A Little Rant

I'm going to rant. Just a little. It's an extra post, and it's my blog, so I can rant if I want to. So there.

Anyway, G went to a birthday party last night -- a sleep over. Seven or so boys were invited to bring wheeled instruments -- skateboards -- and come to spend the night. The invitation said that the party would be over "whenever you want to pick them up." Now, I'm a mom, and I know that they didn't really mean that. So this morning, we called their house at 11:00, thinking that that would have given the boys time to wake up (since they probably wouldn't have slept at all). S told G that he would be by at 11:30 to pick him up -- be ready in half an hour. At that time, all seven boys were still at the party and no other parents had called to arrange for pick up.

Apparently right after we called, a parent arrived who picked up three of the boys, and two more (who lived close by) left to walk home. That left G and the host, plus his parents at the house. The house is near Norway (which means nothing to you unless you live in town, but it is a busy through street). We live a few miles from their house. G called us to tell us that everyone had left, so we went ahead and left home to go get him. Before we arrived, we got another call. He was at Berry Hill house, which is a craft store on Norway, with his sleeping bag and backpack, waiting for us to pick him up. It was an empty parking lot, in front of a closed business, on a busy street.

Between the time we talked to him the first time, and after the other boys were either picked up or walked home, the parents came in and asked if the host (birthday boy) was ready to leave. G felt uncomfortable, so he told he parents he was going to go ahead and go. He left their house, rode his skateboard down the sidewalk along Norway to the Berry Hill parking lot.

Is it just me, or is this irresponsible? Am I overprotective? I know that G could have made a better choice and told the parents that we were on the way to pick him up instead of just leaving, but he's 12. I can't imagine as a parent just allowing a 12 year old to leave and not see him safely back with his parents.

Rant rant rant.