I know what you did last night…I think…

SnapChat is working for me.

You know…since you’re not allowed to install chips inside your kid’s head and all.

Plans change. It’s part of being a mom of a teen. You sort out where they’re going, how they’re getting there, whether or not parents will be present and exactly what’s going on. You’ve it all figured out before they leave the house and before you can count to ten…it changes.

Some wrench is thrown into the plan that moments before, was iron-clad.

Before you know it…someone different is driving, something else is happening and the sleepover you thought was at one place with parents you know…is now being changed to another place with parents you don’t know.

SnapChat is the app of choice for kids…using up their data plans in seconds as they send selfie conversations back and forth in record time. Conversations with images preferable to words.

Well it’s not just for kids it seems. Parents can play this game.

“Plans sort of changed. We’re just playing video games, ordering a pizza and watching a movie…gonna crash here,” he texts.

Who’s there? I asked. What house? I asked. Are parents home? Are there girls? Are you in for the night? Why did things change?

I pummelled him with one question after the next and he answered promptly…patiently…potentially knowing that anything causing me to feel uncomfortable in the least would follow with an “I’m coming to get you” and therefore, his night of hanging with a couple of friends would be ruined onaccounta his mother’s spidey senses…or worse, her imagination.

He answered with his…no girls, in for the night, parents here, Netflix, couch…just hanging out…all is good.

“Snap me a pic” I said.

“OK” he replied.

And he did.

Within seconds.

The grin on his face depicting the “I told you so” look I was happy to see.

Followed by another more close up shot…with an “I Love You.”

The fact remains…on the periphery of that photo could be any number of things I’m not happy about but within that frame I see four boys…grinning in a photo they know is being sent to an irrational mother. I see a red chair I want to curl up in, family photos on the wall and a cozy setting where my kid is hanging out for the evening…where parents were home and had moments before, ordered a pizza.

As I would.

Without the pic…with plans changed and me uneasy…he would have been home.

The snap eased my mind. I threw a little trust his way, closed my eyes….and went to sleep.

It’s not easy being a single Mom. Finding myself at 11:17 pm on a Saturday night with a change of plans and no one to bounce ideas off. I try to make the right decisions with the information I’m presented with…and the stuff I’m not. It’s a constant battle against letting them find their own way in this world and an inherent need to protect them.

The other night, SnapChat eased my mind. But…so did the cozy red chair, the family pics on the wall…and four grinning boys.