Thursday, May 15, 2014

Things That Annoy Me Thursday: A Bad Parent For Not Going Into The Shelter?!

So I was having a dream where I finally met John Krasinski. I was telling him all about my love for chocolate and slushes with Nerds in them, and he opened his mouth, prepared to tell me all about his favorite things....but when his lips fell open, a shrieking sound came out.

"John, I know, Nerds in slushes is a new concept, but I promise, it works," I assured him.

And this is when I woke up and realized it was not John shrieking at me, it was the tornado sirens.

I sat upright and nudged Tom, who was fast asleep.

"I don't want to die," I said loudly. "I don't want to die!"

I scrambled over him to reach for the remote.

"What the FU*K?" he bellowed.

I mean, I can't blame him, I wouldn't want to be woken up by someone shouting that they don't want to die and then have a human body draped over me.

I switched on the local news and the weather dude said that there had been a brief small (F0) tornado nearby, but it was gone now, and there was no reason to go into shelters anymore.

I let out a breath of relief. I had pictured a tornado coming towards us. We'd have to grab the kids, the cat, and push my pile of crap off the shelter. (Note to self: get the pile of crap OFF the shelter..)

I checked another news station and was told the same: there was no reason to panic. That meteorologist even stated that he wasn't sure why our sirens were even going off.

You'd think this meant we could go back to sleep, but no, the sirens kept going off, and then Tom had to stand outside and watch the hail storm. At this point Tommy woke up on his own, having heard the sirens, and was excited.

"Can we see the wall clouds? Is there a tornado coming?"

"No. We're okay. We can go back to bed," I said.

"But the wall clouds!" Tommy answered, looking out his window.

He's obsessed with the weather, you see.

Natalie slept through it all, thank goodness, because when she's up, she's UP, and she feels the need to tell you her life story.

After all the excitement, I was wide awake, so I browsed the local Facebook pages and began to see the posts that basically said, "All you people who didn't bring your kids into the shelter when you heard the alarms are BAD PARENTS!"

I really wish I could stay away from posts like that but my fingers were itching to reply. So they did. "Three news stations told me there was no threat, so I didn't go into the shelter. I don't feel guilty for this." Others agreed with me. But then you got the crazy people who were like, "But the alarms were going off!"

"For no reason! The weather dude even said so!" I answered.

Don't get me wrong, I panic about things, hence the "I don't want to die!" yelp in Tom's sleeping ear, but if three news guys were telling me all was okay and showing me the colored map with no scary colors over our town, I'm not going to get my kids up, grab the cat, push my crap off the shelter, and go into it.

Trust me, we spent A LOT of time in our shelter last May. Moore is 20 minutes away from us and it was slammed last year.

It just annoyed me that you had these parents saying if you didn't put your kids in the shelter, that you're a bad person.

I stand by what I said: there was no threat, therefore I wasn't going to wake my kids. We're on a military base so they sometimes panic when there is no reason to do so.

So yes, I will always pay attention to the news before heading into the shelter.

There are bugs down there, you see.

31 comments:

  1. People need to keep their thoughts to themselves. I would have checked with the news too.

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  2. I agree with Michelle - people need to keep stupid opinions to themselves!!! We just go into the laundry room in our basement but in the middle of the night I prefer my bed so I check the news, too!!!

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  3. That's ridiculous! When my husband was stationed in Oklahoma, most tornadoes skipped over Enid, but we never went into the shelter area either. Also, in Florida we throw hurricane parties, so those panicky parents would probably say the same thing about me :)

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  4. I'm glad you all are ok! My son is really into weather these days, especially tornadoes ever since he saw a "shelter in place" sign. Anywho, I'd prolly react like you. Should we? Should we not? I'm not going down with the bugs unless I reallly have to. Plus, the news said it was ok.

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  5. There are some people who will take any and every opportunity to try and make others feel bad. They think this makes them look better. It just makes them look like the jerks they are.

