me:
Mom: “Do you know what a kidnapper is?”
Me: “umm… no.”
Mom: “A kidnapper is someone who breaks into our house, but instead of taking our stuff, they would take you.”
Me: “WHAT! Why?”
Mom: “To do bad things to you. To hurt you.”
Me:
“But….”
Mom: “Come on now, time for sleep. Sweet Dreams, I love you.”
Me: “but…”
Mom: “Now, Sleep.”
Me: “okay… I love you too..”

This time when my mother shut the door I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. I didn’t want my toys taken, but I decided that I *really* didn’t want to be taken by bad people! So, I did what ANY little kid would do. I crawled under the covers and piled ALL my stuffed animals on TOP of me. If they couldn’t find me they couldn’t steal me!

More Later!

CS