911 whats your emergency ?...

today, my school aged kids had a half day of school. after we returned home and they ate lunch, i was on the computer and across the house i heard some chatter about dialing "911". immediately, i called the little voice (jordyn's) to come to me. she arrives next to my side with the phone in her hand. i asked her what she was doing and she said she dialed 911. i said where did you hear that - apparently it was in a book they read at school today. so, i tried to turn on the phone to see if it was indeed the last number dialed. the phone battery was dead, so it could reveal nothing to me. i asked her if someone answered when she dialed it, hoping she would say no, meaning the phone was dead. she said after i dialed 911 a lady said "911 whats your emergency?" she said she hung up after that. great, i thought, waiting to hear sirens coming down the street.

about 3 minutes later there was a knock at our door and i looked out to see a jeep marked special response on it and a man in a sheriff uniform standing there. as i opened the door, he knew by the look on my face that it was an accident and dialed by "mistake". i confirmed and apologized. then i called jordyn to the door so she could see the sheriff. joshua had told her she was going to go to jail because she did that, so she was scared to talk to him. we explained why you don't dial 911 unless there is a true emergency. the boys were thrilled to see a man in uniform. jesiah showed him the hand to his buzz lightyear toy that had fallen off. and josh asked him about his gun. poor guy, too bad he couldn't come in for the afternoon and get to know us a little better! my kids are not really afraid to talk to anyone!

so, we had our first phone call to 911 that was not necessary, i wonder how many more "mistakes" you get before getting a citation or taken to jail. with four kids i bet it is bound to happen again.