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  6. I hate how other parents can be so judgmental. Not like you didn't have your family's safety in mind. If someone said "YOU MUST GO TO THE SHELTER" and it was official, I know you would. You're an amazing parent. They just need to see your blog to know this!
    I love the JK dream. :)

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  7. A few years ago the town I was living in was hit with 2 tornadoes in a week. The last one devastated the town and left hardly anything standing. We don't even have a shelter. Of course we were always told you don't have to worry about tornadoes in KY because the hills protect us. That's a big ol lie. Anyway, you are NOT a bad parent for not getting into the shelter.

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  8. people are so judgmental. If the news said it was ok, then why wake everyone up and scare them. I don't like bugs either.

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  9. Can't do with any bugs..... nope. Urgh. Shudder!!!

    I've never lived in an area where tornadoes is a possibility... scary thought!!!!

    www.bohemianmuses.blogspot.com

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  10. Well, I guess I am a bad parent as well because we have no shelters or basements or anything like that here. All we can do is lock ourselves in a closet or bathroom when we hear sirens!

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  11. How do other families know if you put your kids in the shelter or not? Is it like a communal shelter? I thought it was like for each individual families? So how would they KNOW? Thus be judgmental? DUMB PEOPLE.

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  12. I live in Arkansas we get tornadoes too and they are just scary. I wish we had a storm shelter but we take cover in our bathroom.

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  13. The news is a good source of information before panicking.

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  14. People can be idiots. I see similar posts like this on a base wives page. I just want to tell them the shut up...but then I'd start World War 3 on Facebook.

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  15. Why was the parenting expert on facebook during the tornado alarms? :)

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  16. Meaning the person who felt the need to take to facebook to proclaim their holier-than-thou parenting judgment, not you. Just thought it was funny that person was chilling with facebook, lashing out at people.

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  17. I seriously hate those "perfect parents" on fb they make me want to vomit!

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  18. Peeps should just not press send! For Pete sake if 3 weather dudes gave it the all clears then you were safe!My hubby loves weather too! I think it's a guy thing.

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  19. Don't you just LOVE springtime in tornado alley? Paint the interior of the shelter a fun color, and put some flasks of the good stuff in there. :)

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  20. People are so quick to judge other moms. So annoying.

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  21. Give me a BREAK! It's not like you didn't look it up and see if the threat was still there or not! People are such turds. Maybe they should STAY in an underground shelter and leave the rest of us the fuck alone. :)

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  22. How scary! We don’t get that kind of weather out here, so no warnings for us. What we get are earthquakes…and there are no shelters for those. I find it hard to hold my tongue when people get on their judge judy tirades. I’m just glad you guys are all okay!!!

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  23. There have been many times I've heard the siren and have not gone down into the basement. I don't have a shelter where I live. No, it does not make you a bad parent. You checked the weather.

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  24. It's hard to argue with the weatherman, and if he says it's OK...

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  25. Ugh. Judgy people everywhere!
    And what a different world. Tornado sirens? Here in New England we have our own problems, sure, but that is not often one of them.
    I would have stayed in bed.

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  26. Oh I hate that. I have lived here since 2010 and learned that just because it is a warning doesn't mean it is going to even come close to us. As long as you are aware of the situation and know when you really should go to the shelter you should be fine.

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  27. You are a smart momma to check all the information before making a decision and not just blindly following along with a siren in the middle of the night. All those mommas are just cranky and tired because they didn't think to check like you did!

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  28. I swear, some people must get mental blisters from how far they THINK they walk in someone elses shoes.

    judgey people.
    they're everywhere.

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  29. Oh I agree. I don't think it was the wrong thing to actually see what was going on. On one hand, you can never be too safe. On the other hand... y'all would have been down there who knows how long when there was no longer a threat. You're not a bad mom at all.

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  30. we rarely get sirens but when we do we check to see if we're near the tornado or not. the sirens cover a large area!

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  31. It drives me bonkers that people can't keep their opinions to themselves. If there was no reason to rush to the shelter, then why would you?

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