So we had a little run-in with CPS today. I was baby-sitting my nieces yesterday at my sisters house and two of those little boogers find her Tums and ate almost the whole bottle because they thought it was candy. Needless to say, the stomachs didn’t feel so great last night and this morning. One of the girls is six and the other one is three. So the six-year-old goes to kindergarten and after she got to school today, she asked her teacher if she could go to the nurse. When her teacher asked her what was wrong, my sweet niece told her that her stomach hurt because her aunt let her eat all of her mom’s acid the day before. This, of course, did not go over well with her teacher, because a little while later, my sister got a phone call from the school counselor. She wanted to know what had happened and to inform my sister that she was required to notify CPS in a situation like this.
My extremely embarrassed sister explained that the kids ate her ANTacids because they thought they were candy, and she assured the counselor that she and her husband did not do acid, nor have any in their house. The counselor said she understood, but that CPS wanted to talk to my niece still to have a thorough investigation. When they asked my niece what she and her sister ate, she told them it was acid. They asked her if it might have been antacids instead and she replied, “That’s what I said. I ate all of my mom’s acid!”
Eventually, everything got cleared up and CPS closed the case. I, on the other hand, will never be allowed to forget that this occurred on my watch. I am fully willing to accept the blame, but I just want to point out that I’m not the one who left the Tums within the kids reach, I just wasn’t paying attention to what they were doing; AND, it could have been way worse! Like, I could have brought real acid over for the kids. So, as usual, everyone made a big deal over something minor. Typical parents!
Stephanie Walters 