Go Away and Let Us Sleep!

As a parent myself (Spencer, age 20, Molly, age 16), I can relate with Pasco, Washington's Samantha Manville and her husband. They just wanted some sleep. And, according to a story on Good Morning America and Yahoo, they came up with an interesting way of getting it.

(Samantha) decided to write her kids a note in an attempt to get some extra zzzz. Samantha Manville said that she and her husband aren't night owls, but on Friday night they found themselves awake at 2 a.m. Their kids -- Alexia, 10 and Liam, 8 -- usually rise at 7 a.m., so the parents put their heads together to come up with the note that might get them a little more shut eye.

The note specifically instructs their children "do not knock and wake up before 10 a.m. unless there is a real EMERGENCY!"

Great idea...potentially. In our house, Amy and I would worry that our kids would've simply walked right past the note and awakened us. The conversation probably would have gone something like this:

Them: (In a stage whisper that could be heard two counties away) Mom! Dad! Are you guys awake?

Us: Seriously?! Didn't you two see the note?

Them: What note?

Us: The note on our bedroom door! The door you just opened to come in here and wake us up!

Them: Ummm...no?

Us: Groan.

Them: We're hungry. And we broke something.

The Manvilles thought it through better than we would have.

Manville said she and her husband tried to anticipate what would keep the kids at bay. "We brainstormed trying to figure out what questions would they have," Manville said. "What would make them knock on the door?"

And here's what they came up with:

• The note reads, "To answer your questions:
• - You can have cereal for breakfast
• - Yes, you can watch TV / play Wii
• - No, you may not go to your friends house
• - No you cannot have a baggie of snacks from the pantry, those are for lunches (yes I mean those ones)
• - You can have an orange for a snack. That means one (1) each!
• Alexia - don't antagonize your brother.
• Liam -- don't be a whiner . . . or at least not 2 loud [sic] one.
• We Love you!"

And, for the big question, did it work?

"I looked at the clock when I woke up and it was 10:06," said Manville. "We made it."

But the note isn't going to be a regular thing. "It was a one-time thing and we got away with it, " Manville said. "But if the kids start to see it all the time they'll just start to ignore it."

Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Manville, my kids are way ahead of yours. They would've ignored it the first time.