Three Things Happened on Sunday Night

by Marinka on April 7, 2011

And most of this won’t be a surprise to you if you follow me on Twitter, but it may be fun to review anyway!

The first was that I realized that Young Ladrinka, age 9, was at a bar with some of his friends while I was watching a previously recorded episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. It was a really good one too, with Erika Christensen, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that my SON WAS AT A BAR WITH HIS FRIENDS and I was watching TV.

Now of course he was with his friends’ parents and he obviously wasn’t drinking, and it was more of a restaurant-type situation, but still–he was out. And if you’re a Seinfeld fan like I am, you know that being out is a really important part having a social life. I’m pretty sure, however, that watching Law & Oder: Special Victims Unit is up there on the list as well.

The second thing was that when Young Ladrinka came home after his night OUT AT A BAR, he asked me if I could do the laundry. Despite the fact that according to my Bible of Domesticity, I do laundry either on Friday or on Saturday, but Sunday is my day of rest and it is good.

But he had been wearing his favorite sweatshirt TO THE BAR and now it had what looked like chalk dust on it. Probably because they were playing Law & Order and doing chalk outlines of each other. Kids today.

So of course I said no because Sunday, in addition to being the Day of Rest is also the day of Desperate Housewives viewing but then he added please and there I was, on Sunday night, doing an extra load of laundry.

But he wasn’t quite done with me yet. Because the third thing that happened was that Young Ladrinka asked me if he could take Monday off from school as a “personal day.” OMFG.

A personal day? What is he, thirty?

He knows about personal days because one of his friends gets to take them occasionally, but he’s a working child actor, so it’s sort of necessary. And when I explained this to Young Ladrinka, instead of curtsying and thanking me for the entirely rational explanation, he told me that he himself plays baseball and am I trying to tell him that acting is more important than sports, which is, after all, exercise.

Unfortunately for him, the answer remained no. Although maybe I’ll let him watch Law & Order with me one day. If he takes me a to a bar with him.

One year ago ...

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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

Stasha
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 11:08 am

I used to dunk thermometer in my tea to fake fever and stay out of school. Some of my more advanced friends ate raw potatoes. We never thought of simply asking for a personal day. Bar hoping is clearly shaping him to be wise beyond his age.

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Loukia April 7, 2011 at 11:11 am

I want to take 365 personal days from my job right now.

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Wendi
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 11:31 am

The chalk on his shirt was because he was playing pool IN THE BAR. Better check Fast Eddy Ladrinka’s pockets for the cash he won.

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Phoenix Rising
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 11:33 am

I want a personal day. At a bar. With or without the chalk outlines. I don’t play baseball, nor am I a child actor, however, I am a very stressed out mother of three who works full time and never catches up on laundry. So I think I earned it. Can you call my boss? Because, honestly, she scares the crap out of me.

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tracy
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 12:19 pm

Is it sad I’d rather be home in my pj’s watching the Housewives than being at a bar. I say let the young people live it up.

Also – allow personal days off of school only if said child does labor – like laundry.

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GrandeMocha
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 9:38 pm

Child labor = day off from school. Me likey! He’d never ask again.

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thatgirlblogs April 7, 2011 at 1:08 pm

totally just let my kid have a personal day last week. it’s awesome.

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RidgewoodMom April 7, 2011 at 2:18 pm

First, I think watching DVR’ed shows totally counts as a day out. I asked my friends to dinner on a Friday because O will be with her grandparents. They suggested we go to Pyramid. I shuddered. Going to dinner and home by 10:30 to watch Real Housewives of (whatever) is time well spent.
Personal day… he shouldn’t use them up so early in his life. He only has 10 until graduating high school.

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Lady Jennie April 7, 2011 at 3:54 pm

A personal day? That’s a true New Yorker kid.

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Ilana
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 5:05 pm

One of the things I miss most since having a child is Law & Order marathons on Sunday. You could waste the whole day inside watching those things. Did I say waste? I meant “use incredibly wisely”.

If you ever decide to dole out personal days, I’ll take one.

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magpie April 7, 2011 at 5:08 pm

The other night at dinner, my child told me that someone in her class was her “frenemy”. My child is 7. She is in second grade. Second graders do not have frenemies. Oy.

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Stephanie Smirnov
Twitter:
April 7, 2011 at 6:24 pm

Isn’t it obvious the “chalk dust” was coke? Nice parenting.

Reply

Alison
Twitter:
April 8, 2011 at 12:15 am

Goddamn, I wish I’d thought to ask for a personal day when I was 9.

Reply

From Belgium April 8, 2011 at 2:32 am

Tell him he can take a personal day if does the laundry…

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Becky Rice April 8, 2011 at 7:14 am

What’s your secret ? How can I get other people to take my children out to a bar (strip club, tatoo parlor, whatever…) so that I can have a Law & Order: SVU watching party?

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SuzRocks
Twitter:
April 8, 2011 at 10:30 am

I used to get personal days all the time when I was growing up. Except they were called ‘sick days’ back then, and I had to be pretty ingenious to figure out how to trick my medical professional parents into thinking I was really sick.

Thermometer on the light bulb trick works like a charm. Cough Cough.

Hopefully your child is too busy at the bar right now to read this trick and thus gain a slew of ‘personal days.’

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jamie April 8, 2011 at 3:52 pm

Adair Lara, who is a memoirist and a columnist for the SF Chronicle, wrote about her kids a lot when they were growing up. When the reached the age of complaining, she just paid them off: $20 per column. Blogging always pays less than print media though, right?

Reply

A Mommy in the City
Twitter:
April 9, 2011 at 10:39 am

A personal day already?! He is too funny!!!

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the mama bird diaries
Twitter:
April 9, 2011 at 11:23 pm

I love the fact that he asked for a personal day. That is awesome.

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Erin I'm Gonna Kill Him
Twitter:
April 12, 2011 at 10:56 pm

Ohh, I like to picture Young Ladrinka doing all the things a young Manhattan professional would do on a personal day, like get a mani/pedi and see a Broadway matinee. Then top it all off AT THE BAR.

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Alexandra
Twitter:
April 13, 2011 at 2:27 am

Personal Days.

Mine ask for “mental health” days.
We must be doing something right.

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