Interviewing the Kids

If there is one moment in our foster care licensure process that has kept me awake at night, one item that brought antacids and tears, it was my kids interviews. You see, my kids think they are funny. They are funny most of the time. But... I never know what to expect to come out of their mouths. Can anyone else relate?

We all watch those "Kids say the Darndest Things" clips and laugh, but my greatest fear in all of this, was that one of my children would have one of those moments during their interview. That they would say something, likely in jest, that would derail the whole thing.

And then the moment came... our sweet licensing worker led each kid out of the room to talk to them. I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit when she grabbed the youngest first. She is the wild card... I text my husband, I prayed, I paced, I made the others a snack and 5 minutes later, she came skipping down the stairs and informed her brother that it was his turn.

"Mommy, I told her that when I get in trouble I loose a privilege, that I have lots of friends and that I would understand if the baby broke something because it is little". She went on about how she sometimes gets along with her siblings and that she likes her school situation. And I could breathe again. All those things are true and Little Miss had taken her interview very seriously. She then sat down to draw a picture of our house and family at the workers request.

Each kid went up the stairs and then came down and basically repeated the same thing. When it was over, our licensing worker came down the stairs and just about laughed at me. I'm sure the stressed look on my face said it all. "You have nothing to worry about! They did great!"

Their pictures made me laugh. The younger two took their task very seriously. Our middle, who is very detail oriented, even drew appliances in his. Our teenager, who was not excited about this assignment, had to be asked to add facial expressions. Just enough teenage rebellion to be real. Lovely.

In the end, I worried about nothing, as is usually the case. Even if they had something bizarre, I'm sure they wouldn't have been the first. I am so very glad I didn't have to find out though...