"When I Was A Boy" - Entry #2 The Break-out Artist Pt 2

As a parent myself, I have foolishly prided myself on (mostly) staying one step ahead of my children when it comes to them doing what they are not supposed to do.  I am thankful that my boys have not pulled 10% of the shenanigans that I did growing up.  Different times though, and my adventures in the 1960's and 1970's were generally not harmful to myself or others.  We could be gone for hours at a young age back in my day and our parents would have nothing more to worry about than a potential skinned knee or scraped elbow from a wagon race.  Not so today, unfortunately...

My folks, bless them, didn't learn much from my first escape act as detailed in Entry #1.  The new plan was to drive a stake into the front lawn and tie the rope around my waist with a more complicated knot.  My mother would be able to keep an eye on me from the kitchen, dining room and living room as she cooked and/or cleaned.  I would have a radius of movement of about 40 feet and all would be good.

Not so fast Mom...

The first implementation of the "new" plan coincided with my desire to go visit my Dad at his place of work.  Dad was a barber, and worked with my Grandfather at their shop on Hamilton Road in London, Ontario.  The shop was probably a good three quarters of a mile from our house if not a bit more.  So, I made short work of my tether and made my way down our street towards busy Hamilton Road.

I made it down Hamilton Road and across it and was very pleased with myself as I climbed the steps to the door of the barbershop and opened it up to see my father, my grandfather and a half dozen or so of their customer's sitting there staring at me as I walked in, full of a sense of accomplishment in a diaper and bare feet.  There was Dad, apparently on the phone trying to calm down my Mother.   And right on cue, minutes later, guess who, the police show up...who had the pleasure, again, of taking me home to my Mother.  Who was crying, again...

They say that children are carefree, not careless.  I was something apparently!  I don't know how I got that far and across a busy street without getting hurt.  I must have been channelling Elmer The Safety Elephant!

I believe the folks learned their lesson after that as it was the 1960's version of baby gates after that.  I don't recall any further successful breakouts during the diaper years.  I scared my parents half to death from just these two breakouts and I suspect these days that my trials and tribulations as a parent are in some way a small payback for the havoc I caused.  I suspect my late mother, who loved my kids dearly, is looking down on our occasional struggles, chuckling to herself and saying "Now you know what you put me and your father through!"

I do know and it's what they taught me that allows my children to be as safe and aware as I can make them.  Thanks Mom and Dad!